Chapter Seventy: Close to the End

The rift was wide open. The open rift otherwise known as the Hellmouth which now led through to Earth from the Hell Dimension on the other side in fact from the underworld now connected to the world above. But there was no sudden rush through the new portal. No sudden flooding of hell creatures into the upper world. Because that was not the plan.

Or at least that was not the first part of the plan. Waiting patiently in the Hell Dimension below was the creature known to his followers as Satan. It was not the only name he had ever used and he was far from the first creature to use this old name for the Devil but it gave everybody a good idea of who he was, which was why he liked it. It made it clear to his followers and everybody else just where he stood in the eternal struggle between good and evil.

This Satan was not in any sense a fallen angel. He had never been any sort of an angel but he was a great deal more than a powerful demon. He had long since established rule of his own Hell Dimension, a very different Hell Dimension to the one that had previously been linked to the Earth through the Sunnydale Hellmouth.

And there was the double cross. The double cross that had been brokered by Wolfram and Hart. They had agreed to help the Forces of Light reopen the Hellmouth in Sunnydale and that is exactly what had happened. They had stuck to the letter of the agreement in that they had indeed taken part in the reopening of the Hellmouth. But the Hellmouth now led to a quite different place, a quite different Hell.

It was that difference which was now disrupting the reestablishment of the equilibrium of the Multiverse. For Wolfram and Hart had done a deal with Satan. The Hellmouth was indeed the same but the Hell it led to was not. Across many universes the forces released and channelled by the Key were now at work to put everything back in place. But with this particular Hellmouth now leading to a different place everything could no longer link up in the same way as before.

The Key gradually became aware of the difference and slowly started work to adjust things accordingly. Once adjusted the new connection would be part of the new reality and the new Hell Dimension would remain linked to that Earth, with catastrophic consequences for the inhabitants. But at least the Multiverse itself would be saved and overall things would go on much as before, with just one relatively small victory for the forces of evil.

But that was when a part of the Key called halt. The intelligences that formed a part of the Key didn't know all that had happened but they knew enough to smell a rat. And that part of the Key called Dawn Summers began to take a personal interest in what was going on in what she still thought of as her home world.

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The sounds of firing, which had been coming from all over the town, now died down and stopped completely. The other disturbing noises coming out of the night; shrieks, screams etc, also stopped. For the first time that night Sunnydale became completely silent.

But it was not the normal silence of the early hours of the morning in a small American town. Somehow the silence seemed to have been imposed on the town. At just about the same time everybody in town, everybody and everything, seemed to get the message that something was about to happen, something big. Suddenly everybody and everything was holding its breath.

Some scientists claim that animals are aware of pending natural catastrophes like earthquakes a little ahead of when they actually hit. Whether that is true or not it seemed that everybody in town, human and non-human alike, had somehow gotten some sort of message about a pending event. 'It' was just about to happen. But nobody had any idea of exactly what was going to happen, just that things were going to change.

Inside the Slayer HQ things had been silent already for a little while. Everything inside the building was frozen in place. In the basement the witches and the Wolfram and Hart mages were standing around the newly formed Hellmouth and the Stargate was lying on top of it.

Those not involved in the magic spell casting including the military unit from Stargate Command were also in an immobile stasis and most of them, like the frozen witches and mages, were held in place in the act of looking at the Sunnydale Stargate lying in front of them. Everybody had been caught in place while they were watching events, planning or making their next move. But nobody now moved or made a sound. Time for them was frozen.

Also inside the building the newly arrived group led by Angel were either upstairs or held in place on the stairs leading down to the basement. Nobody was capable of movement, nobody was capable of thought. They were all in a green stasis within the green glowing energy coming out of the Hellmouth.

Outside the grounds of the building a cordon of soldiers had formed, but despite orders to advance into the building nobody had done so even though the soldiers were not actually held in stasis themselves. It was as if some silent but heard command had been issued to countermand the order to enter. And like all of the others Colonel Maybourne now stood silent and watched the HQ and waited for developments.

