I promised another chapter asap to make up for the less than ideal chapter I posted this weekend, and here it is! The next chapter won't be up for couple of weeks I'm sure, thanks to finals, but it won't be anywhere near as long of a hiatus. That I promise.

You'll notice that we have started into Season 7 of Buffy. Season 7 will be wrapped up much quicker than Season 6. This is for a couple of reasons. First of all, I've always felt like Season 7 was over the span of a few months whereas Season 6 was over a much longer time period. Also, Season 7 wasn't quite as fun to work with to be honest. So there's gonna be less chapters for this part.

Which means we're closing in on the end! Yay!

Chapter Thirteen – The Rising

"A counsellor, huh? Do you have your own like, 1-800 number?" Dean's eyes glinted as he spoke.

"No, god! What kinda high schools did you go to? I do have my own office though! My name's on the door and everything!" She giggled as she spoke, obviously pleased.

"Definitely a step up from cow-hat and pylon pants."

Buffy shuddered, "not that it was a tough competition there."

Dean laughed, "so is this high school anything like the one you blew up?"

"Physically, no. All other things considered? Absolutely. Stupid hellmouth….we've had ghost kids, teens summoning demons, boys doing spells to win over girls. Some things never change…"

"Tell me about it. We've been shaking angel business off of us for days now."

"Angel business? Thought you gave them the boot?"

Dean sighed, "apparently they haven't got the hint yet. We're tracking down some tablet or something, I dunno. Sam kinda roped us into this one."

Dean wouldn't admit that it'd actually sounded important. He may not enjoy being heaven's errand boy, but he couldn't take a backseat on this mission. Not finding these tablets could mean dire consequences for the whole world, and that was bigger than his own feelings towards angels and their missions.

Buffy furrowed her brow, "a tablet? Are they aware they can just go to Best Buy?"

"Not that kinda tablet, sweetheart," Dean snickered. "Some stone thing, got some writing on it from God or something."

"That's a pretty big errand," Buffy sounded impressed.

"Yup. Not really into it, but whatever. If it gets these winged assholes off of my back for a while, I'll make it work," Dean fidgeted with his zippo as he spoke.

"How did they lose something like that in the first place? I dunno about you, but if I had something that was ya know, written by God, I'd keep my eyes on it. Maybe even lock it up or something."

"You'd think, wouldn't you? Turns out angels? Not so good at keeping track of stuff," Dean joked back.

"And I bet no one even reprimanded them for it. Yet I lose one set of building keys and it's all 'you're irresponsible' and 'The Doublemeat Palace takes security very seriously around here.' Typical," Buffy said with mock seriousness.

"Is that why you stopped working there?"

"Uh no, that would be because I walked out mid-shift. Demon hunt, remember?"

That night was one that never strayed far from Dean's thoughts. All those nights in motel rooms or sleeping in the passenger seat, they all made him feel so far away from Sunnydale, from her. Remembering the look in her eyes, the feel of her skin, what it felt like to hold her: it all made it easier.

Dean smiled to himself, "how could I forget. I don't know what was better, just seeing you or seeing you in that uniform."

Dean expected an outraged exclamation to come through the phone, or at very least a laugh. Instead, silence rang back. The only reason he knew that Buffy was still on the line was that he could just make out the sound of her breathing.

"Buff? I was just teasing – "

"Dean. I think something big is coming," Buffy finally spoke, the worry in her voice obvious.

Big was an understatement, and she knew it. Buffy didn't really know what was coming, but it was nasty, and it was bigger than anything she had come up against, of that she was sure. It had been a long time since the prophetic dreams had made an appearance, but that wasn't all it was. It was this feeling deep in her gut that was telling her this was going to be significantly bad. The hellmouth was roaring.

It wasn't just her, either. Spike had been feeling the rumblings too, or at least that's what she had taken away from his ramblings. Willow had seen the hellmouths teeth, and she had felt the stirring on the other side of the world. There was no denying that the hellmouth was getting ready to show those teeth, to awaken. Absentmindedly, Buffy wondered if Faith was going through the same Slayer feelings as she was.

Big was definitely an understatement.

"How big?"

If it was enough to worry the Slayer, then it was more than enough to worry Dean. By now he knew that Buffy didn't over react when it came to things of the supernatural nature. She didn't want to cause alarm if she wasn't sure. It seemed like an eternity before she responded.

