Chapter 20: Some days you wake and immediately start to worry. Its just the suspicion that forces are aligning quietly and there will be trouble.

“Come on, you know you want to.”

“You know you were much easier to tolerate when you were weepy.” Buffy said coolly.

“Go with that, luv.” Spike bounced along beside her as they walked through the tunnels. “Come on, hit me.”

“May I remind you we are out here for a reason?” Shadow appeared between them. “And it isn’t for you to test out your new gifts.” He said the word gifts as if it were a curse.

“Hey, I was all for doing this before we went out this morning.” Spike protested, elbowing past Shadow to be closer to Buffy.

“Spike.” Angel said in a warning tone. Then he sighed. Why did he always have to sound like the father figure?

“Wot? What’s the use of me being all-powerful now when we don’t know how powerful I am? Let me and the Slayer go at it for a bit.” He grinned. “See what comes of it?”

Buffy turned towards him. “And why don’t you go find Illyria, instead? See what comes of that?”

Spike’s grin got bigger. “Jealous?”

“No, I just think she would be a perfect partner for you to spar with.”

“Ah, pet you know there’s no one I’d rather get hot and sweaty with.” Then he concentrated on that part of himself she owned and sent all sorts of delicious x-rated images towards her.

Her eyes flashed several different colors and she stumbled before regaining control. However, Spike got a whiff of the arousal that briefly permeated the air before she did.

There she was. His girl.

Having won that small battle, Spike pulled back.

It was incredible, this new essence inside of him. It had the experience and knowledge of thousands of years of existence, yet almost no idea of emotions or interpersonal relationships. The combination allowed him to look at things with fresh eyes. It gave him a perspective that allowed him to step back and see things differently. He realized that instead of breaking down Buffy’s walls all at once he needed to work on building up that little bit inside of her that still felt happiness and love. He needed to support her and give her the strength to hopefully take back control.

His link with Buffy was still there, as was his link with Angel. He just had to learn to recognize them again and now that he had he was using them to systematically attack the walls she had so carefully erected. Any chance he got to cause that logical side to lose control was a victory to him.

It started this morning when he presented her with some wildflowers he had sent Illyria outside the caves to collect (which she did with quite a bit of complaint). Buffy, of course threw the flowers to the ground, but not before Spike could sense the spark of happiness inside of her. It would only be a matter of time before he was able to bring her back. He knew it.

Currently, he was with the other three, once again searching for the Thunder Dragon fortress. He could feel the resonance of the Old One’s power all around, but like Illyria he couldn’t figure out how to access it.

Illyria and Myoko were also searching with the soldiers while Simon tried to contact the other team some how. As of now they were several days late. Angel was becoming increasingly concerned that something had happened to them. Spike was becoming increasingly concerned that something could have happened to Dawn and cursed himself for leaving her behind like that.

Angel had told him not to worry about Dawn though. He said he had his best man working on it. Spike didn’t know what that meant, but he hoped Peaches was right. Aside from his own concern for the girl, he didn’t want to reach Buffy only to have her retreat again if she found out her sister had been harmed in all of this.

Spike walked along side of Angel. “What can you tell me about this bloke you sent in to help Dawn? Is he a supernatural?”

“Of sorts. He comes from a strong family.”

Spike snorted. “Blue thinks he’s your son.”

Angel’s feeling of surprised guilt had Spike stopping dead in his tracks.

“Bloody hell!! How…”

“Not now.” Angel hissed, jerking his head towards Buffy and Shadow who had stopped up ahead and were looking back at them expectantly.

“And you get pissy with me for shutting you out! You are such a conceited, controlling ass!! I can’t believe you kept something like this from me!”

Spike could feel his shame and anger rise up, but he refused to back down.

“Its not like you’ve been around to confide in Spike. Remember, you’re dead. You didn’t want anything to do with any of us.”

“Maybe that’s because you always treated me like I was less than you. Do you treat your son the same way?”

Angel growled his face changing as he grabbed Spike around the throat.

Before things could get out of hand Shadow appeared next to them. “Maybe we should stop working and let you continue to pick fights with everyone.” Shadow called back. “Your need for drama far outweighs the mission objectives.”

Spike broke from Angel’s grip and turned towards Shadow. “I’d love to get you in a room with nothing but light some time.” He growled.

Before Shadow could say anything in response though, Spike caught sight of one of the vamps sneaking down a tunnel up ahead.

The others alerted to its presence by Spike’s change in demeanor also spied it and without another word they all took off after it.