Perhaps the last persons moving in town were the three Slayers and the four witch sisters. The two groups arrived almost at the same time outside the Slayer HQ from different directions. But like everybody else they simply stopped and stared and waited.

Unlike the people frozen in place inside the building those outside weren't frozen, not exactly. It was just that they had all silently decided not to actually do anything until whatever it was that was due to happen, actually did happen. Like all of the demons and vampires in town they were all somewhat hypnotised into waiting for whatever happened next.

But the stasis did not extend beyond the town. Many miles away the green glowing energy flooding Stargate HQ had only lasted for seconds before fading away. It had flowed through the base without freezing anybody in place. It had overflowed from the Stargate as a sort of side effect before disappearing again. With things back to normal Jack O'Neill had checked with all areas and made sure that there had been no damage and no casualties.

"So is that it?" asked Daniel, looking at Sam. "Does that mean things are back to normal? Was that a symptom of things being restored?"

"We need to find out what's happening in Sunnydale," said Jack. "Until then we're pretty much in the dark about how this is gonna play out."

"I can't get any reply from Sunnydale," said Sergeant Harriman who had been using both cellphone and radio. "And the lines are all dead."

"Perhaps we should go there," said Teal'c. "Things may not be going according to plan."

"There might be something we can do to establish contact, if the network's now working properly. That's to say working without magical assistance," said Sam thoughtfully, prompting Jack and the others all to look at her.

"We could try to dial out and see if the network's working," she said. "If it is we might be able to follow the others and eventually arrive in Sunnydale. Do you want me to try?"

"But if the network's working then our problems are solved anyway aren't they," asked Daniel. "And if it isn't then we can't do anything anyway."

"The network might be working but things could still be going wrong in Sunnydale," said Teal'c. "Are the witches not trying to open another Hellmouth? Will that not run the risk of having other undesirable creatures come to this world?"

"We discussed that with the witches didn't we?" asked Daniel. "They said they could take care of that sort of thing."

Jack had remained silent during this exchange, mentally considering the alternatives. One thing was sure. He was in charge in the SGC with Hammond away and he was not allowed to leave his post until Hammond returned. As for SG-1 going off without him...

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this," said Jack. "If we start sending people through the Gate before we get the all clear who knows where they'll end up. It's not like when we came through from Kallistien. We have the witches doing their thing. We stay put, at least until we get more news. We've got to trust the people there. From what I've seen they've got plenty of firepower."

Having said all that, Jack felt a little better. Maybe there is something to all that psychic mumbo jumbo after all he thought. If magic works then maybe going with your gut feeling is the way to go, at least when dealing with things like this.

Sam interrupted his chain of thought. "You know there's something we can do without taking any risks at all," she said. "And we don't have to leave Stargate Command."

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Seconds passed, or maybe it was aeons. It was hard to tell. Dawn felt as if she had just arrived but then again had she ever been anywhere else? She was both a part of the whole and separate from it. The Key was doing its work, what it was created to do and Dawn was the Key or at least she was a part of it. But at the same time she mentally stood apart from what was happening. She was both a spectator and a participant in a timeless event.

The Guardians were concerned solely with the Slayer back on Earth. They did what they could to make sure the Slayer and the Watchers' Council that supported the Slayer did what they were supposed to do. Dawn had been taught a lot about the Guardians, their history and duties. But now, with her link to the Key she saw that the Guardians, the Slayer and the Watchers, were all a part of something larger. They were part of the mechanism which kept things where they should be.

Demon realms should stay separate from Human realms. Human realms should stay separate from Higher 'Angelic' realms. There would always be a certain amount of leaking up and down across the borders, illegal immigration as it were. But the realms themselves should be kept separate.

The Slayers and the Watchers were sort of like immigration cops, policing the demons and other monsters that leaked through. Angels took an interest in the Human Sphere as a counter to the more powerful demon elements. Overall a rough balance was maintained, at least cosmically. And the balance was exactly what the Key had been created to maintain.