"I don't know," Buffy sighed. "Keeps telling us that 'from beneath you it devours.' Not a pleasant image."

Her own feelings, even those of her friends, were all passive. Up until recently it was just gut feelings and instincts. A move had been made, and it had been aggressive.

She thought back to the other night. Her conversation with a vampire, Dawn's visit from Mom, Willow's visit from someone saying they were with Tara. They had said things that made so much sense. They knew things that they shouldn't have. They knew exactly what to say and what buttons to push. It was all so convincing, and it was definitely an attempt to take them out of the game. If not that, it was definitely a play to shake their confidence. That part had worked.

"Definitely not. Found anything about it yet?"

"No, not yet. We're on it, but not much has come up yet. We haven't had much to go on, ya know?" Buffy paused, "Dean…if someone comes to you, someone you loved who isn't here anymore? Don't listen to a word they say, okay? We all got visits from someone who…they tried to convince us of some pretty dark stuff."

Dean took a minute to process that statement, "what?"

"It was rough. Dark really doesn't cover it actually. Dawn saw Mom. Willow's visitor said she was sent by Tara, tried to convince her to kill herself. It's making a play to take us out of the game I think. Wouldn't be surprised if it went for hunters too."

"Is everyone okay?"

Buffy nodded, "Yeah, I think so. Dawn and Willow are both pretty shook up still. Dawn never really learned to cope with Mom's death so that cut pretty deep. Then there's Will who was told that Tara couldn't come see her because of what happened…God my heart broke for her."

"That was a low blow. She's barely been home a month and the hellmouth is already targeting her," Dean could feel himself grieving for her. Witch or not, that was more than anyone deserved.

"How do you protect someone from something like this? It visited us all, that's not just some haunting."

"And you? What was your visit?"

Buffy thought back over her conversation with 'Holden.' She had said things to Holden that she was even afraid to say to Dean. She had told him about how she felt like she was beneath all her friends. How she felt like she didn't deserve love. How she felt that even Dean deserved better than her. That she could never love Dean the way she wanted to, because she knew that he couldn't love her back. He couldn't understand her, so how could he ever love her? He had helped rebuild her after everything that happened, but could it be enough?

How was she supposed to tell him that now? She couldn't. Not a word of that conversation could ever be repeated.

"Uh, it was a vamp. Someone I went to high school with."

"Oh, that's low. Guilt tripping you?"

Buffy hated lying, but she figured a half truth was better than a whole lie.

"Spent some time psychoanalyzing me before I staked him. I-I'm not sure it was the same thing as the others dealt with, but it was pretty weird…"

"What kinda evil beast sends dead people at you?" Dean thought that over, "well, I guess they all do – "

"I get what you mean," she interrupted with a forced laugh.

"So much for that break, huh?" Dean said, glumly.

"When you've got some cryptic message being sent to you through apparitions, vengeance demons, and even crazy vampires….definitely not."

"Spike's still a babbling mess?"

Any information about the trigger or the possibility that Spike was killing again was staying locked tight inside of her head. There was too much uncertainty about all that to share yet. She had spent too much time trying to convince Dean that Spike could be trusted, that he was one of the good guys. She had been unsuccessful so far, but there was no reason to shatter any chance that one day he'd be able to see past the fangs. Right now she needed Spike, and that was more important than Dean's feelings about the matter. So the possibility that he was killing would be kept from Dean, at least for now.

"Depends on when ya catch him. Right now I'm not even sure if he's gonna be a help or a liability," Buffy sighed.

Spike not being sane had been a source of stress for Dean ever since she had told him that Spike had showed back up a little worse for wear. Secrets come spilling out when your brain isn't functioning correctly, and that was something Dean had been taught through experience. It happened every time he came to see Buffy.

Telling Spike the truth had been against all of his better judgement and something that even he had a hard time believing he had done. Now he was afraid that not listening to his internal voice was going to come back and bite him in the ass. If Spike was the reason Buffy had those memories shattered, Dean would never forgive himself.

"Any idea of what messed him up?"

"They put the spark in me, and all it does is burn."

Buffy gulped down her guilt. No matter how honest they were with one another, there were always times where she omitted parts of the story. Dawn being the key. All-nighters drinking with Spike. Anya becoming a vengeance demon again. Thinking that Willow had been behind the death that was Gnarl's doing. Spike getting his soul. How would a hunter react to the idea of a vampire with a soul? So far they had no idea how it even happened, and she was sure that Dean wouldn't trust that it was true. She knew he didn't trust Spike, no matter how much she believed in him, and that wasn't about to change.