Time was no longer a factor.

Neither was reality.

There was pain. Muscle cramps. Hunger cramps.

Even during the black outs the pain was there. Her only constant.

There weren’t any more tears to cry. Her body was too exhausted to even sob.

Dawn lay curled in the darkness of her tiny prison the stench of her own filth surrounded her. Hopelessness filled her.

She didn’t even pray for death. She knew it was coming soon enough.


“Dawn.”

”Dawn are you there?”

“Dawn please respond.”

“Bloody hell”

“Still nothing?” Willow asked, barely looking up from the texts she was reading.

“No, and I don’t know whether its this infernal machine or if something’s wrong.”

“I don’t think it’s the machine both Oz and I looked it over and were able to fix it.” Willow said defensively.

“Well, forgive me if that isn’t terribly comforting.” Giles snapped.

“Maybe you need to expand the signal. What if there was a problem and she had to set up camp somewhere else?”

“And how do I go about doing that?” Giles asked, the frustration clear in his voice.

Willow sighed and stood up to adjust the settings. Giles moved out of her way, standing up only to begin pacing.

“You need to get some sleep Giles. That’s one of the reasons we stopped here, remember?”

“I was under the impression we stopped here so you and Xander could pursue your romantic notions.” Giles answered irritably.

“All right, Mr. Cranky Pants, enough.” Willow got upset. “We came to Oz’s monastery because it’s only a few hours away from the caves and we wanted to regroup and get some rest. Plus you wanted to question the prisoner…”

”Which got us nothing.” Giles interrupted.

“…And try to fix the computer equipment so we could reach Dawn and Andrew…”

“And I haven’t been able to reach either one.”

“I know you’re worried, but you need to get some rest. We’re moving out in the morning.”

“And who knows if they are even still alive in the caves. For all we know Shadow’s team has killed them all by now.”

“I give up.” Willow said, throwing her hands in the air and standing up. “I’ve changed your settings so the signal will reach out farther. You may want to be careful, other people could pick it up now if they are on the same frequency, but you’ll be able to tell right away if its Dawn.”

She looked him in the eyes. “I’m going to get some sleep. You really need to do the same.”

But Giles was already back in front of the screen.

“Dawn.”

“Dawn, are you there?”

Willow shook her head and prepared a sleep spell in her mind.

“Giles…” She wanted to give him one last chance before she cast.

“Willow, very shortly I will have all the time in the world to do nothing but rest.” Giles finally admitted, defeated. “In fact resting is all I’ll get to do, but before that happens I would like to make sure that the rest of you will be ok.”

Willow stood there gaping at him. He couldn’t mean what she thought he meant.

“Giles?”

“I don’t wish to discuss this now, but I’m sick. And if the way I’ve been feeling lately is any indication I don’t have much time left.”

“Why? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because we have more important things to worry about other than my health.”

”Is there anything I can do?”

”Yes, you can tell no one about this and then you can find the others and make sure they are ready to move at daybreak.”

“Ok.” She paused. “I’m so sorry.” She quickly left the room.

“Yes, so am I.” Giles said to himself, then turned back to the computer.

“Dawn.”

“Dawn, are you there?”

“Dawn, answer me.”

Static burst over the speakers.

“…iles….at you?”

“Dear lord.”

“Giles!” This time it came through clear.

“Andrew? What are you doing in Kathmandu?”


Helena and Pixie stood outside the monastery staring up at the Himalayas standing majestically before them. For once they weren’t even arguing.

“So are you prepared to do this?” Pixie asked.

Helena didn’t answer, remembering the conversation they had earlier with the prisoner.

The others had been working with Oz and the other monks researching the Thunder Dragon. It had turned out that the monks had long been aware of the threat of his return. That was why the monastery had been built high up in these mountains. They considered themselves the line of defense. However, while they had lots of information on the Thunder Dragon, himself, they had almost none on the prophecy regarding the ‘Warrior of Stone’ or Wolfram and Hart or even the First.

Pixie and Helena decided it was time for them to ‘question’ the prisoner.

One of the monks let them into the cell, locking the solid oak door behind them. There was a tiny slit of a window in the small stone room, two inches wide by two feet long. The man sat chained to a cot his eyes staring unblinking at the ceiling.

“We need to talk.” Helena said.

The man didn’t respond.

“Time for show and tell.” Pixie sang out.

Both women pulled out medallions, smaller but matching the one the man wore around his neck. The muttered a phrase in Sumerian and all three medallions began to glow.