So who did the creating thought Dawn briefly before pushing the thought to the back of her mind. I don't have time for that she thought. I can't get involved in pondering the origin of the universe while things go to hell, or at least while my home, my friends and my sister go to hell.

Because Dawn was now aware of the problem and the problem was Earth, her Earth. A cosmic balance yes, but the cosmos, the Multiverse cosmos, was a pretty large place. Infinitely large in one sense. It was perfectly possible for the cosmos to be in balance overall but for there still to be all sorts of unbalanced places. And Earth was most definitely showing up as one of those places which were out of balance.

Knowledge of this was building up a frustration in Dawn, that part of Dawn that was watching the rest. Because there was nobody else. She was the Key and the Key was operating as it should but she was also Dawn and for Dawn things were most definitely not going as they should. Quite apart from the problem of the Earth Hellmouth Dawn didn't want to be part of the Key now and forever. She wanted to be Dawn. She wanted her life back.

Others had been involved in the process or rather still were involved in the process in the timeless and forever way of the Key. All this is making my brain hurt thought Dawn briefly as an aside. These other young women were also linked to the Key and like Dawn were in some way the Key as well. Dawn had seen them when she had arrived back on the original world of Kallistien. They were like Dawn and part of the process somehow. But they were no longer visible. Either they were now totally a part of the Key or they like Dawn were off somewhere anonymous and unknown conducting their own mental rebellion.

Dawn's awareness didn't any longer include seeing anything around her. From the perspective of the onlookers on Kallistien her body might still be standing in a circle in the grass amongst the other women. Or it might be floating around in some bland unknown Key dimension where Keepers went to unite with the Key or...

Dawn pulled herself away from that train of thought. The more she thought about all this the less she understood. The more she tried to understand the more she began to sink into becoming a part of the Key or becoming the Key itself. This wasn't surprising she supposed because to understand the Key she probably really had to be the Key and she didn't want that.

Yes, hopefully the Key seemed to be putting things back together again the way they should be and Dawn had a general sense of that happening. But what did that mean for planet Earth? What did that mean for her friends? What did it mean for her sister?

Did the Key have any idea of what was right and wrong? Would it care if there were casualties along the way? When Glory had used the Key to open the doors with other worlds it could have destroyed the Earth and the Key wouldn't have cared any more than any other tool or machine cared when it was being used for the purpose for which it was made. Or perhaps it did but not soon enough to stop it. It could clear up after the event but not act swiftly enough to block the original calamity.

Things were not going right on Earth, Dawn could feel that and she felt a growing urgency to do something about it. I do want to put things right she thought. But I don't care about the Multiverse and all that. Or rather I don't want to care about the whole Multiverse. The Key can take care of that. All I want to do is make sure things are put right back home. But what to do? And how to do it?

I'm gonna do something, thought Dawn. I'm not going to just stand, float, exist or whatever while things just happen. There must be something I can do to see what's going on. There must be some way I can influence the Key. Some way I can control it or at least control what I'm doing and where I am.

Why else am I a part of the Key she thought? Why those other women as well? Surely there has to be some sort of human input? There has to be some sort of human idea of right and wrong included in the process or why not just have the Key without any humans involved at all? Why not make the whole thing work automatically, like a sun burning or a galaxy revolving?

As the time raced or crawled by Dawn felt a growing tug. Something was pulling her towards...? It wasn't a physical tug but a mental one. Something was calling her to get her to move towards it mentally. But without knowing why, Dawn felt herself resisting. She didn't want to go. But did she have any choice? Was this a pull to merge with the Key? Was this something that would mean the end of Dawn as a separate person? Or was it a pull from her home, a pull to take her back to Sunnydale?

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Satan now began to move. He was in no hurry. After all, he had eternity before him. The link through to Earth now seemed to be secure and the join permanent. And if everything at the other end had gone according to plan there would be no opposition on the other side. Everybody at the other end of the Hellmouth would be in stasis as part of the Hellmouth set up.