This time it wasn't just an omission though. This was a lie. She was directly telling him that she had no idea what happened to Spike, not just avoiding the question. She didn't want to lie to Dean, but that was the cost in the life of a Slayer. Lying was second nature. It didn't make it feel any better though.

"Uh, no. Not yet. We've been trying to figure out where he went while he was gone, but we've had no luck yet," Buffy said, hoping he wouldn't pick up on how unsure she was of her own words.

"Just be careful around him, okay? There's dangerous and then there's crazy vampire dangerous," Dean pleaded.

"Of course, all kinds of careful. Hey Dean? I gotta let ya go. Takin' Dawn out for a patrol."

"You're letting your sister patrol now? I thought you were just training with her?"

Buffy grimaced at the tone in Dean's voice. She knew he wouldn't be happy about her choice. He hated that he and Sam had been roped into the hunting world. He had expressed several times that he would have given anything for his brother to be allowed to be a kid. Every case that he took on where kids were involved, he did everything he could to protect them from the monsters. He did all he could to stop them from getting roped into this world.

It didn't work that way on the hellmouth though. Especially when Dawn was sister to the Slayer. She would be in danger no matter what she did. There was nowhere she could go, nothing she could do, Dawn would always be a target. The monks were right to give the key to her, because Buffy was going to do everything she could to make sure Dawn was safe.

She was getting older now, though. It was getting harder to keep her safe, and so she may as well have her able to protect herself. She'd never send her on a patrol alone, but learning how to go out with the group could be valuable. Knowing she could handle the crap the hellmouth might throw at her at school put Buffy's mind to ease.

"Yup. Figured it was time to stop treating her with kid gloves. Especially now that she's going to school on the hellmouth like I did. I don't want her to suffer like all the other graduating classes here did."

"That's fair, I suppose. Just teach her to be careful, ya?"

"Of course," Buffy agreed. "You be safe too, okay? Keep what I said in mind."

"I will, absolutely. You be safe too, Buff. I'll uh, see what I can turn up about that whole 'from beneath you' stuff too."

ӁӁӁ

"Gather them, it's started."

ӁӁӁ

"Sam!" Dean tossed the remote control at his sleeping brother.

"Ugh, what?" Sam coughed out, trying to clear his throat.

"You said you had a dream the other night? About Jess?"

Sam flinched at the mention of her name. It had been a long time since he had dreamt of Jess, and an even longer time since he had heard her name out loud. It had been years, but hearing her name again made it seem like it had been just yesterday. That dream had brought him right back to that night, and he swore he could still smell the smoke.

He had woken to a start afterwards and found himself in a cold sweat. At first he had wanted to keep the dream a secret from Dean, but the sudden wake up tipped him off quickly. When Sam told Dean that it was a nightmare about Jess, Dean brushed it off as just a bad dream and nothing more. Sam couldn't help but feel that it was more than that, but Dean was sure it was just a lingering feeling of guilt resurfacing.

"Uh yeah? What about it?"

"What did she say to you?"

"What does that mat-"

"What did she say!?" Dean was practically yelling now.

Sam stopped, taken aback by his brother's outburst. He thought back to the dream, it played like a movie in his head ever since it had happened.

"Do you even know what you've done?" Her voice hissed like steam coming off of a fire.

Sam couldn't believe his eyes. Here was Jess, the girl he loved, the girl he was ready to marry, the girl that died because of him, standing no more than three feet away. It couldn't be her, he knew that, but it was so realistic. So convincing. Everything was right about this apparition, right down to the scent of her perfume. Lavender.

"What do you mean?"

"You followed a demon. You trusted her! It's because of her kind that I'm dead, and yet you were willing to follow her to the ends of the Earth for your own gain," Jess sneered.

"No, that's not what – "

"Not what happened? Don't lie to me, Sam. I know all about what happened. I watched you guzzle down blood by the gallon, like it was nothing. I watched you screw her. Did she taste like ashes, Sam? I can still smell her on you!"

Her voice was cold and cruel and every word cut into Sam like a knife. She wasn't saying anything he didn't already know, that he wasn't already ashamed of, but hearing it made it seem so much worse. Hearing it from the woman he loved was enough to crush him.