The man sat up almost immediately and fixed Helena with a glare.

“And you still tried to kill me, even knowing who I was?” He said.

“I was afraid you were going to blow our cover.”

“Your cover was meant to be blown. They were never supposed to make it this far.”

“We were supposed to help you dispose of them.” Pixie said slowly with realization.

“Of course, you twits.” He shook his limbs and the chains fell off as if they were never even attached. “Now we have no time to waste. Adjustments must be made.”

“What do we need to do?” Helena asked, ready to follow his orders, knowing they came directly from Shadow.

“Kill them.” Was his response.


“Hellooo.” Pixie called Helena back. “Earth to Kitty Cat.”

“What?”

“What? I asked if you were ready, but you were off in LaLa land.”

“Why would Shadow want them dead?” Helena asked, more herself than Pixie.

“He must have taken a higher bid. It’s happened before, you know that.”

“Does he think to stop this Thunder Dragon on his own?”

“Who said he wants to stop it?”

“What do you mean?” Helena demanded. “That would mean the end of the world.”

“Or its enslavement, depending on who you talk to.”

“Even still, surely he can’t want that.”

“Who’s to say? All it comes down to, Kitty Cat, is who you take orders from.”

Helena didn’t answer.

“Is this world really so great?” Pixie asked her. “What about what the humans have done to the land, the animals, your own people? Maybe having something new in charge isn’t such a bad thing.”

Helena still looked troubled.

“What if by doing this you had a chance to make things right for those people?” Pixie insisted.

“I’m not sure I know what right is anymore.” Helena murmured.

“Well the time to figure it out is now. We have to make our move.” She looked back towards the monastery. “He’s probably already started.”

Helena nodded distractedly.

“Do you want me to do the humans so you can take care of the witch and the werewolf?”

“No, I’ll do it.” Helena stopped. “What about the other monks? Most of them are also werewolves.”

“This is supposed to be a mission of stealth, not slaughter. We should be in and out before they know what’s happened.”

”All right then.”

“Don’t worry Kitty. I’m sure we can find you a new toy when this is over. You won’t even remember what’s his name.”

“Its Xander, and I won’t forget it.”



The pain slowly began to fade away.

Everything began to fade away. It was all leaving.

After the sensory pain, the emotional pain began to drift away.

She began to release herself.

Memories flew past her, but she just let them go with no more than a passing interest.

Working with Andrew…

Looking for Buffy…

College in Italy…

Losing her virginity to Franco…

Faster and faster things began to leave her. The battle with the First, her first time patrolling with Buffy, watching Buffy jump off the tower, her mother’s dead body.

Glory.

Then things began to go differently. Her life continued to float past her, but now the visions were wisps of dreams and next to them were other memories. Dreams of past she never remembered.

Monks, different realms, different worlds, different powers. Farther and farther she drifted through time and space…

…breaking apart, becoming nothing yet part of everything.


“I know he came in here.” Angel was saying as he peered around the darkness of the cavern.

“Oh, don’t worry he’s here all right. I can sense him.” Spike said confidently.

“Yes, he’s right.” Spike glanced at Buffy and saw the whiteness of her eyes that meant the Slayer was taking charge.

“You two will have to lead us then.” Shadow said. “We’d just be going in blind.”

Like a shot Buffy was off. Spike could feel the Slayer’s glee at being able to destroy the vampire. Spike could also feel her hatred towards him.

There was something else, though. Spike could fell it. It was something familiar that called to him.

“Buffy wait.” He shouted, but he knew it was too late; she had already leapt forward into the cavern. He tried to dash after her, but instead hit a barrier that felt like a brick wall, even though he couldn’t see anything.

Spike let out a roar and pounded on the barrier that kept him from his Slayer.

Something clawed at his flesh, ripping through the skin, he barely heard Angel calling out his name in warning. Pure instinct had his hand reaching out and ripping the vampire’s head from its body. Its dust had barely begun to dissipate before he was once again pounding against the barrier.

“Spike, what’s wrong? What’s happened?” Angel’s voice was yelling in his ear. Spike stopped long enough to look at his companions.

“The Slayer seems to be all right.” Shadow commented thoughtfully.

Spike face forward and could see that Shadow was correct. Buffy didn’t even appear to notice they couldn’t reach her. She was walking cautiously around the cavern looking for the vampire.

As she approached the back wall Spike could see rocks begin to glow. The closer she came the brighter they seemed to get.

