Chapter 1 – The Gift
Buffy and Glory were nearly to the top of the tower where Dawn was being held. I'm almost there. Buffy thought to herself dodging another blow from the god and running up the next flight of stairs. If I can just free Dawn she can make a run for it while I keep Glory at bay.
"Spike, can you hear me?" Willow's voice echoed in Spike's head as he, Giles, Xander, and Anya were tucked behind a propane tank.
"Yeah, loud n' clear." He replied, slightly confused.
"Is there someone else working their way up the tower?"
"Yeah, can't tell who."
"Are you talking to us?" Xander asked.
"Get up there, go now!" She commanded.
Spike looked to the base of the tower, still covered with minions and crazy people. "Yeah, but…"
"Go!" She commanded again. This time Spike did as he was told, and the sea of people and demons was pushed to the side, giving him a small path to start running up the rickety tower.
Buffy finally got to the top, with Glory not far behind she dropped the troll hammer and pulled out a dagger as she ran to cut Dawn's ropes, but before she got to her Glory grabbed her from behind and threw her off the side of the tower.
"Buffy!" Dawn screeched.
"Looks like too little too late for big sis." Glory gloated to Dawn, picking up the dagger Buffy had dropped and approached Dawn.
But before the god could step closer, Buffy came flying back onto the platform, having grabbed hold of a chain dangling from the platform and swung herself back up. She grabbed the hammer again and swung it at the god, nearly knocking her off, and making her drop the dagger off the platform.
"Damit Slayer, you're like a cat, how many lives do you have?"
"Plenty. How many do you have?" She replied, swinging the hammer again and sending the god off the platform and hurtling toward the ground. Satisfied she set the hammer down and went to her sister, and started trying to untie the knots now that she was knifeless.
"I knew you'd come Buffy. Glory kept saying how you weren't going to, or you'd have to kill me."
"No one has to die as long as this ritual doesn't start." Buffy looked up a moment then tried at the rope again. "So let's get you out of ritual central."
Dawn smiled and looked up to see someone fast approaching with a knife "Buffy!" Dawn screamed. The old man was too fast and had sliced deep into Buffy's back before she could turn. Buffy screamed out in pain, she felt like she could barely move and was helpless as he threw her off the side of the platform. This time her body was unable to react to grab a chain as she fell. "Buffy!"
Spike was mortified seeing the slayer fall, he wanted so much to leap off the tower and catch her. But if she fell now, that second someone was endangering Dawn, and he had to save her. He bolted up the last flight to see the old demon man he thought Xander killed slicing into Dawn's sides. Spike growled, vampire face on as he ran down the platform. The demon turned and threw his knife at Spike, it landed between his shoulder and neck. This stopped Spike for a moment, allowing Doc time to charge the vampire, he tried to grab at the knife, undoubtedly to finish slicing it across his neck. But before he got a hold of it Spike rolled backwards, taking the demon down with him and coiled his legs between them and kicked him clear of the platform. With the danger averted, Spike slowly stood up, pulling the knife out and walked over to Dawn.
"It's gonna be alright little bit." He said reassuringly, face back to its human features, but as he cut her free they both noticed a bright energy source forming beneath them.
"It's started." She said worried as the rope fell from her wrists. Lightning like flares began to emit from the dimensional rift, releasing new demons into their dimension. "Tell Buffy I'm sorry." Dawn turned around, but before she could jump Spike grabbed her and pulled her back from the edge.
"What do you think you're doin'?" He asked, sounding scared. Dawn had never heard that in the strong vampire's voice before.
"I have to jump, the energy, I know about the ritual Spike."
"Doesn't matter Dawn, I'm not letting anything happen to you."
"It already has, look at what's happening." She threw an arm up gesturing to a dragon that had just emerged from the rift and flew over them. "You have to let me go, Buffy has to. Blood is what starts it and until my blood stops flowing it will never stop. You know you have to let me… it has to have the blood."
Spike thought for a moment, this can't be the only way, I promised to protect her, not let her die… but there's ways around death, look at me… wait blood… if I take that away… "Dawn, what if I turned you?"
"What?!" She asked astonished.
"When you become a vampire you die, which should stop the energy. But you also come back, and with Red's mojo we can have your soul ready and waiting so you never kill anyone."
It makes sense, Buffy wouldn't like it, but it's maybe something she could learn to live with. Dawn thought then asked "But, what about your chip?"
"I'll bugger through it, or maybe if you want me to, the dam widget won't zap me. Either way we're wastin' time. And I'm not seeing another option."
Dawn considered it and he was right, she looked to see where the knife ended up a foot or two behind her. She bent down to grab it then turned back to Spike. She made a small slice into her neck by her jugular vein, she couldn't help but cry out. Spike grabbed hold of her and looked to her once more for reassurance. "Do it Spike."