Her verbal assault continued, "do you think you're human still? With all that demon blood coursing through your system, through your veins? You're more monster than you are human, Sam, and you know that, don't you?"

"That's not true," Sam said, barely louder than a whisper. Even he wasn't convinced by his own words.

"What about Hell? What kind of mark do you think that left? If you were barely human before, what are you now?" Jess smirked, "did you think that your time in Hell absolved you of all your sins?"

Sam remained quiet. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to respond. He just kept repeating to himself that this wasn't Jess. That Jess would never be this cruel. This wasn't real. This must be some sort of nightmare, some form of self-punishment. He refused to even look at this apparition, it was too much. This wasn't Jess and this wasn't real.

"Oh I'm very much real, Sam. I'm right here," she grinned as though she could hear his thoughts. "Aren't you tired of this world? Tired of the fights and the struggles that never amount to anything? Aren't you tired of not making a difference?"

"I do make a difference," Sam said, resolutely.

"Do you? How many people died at the hands of the Suvolte Demon? Lilith? Ruby? How about Yellow Eyes? You let him take me, didn't you?"

Tears welled in Sam's eyes, but he fought them back. This couldn't be Jess. It wasn't Jess.

Her words came out honeyed now, without the harshness he had come to expect, "c'mon Sam. We were happy, weren't we? You never wanted to leave, to go back to the darkness with your brother. We can be together again, you know that. Castiel has told you all about how heaven works, hasn't he? We could spend eternity together. Isn't that what you always wanted?"

"What do you mean?" Sam's voice shook as he spoke.

"The afterlife isn't so bad Sam. No more let downs. No more tragedy. No more pain. Come with me," Jess pleaded. "You can come with me."

"She talked about Ruby. About Hell. Said that I had gone too far, that I was barely human even then. That I couldn't…go to hell and come back magically all better…"

Sam was obviously uncomfortable as he spoke. It wasn't something he wanted to relive, and it wasn't something that he had wanted to tell his brother. Not now, not ever. Waking from that nightmare had been welcomed, but it had left a sour taste in his mouth that he had been unable to shake. Sam had tried to stop thinking about it, but it kept replaying in his head. It had been so long since he had heard her voice…so long since he had smelled that perfume. Part of him didn't want to let go of it, even if it was a nightmare. It was the closest he had been to Jess since he lost her.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, lots of stuff, Dean. Wanna tell me why you're interested now?"

"Damnit," Dean looked up to the ceiling, his shoulders falling.

"Dean?"

"Something's coming. Buffy doesn't know what it is, but it tried to take her crew out of the game. Told 'em lies using dead people. Her sister saw their Mom. Willow got a message from Tara."

"She told me I could go with her…" Sam trailed off, realizing what Dean was actually telling him.

It wasn't just a dream, but it wasn't Jess either. Something had used her face to get to him. They had seen evil wear their mother's face, their father's, even Bobby's, but nothing had used Jess. The rage that boiled in his blood was almost too much to bear. His fists clenched at his sides as he fought to steady his breath.

"Cas!" Dean yelled, "Cas get your ass down here, now!"

A wind picked up as Cas appeared in the motel room.

Cas faced Dean, "You know, Dean. Sometimes I do have better things to do than to show up at your every beck and call."

"Ya? Does that something better have anything to do with whatever is happening in Sunnydale?"

Cas sighed, "how did you know about that?"

"So it's true, something big is coming?"

Cas nodded, "we do not know yet what it is, but yes. Something big. Something ancient."

"You don't know what it is?" Sam looked at Cas expectantly.

Whatever it was, Sam was taking it personally now. It not only tried to take him down, but it used Jess to do it. It had taken his most precious memory and tainted it forever. As much as he didn't want whatever it was to gain an advantage, it certainly felt like the attack was a direct hit. He couldn't let it get away with that. No one else should have to ever go through something that horrific. Jess' memory should have been left the way it was, and not that horrible image of her.

"Heaven does not know everything," Cas grumbled, "but it has all the demons and angels afraid. The panic seems to be sweeping through the entire supernatural world."

Dean grumbled, "when the things that go bump in the night are afraid, it's never good."

Sam nodded in agreement, "so what now?"

"It seems to be stemming from the hellmouth in Sunnydale. I suggest you start with that."

"Can't give us anymore direction than that?" Dean asked.

"I am still trying to find the tablets that you failed to retrieve," Cas said, "our resources are stretched thin as it is."