“It looks like she found our door opener.” Angel said.

“We don’t know what she’s found.” Spike growled.

“Maybe I can slip through, since I don’t have to go through the barrier.” He disappeared before either one of them could say anything.

“This is wrong.” Spike shouted. He turned to Angel. “Its all WRONG!”

“Calm down, Spike. Yes, this isn’t good, but there’s no need to lose your head.”

“You don’t get it. This is what we’ve come for.” When Angel looked at him uncomprehending. “This is the source of its power.”

“What?”

“This is the gateway to the Thunder Dragon’s power.”

They turned towards Buffy, Shadow appeared next to Buffy just as she reached out and touched one of the glowing stones.

“NO!!” Spike yelled.

There was nothing either one could do as the back wall shimmered, and then parted like a curtain revealing the Thunder Dragon’s army.

Each warrior stood about seven feet tall and closely resembled a small dinosaur. They had long thin arms with probably a good three-foot reach with long black talons tipping their hands. They also had large jaws filled with long black teeth. The most frightening thing was the intelligence that was clear in their eyes. These were no mindless minions; these were calculating warriors, capable of ripping an enemy apart.

For a long moment nothing moved. Buffy and Shadow stared at the creatures and they stared back. Then one of them seemed to sniff at the air and let out a low whine.

Everything suddenly exploded into motion.


“Andrew, what’s going on?” Giles demanded.

There was a loud burst of static then Andrew’s voice came through clearly.

“Dawn is in trouble. When I couldn’t reach her after she sent me a copy of the prophecy from the Rogue’s computer tech I knew I had to come find her.” He paused, but before Giles could ask any questions he continued on. “We’re all in a lot of trouble. When I read the translated prophecy I found out how much. After I get Dawn out, we’re going to head up there to you, you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

“What did the prophecy say?” Giles asked.

“I’m sending you a copy right now. I don’t trust this connection to tell you what it said. I highlighted the most important part.”

“What has happened to Dawn? Is she going to be all right?”

“I don’t know. I hope so, but it may already be too late. We’re going in tonight. I just hope we’re not too late.”

“Too late. Good Lord. We never should have left her behind.” Then a thought struck him. “Andrew, do you think its wise to go in there by yourself?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not alone. I have Lorne, some blue guy named Henri, plus there’s Angel’s son.”

“Angel’s what? Andrew you’re breaking up. I didn’t get that last part.”

“File’s done.” A happy female voice sounded from Giles’ computer.

“You need to go read that and we need to go save Dawn before it is too late.”

“All right. Contact me as soon as you have news.”

“Will do.” Andrew agreed. “Be careful Giles. You’re in more danger than you know.”

”You be careful too, Andrew.”

Andrew signed off and Giles quickly opened the file and began to read. He was so engrossed in his reading he never noticed the door behind him slowly opening.

“Good Lord.” He muttered, and then sat back abruptly. “But that means…” He took his glasses off and polished them thoughtfully. Behind him, their prisoner slipped into the room and picked up a pillow.

“Good Lord!!” Giles exclaimed again, his brain finally putting everything together. He sat forward with a shot, snatching his glasses back on his face and leaning forward to make sure he read the prophecy correctly.

“But that means Buffy is…”

Behind him the pillow was raised over his head.



The creatures moved forward as one. There were hundreds, thousands of them. Shadow dissolved before the first line reached them, leaving Buffy to fend for herself. She jumped back and to the side, trying to get out of the way of the main force, when she did she managed to hit the glowing stones allowing the barrier to drop in front of Angel and Spike.

Spike surged forward and almost fell on his face, but he managed to catch himself quickly. He ran towards Buffy as soon as he caught his balance. He gave no thought at all to the fact that he was leaving Angel to fend for himself.

Before he knew it he was surrounded by the creatures, but he noticed none of them bothered to attack him unless he got in their way and then they would usually just push him aside, not bothering to finish the job in their hurry to get out.

Spike did his share of pushing though. If one of the beasts got in his way he would snap its neck before moving on, the only thought he had was to reach Buffy’s side.

He had no idea of how many he killed by the time he finally reached her.

“They don’t want us.” She yelled over the noise of their stampede. She paused to kick one of the creatures, sweeping its legs out from under it, and then she bent quickly to drive her stake into its eye. It twitched once and lay still.

Behind her more of the creatures poured out through the doorway.