In a way Satan was disappointed by this. It had been a long time since he had been really tested, since he had felt satisfaction at beating his enemies and destroying them. That was the trouble with trying to be omnipotent he thought. The better you got at it the more pointless everything became.

But maybe there would be opposition later, in the area outside the immediate vicinity of the Hellmouth he thought. It was a big world, with all sorts of powers, good, bad and otherwise. There must be something there that could test him. There might just be somebody there who was worth defeating. Satan could no longer even consider the possibility of defeat for himself. The most that he could anticipate was opposition that would last long enough to provide some entertainment.

Whatever opposition there might be would of course be weakened by the non-participation of whoever had joined in the Hellmouth reopening. They would no longer be a factor. Whoever was involved in that would soon be destroyed by Satan and the forces he would lead into the new demonic bridgehead he was about to establish.

On his order the waiting minions ranked some way behind him remained unmoving as Satan walked forward. He would have a look himself to confirm that all was well before personally leading his armies through into the upper world. He was confident that there would be nothing on the other side that could hurt him but no harm in a look first just to be sure. Once he knew exactly how things looked he could determine just how he wanted to proceed.

Walking forward became climbing upwards and then more walking but there was no barrier, nothing to cause any difficulty in moving towards the world above. Or rather there was no barrier in the way until Satan approached the entry point into Earth. There in front of him was a figure, a human sized and shaped figure which was stood just beneath the final opening up into the basement area where the Hellmouth had been opened.

As Satan continued forward he could see that it was a woman who was stood waiting for him. Could it be the Wolfram and Hart woman Lilah Morgan who had carried out the negotiations? Were the law firm having second thoughts or were they looking to increase their price at the last minute? He had heard of the reputation that Wolfram and Hart had acquired over the centuries and knew not to rule anything out.

With an effort Satan stopped himself from unleashing one of his fearsome rages. If Wolfram and Hart were indeed up to something he had to be prepared to think it through. He would fight them if he must but he saw no advantage in doing so unless he had to. Wolfram and Hart should be on the same side as he was. But that was in the long term. In the short term they might have very different ideas.

Satan came to a halt a few yards in front of the woman. Now he could see it was not Lilah Morgan, or at least it didn't look like her. But of course looks could be deceiving, something he had used to his advantage any number of times.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked. "And what are you doing here?"

"My name's Eve and I work for Wolfram and Hart," said the woman. "I'm a close associate of Lilah Morgan. I think you've met her."

"I knew another Eve once," said Satan untruthfully. He always thought it fun to keep up the pretence that he was the 'real' Satan. He thought it gave him an advantage, and besides it usually worried those he dealt with. "Explain yourself or get out of the way. I'm not going to renegotiate anything with Wolfram and Hart. Not now."

"I'm here to warn you," said Eve. "If you carry on through the Hellmouth you'll be destroyed. It has been foreseen. Much better for everybody if you go back to your own world and shut the door behind you."

"It sounds like you're threatening me" said Satan ominously. "You think you can do that after all I've done for you and your people? You'll need more than words to stop me going up there."

"Look, I'm trying to save you," said Eve. "I'm not making a threat. I'm telling you things have changed, or rather they are about to change. If you try to go through you'll be destroyed. That's just a fact, not a threat."

"Either you get out of the way or I will destroy you," said Satan, now in a fury and as he spoke he stepped forward and swung his arm to brush the woman from his path. But as he did so the woman faded away. Not a particularly impressive piece of magic, thought Satan, but something that an ordinary human, even a magically powerful human, should not have been able to do inside a Hellmouth.

But Satan didn't pause long in thought. There was no chance that he would be persuaded to go back to his own Hell Dimension, no chance at all. All the woman had achieved had been to anger him. But then perhaps that was the idea he thought as he started forward once again.

Eve reappeared behind the angry Satan. She turned and watched his back, a slight smile on her face. "Well he can't say I didn't warn him," she muttered quietly to herself. As she stood and watched, her appearance changed and then it was Dawn standing there, not Eve.