"So what, we're on our own?" Sam had expected more help than this, and it was frustrating to hear otherwise.

"Yes," Cas said, popping back out of the room.

"I hate when he does that," Sam moaned.

Dean agreed, "yeah, it's a little old. He's been pretty short on patience lately."

"Any idea why?"

Dean shook his head, "one fire at a time, Sammy."

"So, research?" Sam asked, pulling his laptop towards him.

Dean rolled his eyes and sighed, "guess so. Damnit."

"Gotta start somewhere before we go charging to the hellmouth."

"Who says I was going to go charging in?" Dean argued.

Sam said nothing, giving only a skeptical look towards his brother. Dean shrugged and nodded in agreement before slumping into a chair and cracking open their dad's journal.

ӁӁӁ

"Buff? I can barely hear you," Dean placed a finger in his ear, hoping to hear the Slayer better.

"Sorry, give me a sec," Buffy stepped out the back door and closed it, "better?"

"Much. Why so loud?"

"You called at kinda a bad time, my house has somehow become a daycare of sorts," Buffy sat down on her back steps, taking a moment to enjoy being away from the craziness that was inside of her house.

"Daycare?"

"Maybe sorority would be a better description. Giles showed up at my door with a handful of girls a couple of hours ago."

"Oooo, so it's like a slumber party then?" Dean said salaciously.

Buffy rolled her eyes, which Dean could practically hear through the phone. "A world of no."

Dean furrowed his brow, "why exactly did Giles show up with a bunch of girls?"

"They're Slayers. Or at least they could be one day. Giles says that something has been hunting these poor girls down," Buffy explained.

"So they're the girls that could be the next Slayer, if you were to…ya know…"

"Die? Yup, that's the deal," Buffy nodded, "Remember that 'something big' I was telling you about?"

"How could I forget? It tried to get Sam to kill himself."

Dean realized he had neglected to tell her that story. Maybe because it wasn't his story to tell. Maybe because he felt guilty that he hadn't listened to his brother in the first place. Maybe because he didn't want to add to Buffy's already long list of things to worry about. Whatever the reason before, he was going to have to tell her now.

"Wait, what?"

Dean rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, "I shared your warning with Sam after we spoke last time. Turns out it had already paid him a visit."

"God, I'm sorry. How is he?"

Dean sighed, "the girl he was ready to marry came to him and criticized his every mistake before trying to convince him to kill himself. All things considered he's doin' alright. Not exactly doing backflips, but…"

"That's so awful. I wish I had better news to give you about it," Buffy sulked.

"But you have news?" Dean perked up, "at this point I'll take anything you have to offer."

"Turns out I've come up against it before, back in high school. Calls itself The First."

"The First? That's not very menacing," Dean scoffed. "I was expecting something much more foreboding or something. The First what?"

"The First Evil," Buffy added.

"Oh. Yeah, that's important context. That's kinda a big deal. What's it want?"

"You know, end of the world and all that jazz. I guess it wants to eliminate the Slayer line forever, hence the girls at my door. The First's minions have already killed a countless number of girls. They were just kids, Dean. They had no idea what was happening."

"I'm sorry, Buffy. It's not your fault," Dean comforted.

"It sure feels like my fault. I've been seeing their deaths for weeks. I should have protected them. What if I can't protect these ones?"

"If anyone can, it's you," Dean paused, "what do you mean 'seeing' their deaths?"

"Prophetic dreams are kinda part of the Slayer gig. I never told you that?"

"You didn't, no. Huh, another part of the legend that's true," Dean mused.

"One day you're gonna have to tell me all the things you heard about Slayers. We'll compare notes or something," Buffy tried to smile.

"Sounds like a plan. I did hear something about a certain…appetite? That comes up after a slay," Dean winked. The groan from the other end of the phone made him chuckle.

He tried to lighten the mood, but he was still worried, "You said something else though. It wants to eliminate the Slayer line? Like…kill you and make sure no new Slayer is called?"

Buffy nodded, "It wants to erase the whole line. The potentials. Then Faith. Then me. End of the Slayers forever."

"Well, that's not gonna happen," Dean did his best to sound determined, but his fear betrayed him.