“We have to stop as many as we can.” Spike said as he grabbed the closest one and snapped its neck. That was when he remembered the stones that Buffy touched to open the doorway. He quickly moved to one of the rocks and began pushing on them in an attempt to close the veil, but nothing happened.

“Slayer.” He bellowed. “How do you work this thing?”

“Now isn’t the time Spike.” Buffy must have dropped or broken her stake because now she held a large rock in her hands that she was using to smash skulls.

“Really? And here I though closing the door and shutting of their access point would be a good idea.” Spike snarled at her.

She looked at him almost surprised at his logic, but quickly moved. “I hit this one to open it.” She touched the rock she indicated and Spike was relieved to see the wall shimmer and start to reform cutting off the parade of warriors.

Before he could even sigh, however, Angel yelled out. “Spike, the coffin.”

Spike and Buffy both looked up to see a group of the beasts headed towards Angel’s direction carrying a coffin that looked a lot like Illyria’s only more ornate. Spike could also see that with the all of the creatures Angel had no way to get anywhere near the coffin.

“Seal the barrier.” Spike yelled.

“No.” Buffy shook her head. “They are too far up ahead, we’ll just trap ourselves.”

“Fine. Then we’ll do it the hard way.” Spike set off after them with Buffy right behind him. They pushed into the crowd, passing Angel on the way.

“Hey Peaches, whenever you’re done playing, grab Shadow from wherever he’s hiding and help us out.”

Angel grunted, then got shoved to the ground.


Xander had just finished brushing his teeth and was about to get some sleep when there was a knock at his door.

“I know, Will. Time for lights out.” He said as he opened the door, surprised to find Helena standing there.

“Uh, hey.” Xander looked down realizing he was standing there in his boxers. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

“Except Willow.”

“Well, yeah.”

”Does she often tuck you into bed?”

Xander blushed. “No, but she usually makes sure I go to bed on time. Especially when we have a lot to do the next day. This one time when we were still in school…” Xander stopped abruptly. “Uh, never mind.”

Inwardly he cursed himself. How many years had he spent on his own? A woman showing up at his bedroom door was nothing new to him. So why was it that he now found himself acting like the insecure nerd he was in high school instead of the man he had become?

He shook his head. “Do you want to come in?” He opened the door farther to make sure she could see that there was nowhere to sleep in the small monastic cell. Just a bed and a basin to wash in.

Helena tilted her head and studied him. “Do you want me to come in?”

Xander smiled. “Only if you want to.”

“We could do this all night.”

“That seems like it would be a waste.”

Helena slipped past him into the room, making sure to brush up against him on the way. The feeling of the soft fur that covered her made his groin stir. She sat on his bed and looked up at him while he closed the door.

“I’ve been avoiding you.” She stated.

“I noticed. I understand why though.”

”No I don’t think you do.”

“Do you wanna explain it to me?” He sat next to her on the bed, not close enough to touch her, but close enough that it wouldn’t take much to touch her.

“Ever since we took this mission I’ve felt torn. This has never happened before. I always perform my tasks with the utmost professionalism. However, we’ve never worked with another team before, either.”

“Why does that make the difference?”

“Seeing how close you all are, how much you care about each other and watching how you all strive to help the world. It makes me wonder about my own loyalties.”

“I thought we all wanted the same thing, to stop Wolfram and Hart and The First.”

Helena tilted her head and didn’t say anything.

“Am I wrong here?” Xander felt his muscles begin to tense. His mind was already thinking on how he could reach the gun under his pillow without alerting her.

Finally she looked up and met his eyes. “I’ve been ordered to kill you.” She stated.


“I mean Giles, sick. I don’t even know how to process this. I don’t even remember him with a cold.” Willow paused. “Well except for that one time, but that doesn’t count because all of us were sick. And it wasn’t a natural sick it was a spell sick. I mean we were sick from a spell, but that’s it. This is like serious sick, like dying serious.”

“Everyone dies.” Oz said as he sat at a table watching Willow pace.

“No Giles. Well, I know he can die, but not now. We need him. He’s the one that keeps us all together and he’s the only one who can do it because he’s all grown up like and stuff. And the Council. He runs the Council. Who would run the Council if her were dead. And don’t forget the research. He always knows what books to looking for research.
Without Giles the Council will fall apart, we’ll fall apart and no one will know how to find anything.”

“Willow.”

“And contacts!” Willow continued on, not listening. “None of us know any of his contacts. I don’t even know who he has on the inside with the First. How will we be able to defeat them if we don’t have an inside guy?”