His face changed and gently bit into her. His chip did activate but either it was not nearly as strong as normal or he was far too determined to care, either way he pushed through the pain. As he drank he noticed an unforgettable and astounding taste, she tastes just like… a slayer… Then as he felt her pulse barely hanging on, he ended his bite and pulled her to feed off the wound below his neck. After a minute her body went limp. He sat down on the platform holding her, looking below them he noticed the rift was getting smaller, and soon enough faded away. He was happy to see it had worked, but in realizing he was holding a dead Dawn in his arms he began to weep.
Meanwhile below, Buffy had just regained consciousness, her friends surrounding her. She looked up to the tower, and didn't see Dawn at the end anymore, but maybe a body up there. "Did we win?" she asked, still laying on her front on the ground.
"Well a shiny portal opened for a minute, let a few nasties out, but it didn't last long." Xander explained.
"What?!" Buffy asked, about ready to cry, knowing full well what that scenario meant. "What happened? Where's Dawn?"
"We're not sure yet." Willow said, then described further. "Spike was up there after you fell and sent someone else flying off, then the portal opened and closed. Neither of them have come down yet."
"Why don't you try that mind speaking thing you did when you sent him up." Anya asked.
"I've been trying, he's not responding." Buffy tried to sit up but bellowed in pain.
"Don't try to move Buffy, you got cut pretty deep and that fall was not a small one." Giles advised, then stood up and reassured her, "We're out of any immediate danger. So we'll go see what's happened, Xander?" he nodded and followed Giles to the tower. The crazy people and minions had scattered since the rift closed, leaving the entrance to the tower unguarded. After some time and a few cautious steps up the crazy people made tower the pair made it to the top platform where Spike was still cradling Dawn.
"Spike…" Xander asked with caution as they approached. Once Spike heard them he repressed his tears, quickly wiped them from his face, stood up, and turned toward them, revealing the limp body in his arms. Both Giles and Xander were stunned by what they saw, then Xander connected the amount of blood present by her neck to Spike's face. "Spike, what the hell did you do!? How?"
Giles realized the connection Xander had made, placing a hand on him to keep him from throwing Spike off the tower... for the moment. Then asked further. "What about your chip?"
Spike tried so hard to keep his voice from quivering "I know what you're thinking mate, but she wanted me to, or else she was gonna jump after the gateway opened." Spike managed to stand up, still holding Dawn. "She cut into her neck herself to stave the chip off. Bugger still gave me a sizable headache though."
Giles stepped closer to examine her neck, to see it was indeed sliced not bit. "You turned her?" he asked, as more of a statement than a true question. Spike nodded.
"Ya think Red's still got Angel's curse handy. Get her soul back before she has a chance to regret having the bleeding thing like him."
"Of course." Giles realized, as they started to make their way down the tower. "Why didn't we think of this contingency before?"
"Cause normally Spike can't bite, or so he says."
"Oi, the chip is real you twit." Spike argued Harris's partly unspoken point "But between her doing most of the damage, and wanting me to do it… I was able to fight through the sodding thing." Another flight down Spike asked, "How's Buffy? She alright?"
"She should heal fine, in time." Giles replied, trying to be reassuring. "She took about an eight story fall and the gash on her back is pretty deep."
They descended the remainder of the tower in silence, Spike refused to pass off Dawn at any point, insisting he should be the one to carry her, he wasn't about to let anything else happen to her. Giles was clearly impressed by Spike's quick thinking, but Xander seemed mortified by it. There was no telling how Buffy was going to react.
By the time they reached the bottom Buffy was laid out on her side on a makeshift stretcher bracing against Anya while Willow and Tara were dressing the wound on her back. She glanced up as much as she could when she realized they were back. When she saw what was in Spike's arms she lost it. Tears began pouring out, she wanted to leap up and take her sister from the vampire's arms, but Anya refused to let her move.
Spike kneeled in front of her, holding Dawn up to Buffy, almost like an offering, as he explained. "After you were thrown from the tower, that creature that threw ya off, Doc, he started the bleeding. I was able to take care of that wanker, but the rift was already open. Dawn wanted to jump, but I wouldn't let her." Buffy's tear soaked eyes stayed content on her little sister as Spike continued, "Then, I asked if I could turn her, so when she died it would close the portal. Then when she comes back as a vampire, we can use that curse Angel's got to give her her soul before she has a chance to kill anyone or even be evil." Buffy stopped sobbing a moment, realizing what he was saying, not sure of how she should be feeling about what he said. Spike looked up to Willow "You can still do it can't you Red?"
Willow nodded, "Yeah sure, we'd just need an Orb of Thesulah." They all looked to Giles.
"I don't have one in stock, but I'll get one straight away." Giles commented. "If you think that would be best Buffy?" he prodded for some kind of verbal response.
"I guess…" She said weakly, placing a hand on her sister's cheek, and looked to the wound on her neck. "No bite?" she asked confused.
"Dawn cut herself first so it wouldn't set off my chip."
"That worked?"
"Enough, still got a sizable headache, but I didn't let myself pass out." Spike caught her eye. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise, but trust me, she's not gone for good."