"I hope you're right. Our army is understaffed here. Sure we have an exceptionally powerful witch, but she can't use her magic. There's Spike, the only other one that can help to protect these girls and he's been set with a trigger to kill for the enemy. Even if we could figure out how to disable that, he's been taken and we have no idea where to find him. We have a huge dead count that we couldn't have hoped to save, no Watchers Council backing us up, and a pack of teenaged girls on their way to the hellmouth, of all places, for protection…" the panic in Buffy's voice was hard to ignore. She was overwhelmed and it was broadcasted in every word that she spoke.

"Goddamn Slayer, sounds like you're having a party of a time. Need some help? Sam and I could be there in just over a day?" Dean was already grabbing his keys.

"No!" She practically yelled into the phone.

Dean was confused, "what?"

"Just…I can't have you here. You need to be out there dealing with the beasties that are stirring. A lot have bailed on Sunnydale so you're gonna see a spike in activity," Buffy rushed through her sentence.

That was the truth, but there was more to it than that. He had been her sanity in the last year and she'd love to have him on deck. This was not the right time, however, to be bringing new people to her friends. They needed all the help they could get, but that would raise more questions than she was ready to deal with right now, and she didn't need to give the new girls any reason to doubt her. That was another thing, now that her house a boarding house for three new girls, and apparently more on the way, there was just no room for more people.

Right now she needed him to be a voice on the phone more than she needed another set of hands. She needed somewhere to turn to be able to find her center. Not only that, but she knew things were about to get real dangerous real fast, and she wasn't sure she could handle worrying about him. What if something happened to him because she couldn't protect him? He could handle himself that much she knew, but she still couldn't risk it. No, he needed to be far, far from Sunnydale.

"Okay, okay. Sam and I will be the mobile clean-up crew, don't worry. We'll throw in some research too, help any way we can. Got anything we can start with?"

"Uh, we've got something called a Seal of Danthazar hiding out in the basement of the high school," Buffy lowered her head into her hands. She was in way over her head here.

"Baddies leavin' their satanic shit all over the place, very irresponsible," Dean tried to joke.

"God, there's just so much happening Dean. I can't keep up," she practically sobbed.

"Hey, hey. You're going to be okay. Let's just go one step at a time, what do you know about this seal?"

"It's been activated, we think. There was a lot of blood on it, more than what Andrew had fed it," she exhaled a deep breath. "Activated seals are never a good thing, and we are no closer to knowing what the hell it does. If you're gonna join the research brigade, could ya start there?"

"Seal of….D-A-N-T-H-A-Z-A-R?" Dean jotted down the words on a pad of paper from the nightstand.

"That's it. We haven't had much luck yet, and now we have all these girls to look after. I just…can't do it all. Any help you can give is much appreciated."

"Of course. Sam has always been good at finding the obscure myths and stuff. We're on it," Dean assured her.

"Giles and I are going out for some recon. See what we can find around where I encountered The First before," Buffy said, watching through the window of her house. "Take care of yourself, okay? Whatever it's end game is? It's beyond the attack on the Slayers, it's not playing around."

"I know. Don't worry, we'll be safe. You too, Buffy."

Buffy gave a half smile, "I'll uh, try to call, but things are about to get hectic."

"Don't worry about me. I'll call if I find anything."

ӁӁӁ

"Dean, searching for 'evil' is not really helping ya know?" Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's search.

"Well what do you got, big shot?"

Sam shifted his eyes back to his stack of books, "uh so far? A lot of heavy books…"

Dean ran his hands over his face and gave his head a shake, "how do you research something that supposedly pre-dates all evil?"

Sam shrugged, "hope that we find some ancient text?"

"That we can read?"

Sam took a deep breath, "ya, that's the issue. Even if we find an old enough book, who knows what language it'll end up being in."

"What about the seal?"

"I've found the Seal of Oath, Seal of Wyndmere, and a Seal of Duneth. No Seal of Danthazar," Sam shook his head, tossing different books down on the table with each name.

"Oh Buffy, what trouble have you stumbled into…" Dean slumped back in his chair.

Dean wished he could do more to help. It seemed like every time he talked to Buffy there was something huge going on in Sunnydale. He guess that the hellmouth was to thank for that, but this felt different. He had never heard her sound so tired, so overwhelmed. The brothers had faced down a lot of tough shit in their time, including the biblical apocalypse, so this was really nothing new, but it really did feel different. Like the world wouldn't be the same in the end.

He just wished he could help more. It felt like it wasn't enough. No matter what he did, it wasn't enough.