“Willow!” Oz yelled. “Relax. I don’t think he’s planning on dying tonight.”

“But you don’t know. We can’t know. This is one of those times I wish I was still evil Willow.” She threw herself down in one of the chairs next to him and immediately made a face. “You couldn’t invest in some comfier chairs?” She grumbled.

“It’s considered a luxury.” Oz explained. “Why do you wish you were still Evil Willow?”

“Because she could find a spell to fix Giles. She would make him well.”

“Yeah, but at what cost to herself or to him?”

“I know. I know all that. Logically I do, but I can’t help the way I feel.”

“I know. You want to help people.”

The two of them sat quietly for a few minutes. “I’m sorry about Tara.” Oz said finally. Willow nodded her thanks as a sad smile crossed her face.

“They say it gets easier. It doesn’t hurt as much as it once did, but I still miss her everyday.”

“She was a special person.”

A timid knocking at the door interrupted their conversation.

“That has to be Mimoko. Even her knock sounds Japanese.” Willow got up to answer the door. “Was that racist? Cause I didn’t mean it be.”

Oz smiled. “I know what you meant.”

Willow opened the door and greeted the Japanese girl.

“I don’t mean to disturb you, but I had some thoughts I wanted to share with you.”

“Come on in. You aren’t disturbing us. We could use the fresh brain cells.”

”Thank you.”

Willow gestured for the polite girl to take a seat at the table with them.

“So what’s on your mind?”

“Its about the Rogues. I don’t think we should continue to trust them.”

“I don’t exactly trust them now.”

Mimoko shook her head. “No, I mean we should go our separate ways. I think they will try to harm us.”

“What makes you say that?” Oz asked.

“Well first of all we are almost to the caves, if they were going to attack while we were separated from the other group they are almost out of time. This will make them bold.”

“Good point.” Willow said with a frown.

“Also I believe the attack that came before was from them.”

”Why would Cat want us to kill that guy then?”

“So he couldn’t tell us they were working together.”

“That was my first thought when it happened.” Oz admitted. “But there isn’t any proof.”

“There is though.” Mimoko insisted. “The medallion our prisoner wears around his neck, both Cat and Pixie carry smaller versions of it. I’ve seen them.”

“This isn’t good.” Willow said.

“Not much about his situation is.” Oz agreed.

“What do we do now?” She asked him.

“I’m thinking first thing: make sure the prisoner is secure and then get everyone together. We don’t want anyone to be alone and get attacked.”

“Shouldn’t we get everyone together first, then go after the prisoner?” Mimoko asked.

“This is my home. I’ll take care of the prisoner, you two go get the others.” Oz insisted.

“I really think…” Mimoko tried again.

“I know how to get there and back safely. Besides the sooner we know, the better.”

“You probably know best.” She conceded, and then nodded at Willow. “We should go now.”

“Ok, Xander first or Giles.”

“I’ll be back in a few.” Oz said before slipping out the door.

“Probably Giles. He will have more ideas.” Mimoko said. She followed Willow out the door. Since her back was to her Willow never noticed the small girl’s eyes glow a brilliant green as they walked out the door. She pulled a small, but sharp looking knife from her back pocket and followed closely behind the witch.



The last pieces of the being that used to be Dawn were about to break apart. Soon there would be nothing, just peaceful oblivion.

Then suddenly it all stopped.

“NO!!” A voice came from the void. How she could hear with no ears flitted through her mind, but the thought left as soon as it came. Her essence came to an abrupt halt.

“It isn’t your time yet. You must go back.”

Dawn was surprised she still had eyes to open, but she did and found herself staring into her own eyes.

“You must go back. They need you. You must fight with them.”

‘But there is so much pain. Please I can’t take anymore.’ Whether she spoke or thought her response, Dawn wasn’t sure. She was surprised to see her own face staring back at her.

“You can get past the pain. Soon the light will come back. You must head for the light.”

Now she was confused, Dawn thought that heading for the light was what people did when they died.

“I’m sending you back. You work is not done yet. You are the Key still you have a destiny that needs to be fulfilled.”

Again Dawn tried to refuse. ‘Please, let me rest. I don’t want to do anymore.’

“Soon you will find your other half. Only together can you be whole.” The other Dawn smiled. “It is time, you must return. They have come for you.”

Dawn tried to protest, tried to argue with herself, but instead she felt herself moving backwards. Her sense of self began to return with her memories and senses. So did the pain.

She screamed when the pain hit. She felt the noise echoing through herself and the little box she once again found herself in.

Then there was light. Bright white light.

“Dawn!!”

“Jumping grasshoppers!! How long has she been in here?”

“From the smell of things quite a while.”

Strong arms lifted her out of the box, ignoring the filth that covered her. Her screams were still rocking through her body, shaking it violently, but the arms never let her fall. A hand brushed the matted hair from her face and she saw the kindest brown eyes.

“Shhh. You’re ok now. We’ve got you.” Her screams tapered off until they were just gasping little sobs. “We’re going to take care of you.” The voice whispered. With that Dawn let go of consciousness, entrusting herself to the man with the warm eyes.



Buffy watched Spike’s hair as he raced ahead of her after the coffin. No matter how hard she pushed or what aspect of her personality she called on she couldn’t catch up to him. She was aware that they passed Illyria and Myoko with the Soldiers. They were too caught up in fighting the warriors that were passing to stop and join the chase with them, though.

The crowd of creatures had thinned out dramatically, most had already escaped ahead of them and shutting the curtain had cut off the chance of any coming up behind them.

They raced through the now destroyed camp they had set up and kept moving, heading for the entrance into the tunnels. Buffy knew that if Spike didn’t stop them before they reached the mouth of the cave he wouldn’t be able to go any farther because of the light.

Spike seemed to realize this too, because he suddenly leapt forward in a burst of speed. Buffy tried to follow his example, but found she had nothing left to give and soon she lost sight of Spike.


She stayed on course though; she could sense where he was through the claim, even though she didn’t acknowledge it.

A bellow of pain sounded as she rounded a corner and she could feel a corresponding echo of the pain through the claim.

She came upon Spike, in game face growling out at the sunlight that prevented him from pursuing them any farther.

She pushed on, never slowing her speed. Sunlight wouldn’t stop her.

She was surprised when suddenly a hand clamped down on her arm, causing her momentum to swing them both around.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Spike snarled.

“My mission, we need to stop that coffin.”

“Not alone you’re not.”

”I don’t have time for this. If I’m the only one, then yes alone!!”

“No! I’m not going to let you do that. You’ll only get yourself killed.”

“I need to do this. If we don’t stop them now, we might not get another chance.”

“I don’t bloody care, you aren’t going out there by yourself!”

Fed up with this, Buffy threw an elbow towards his face, catching him off guard. He let go of her momentarily giving her the chance to jump forward into the sunlight. With the demon inside of her, she didn’t like sunlight, but she could still tolerate it without dusting. She was shocked when Spike jumped after her. She heard him scream in pain again, but he caught hold of her and dragged her back with him. They both landed in a pile on the ground.

Buffy immediately started fighting and struggling to free herself, but found his arms banded around her like steel.

“Let me go!” She demanded.

“Not going to happen!” Spike yelled through his haze of pain.

With no other way to subdue, Spike did the only thing left that he could think of. He buried his fangs in her neck, holding her tightly to him, while growling out orders to the younger vampire. She continued to struggle for a few more seconds until the vampire side of her finally responded and took over.

When her struggles stopped Spike released her, turning her to face him. He stared into her golden eyes for a moment.

“Buffy, I never meant to shut you out or reject you. I was upset with myself for not being there for you when you went through all that. And the fact that she used my image to make you turn away from yourself…” He studied her face. “I love you. You are my life and I will never leave you again. And there is nothing you can do to make me.”

He watched for any sign he was getting through to her, but golden eyes were all he saw. “Please Buffy come back to me. I know you can hear me in there. Please, baby. I need you.” He brushed his lips lightly across hers.

When he pulled back it wasn’t golden eyes he saw. Her eyes were back to normal, only this wasn’t the cold indifferent woman that appeared in Kathmandu. This woman had emotions. Love, hope, joy. He could see them.

“Buffy.” He breathed in awe. She was there. She took control. He knew she could.

“Spike.” She clung to him now. “I love you.”

“Oh, Princess, I’ve got you.” He held her tight. “I’ve got you and I’m not letting go.”

She pulled back to kiss him passionately.

“Well, once again, it seems you’ve caused us to lose sight of the mission.” At the sound of Shadow’s voice Buffy snapped back. Spike could see that Logical Buffy was back in control.

She jumped off of him like he was on fire, quickly putting distance between them. “They took the coffin out into the light. When Spike couldn’t go after them, he wouldn’t let me go either. Then he tried to control me.”

“That’s not quite what happened.”