This 'First' was enough to scare demons and angels alike. If that wasn't terrifying, Dean didn't know what was. The books seemed to be lacking any kind of information on this thing, which did nothing but add to the severity of the situation. If anyone would know about this, it would be Bobby. What he wouldn't give to be able to call Bobby again, to go to the salvage yard and raid his books. Hell, he'd love to be called an 'idjit' one more time.

Dean pulled his phone out of his pocket. It may not be Bobby, but he had the same books that Bobby had.

"Dean?" The voice answered.

"Hey Garth, need your help. Ready to hit the books?"

"Of course! What ya need?" Garth replied eagerly.

"Seal of Danthazar and The First Evil. There's something huge coming from Sunnydale, from the hellmouth. Anything you can find would be awesome. We haven't found a thing."

Dean could hear the scribbling of a pen before Garth spoke again. "Okay. Got it. Anything else?"

"Uh, yeah," Dean hushed his voice so that Sam couldn't hear him, "could ya do some research into the Slayer prophecy for me? The Slayer line is under fire and I need something to work with. Anything you can find."

"Slayer? I thought that was a myth? Like the boogeyman for monsters," Garth's voice had a level of disbelief in it.

"Oh she's very much real, don't you worry. She needs our help," Dean said.

"I'm on it. Oh and Dean?" Garth asked.

"Yeah?"

"Would it kill you guys to visit once and a while?"

"Goodbye Garth."

Sam looked over to his brother, "I have another thought. Who else would be likely to have books on something this big?"

Dean thought a minute, his eye growing wide with realization, "Dad?"

Sam nodded, "his journal talked about a storage unit in Iowa where he kept his ancient books. These books have nothin', and I doubt the internet is gonna be much help this time. It's kinda a lengthy drive, but it may be our best shot. Wanna check out his collection?"

Dean already had his hands in keys even before Sam had finished speaking. These sources were tapped and Garth was searching through Bobby's books. At least heading to Dad's unit would give them something to do. It would give them some chance of finding something useful. He couldn't just sit here and wait for Garth to call. It would take them a few days to make it to this storage unit, but it was worth the drive. Even if this locker didn't have what they were looking for, Dad had at least a dozen units across the country. One of them was bound to have something that could help them.

He just hoped they found something before it was too late.

ӁӁӁ

"You're right. We don't know how to fight it. We don't know when it'll come. We can't run, can't hide, can't pretend it's not the end, 'cause it is. Something's always been there to try and destroy the world. We've beaten them back, but we're not dealing with them anymore. We're dealing with the reason they exist. Evil. The strongest. The First," Buffy's voice shook as she spoke.

She was barely able to stand on her feet, but she couldn't stand to hear everything that her friends had been saying. She had listened to them talking and it had burned under her skin more than she could bear. They were scared, and they didn't think she could protect them. She may be broken, but she was not done.

"Buffy, I, I-I know you're tired," Giles tried to comfort the slayer.

She shook her head, "I'm beyond tired. I'm beyond scared. I'm standing on the mouth of hell, and it is gonna swallow me whole."

The group looked at her with a mix of fear and sorrow. That was enough to strengthen her resolve. Her voice stopped shaking then. She took on a defiant tone instead. She was not done.

"And it'll choke on me. We're not ready? They're not ready. They think we're gonna wait for the end to come, like we always do. I'm done waiting. They want an apocalypse? Oh, we'll give 'em one. Anyone else who wants to run, do it now. 'Cause we just became an army. We just declared war. From now on, we won't just face our worst fears, we will seek them out. We will find them, and cut out their hearts one by one, until The First shows itself for what it really is. And I'll kill it myself. There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us. Any questions?"

A/N: I know I said I'd keep the direct story quotes to a minimum, but I HAD to include Buffy's speech from Bring on the Night. Why? Because it is one of my all time favourites. I LOVED that moment so much that I couldn't NOT include it. Also, some of my timeline may be off (it's been a long time since I watched season 7) but I did my best to get it all right. If it's out of order somewhere, just take it as creative license ;-)

Sweetie420: I am so glad you enjoyed it! Yay! I feel better than people actually liked it. Man, stupid school. It has been so stressful lately, all I wanna do is write fanfic! Haha. Don't you worry, I could never forget you wonderful people! This story isn't going to be abandoned, and the next installment will come eventually. I have so much I want to write that I could never bail on it! Hope you liked this chapter tooooooo!