“Yes it is. You tried to play on my emotions to manipulate me into doing what you wanted.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Shadow said. “We’ve obviously lost them by now. We know they are taking the coffin to the fortress that has been built higher up. Our only course of action now is to fall back and plan an assault against them. It will be infinitely more difficult this way.” He finished looking at Spike.

“We can still stop them if we go after them now.” Buffy insisted.

“Slayer.” The warning in Shadow’s voice made her stop abruptly.

“I’m sorry.”

“We need to head back and let the other’s know what’s happened. We also need to see what we can salvage from the camp.”

Buffy nodded.

Spike stood up, he opened his mouth to say something to Buffy, but Shadow cut him off.

”I think it best if you return with me. I’m sure Spike can find his way back.”

Spike watched Buffy moved to Shadow’s side. When she got there, her wrapped her in his arms and they both dissolved into the shadows.

“I didn’t know he could do that.” Spike muttered.

It was then that Angel ran up. “What did I miss?”

Spike gave him a big grin. “You missed a breakthrough.”

“What?”

”I’m getting through to her. Its only a matter of time.”

“And the coffin?”

Spike jerked his thumb to the cave’s entrance.

“Then let’s hope you have the time.” Angel said.

“Don’t worry. At the end of it all Buffy belongs to me.”



Oz raced down the halls towards their cells. He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn’t notice the other life forms headed his direction. He rounded a corner and ran into Raven, knocking her on the ground.

“I’m sorry.” He said and stopped. Before he could help her up though he noticed the person with her.

“Mimoko.” He said. “How did you get here?”

“What do you mean?” Raven asked, as the other girl looked at him confused.

“I just left her with Willow. They were going to check on Giles.”

“Mimoko has been with me since we arrived here.” Raven argued.

“Oh no. Willow.” Without another word Oz took off running back the way he came. The two Hogoshas followed after him.


Xander leaned back against the headboard of the bed, in what he hoped looked like a gesture of confidence. He crossed his arms on his chest, with one hand hidden by his arm, he surreptitiously tried to reach under the pillow for his gun.

Helena gave him a small amused smile. “Guns won’t work on me.”

“I’ve never been the type to go easily though.” Xander said smiling back.

“I didn’t think you would be.” She paused. “You don’t seem surprised. You were expecting this then.”

“If you knew how many of my girlfriends or dates turned out to be demons trying to kill me you’d understand.”

“Do you view me as your girlfriend?” Helena asked.

“No, but I was hoping we’d have a chance to get closer.”

“Really, even with knowing what and who I am.”

“I think I told you, I almost married and ex-vengeance demon. Things like that don’t matter anymore.”

“So you would be interested in pursuing a relationship with me?”

“Considering you are here to kill me I don’t think so anymore.”

“And if I wasn’t here to kill you, but here to warn you?’

“Is that why you are here?”

She paused. “I am confused. Pixie said that now was the time to make my decisions.”

“Pixie? She knows about this?”

“Yes, she has gone to take care of the witch and the werewolf.”

Xander jumped up off the bed grabbing his gun. He held it towards Helena.

“Pixie was right, you need to make a choice and you need to do it right now. This may not kill you, but it might slow you down and I need to get to Willow.”

Helena nodded and stood up. “I will go with you to see if I can help.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trap?” Xander hesitated.

“I could kill you now.” Xander wasn’t impressed, Helena sighed.

“I have to trust in you. I’m giving up the only home I’ve known since being cast out of the jungle. You have to trust in me as well.”

Xander nodded. “Let’s go.”



Willow knocked on Giles’ door, but got no response so she just went in.

“Giles.” She exclaimed when she found him laying face down on the computer. She rushed to his side.

Pixie wearing Mimoko’s body looked around cautiously before slowly entering behind her. She still had the glass knife clutched in her hand.

“He’s not breathing!” Willow pulled Giles to the floor and began to do CPR on him. “Giles come on.”

Pixie caught sight of a moving shadow hidden behind a large armoire on the back wall, but said nothing.

“Giles!!” Willow cried on the floor when it became apparent she wasn’t going to be able to save the Watcher.

It was then that the shadow moved forward. Willow looked up to see the prisoner moving towards her with intent. She began an incantation to protect herself, but then everything seemed to happen at once.

Oz and the Hogosha’s ran into the room calling her attention to them. She froze when she saw the second Mimoko, her eyes darting to the girl that had come with her into the room. Pixie let the glamour drop as the prisoner lunged for Willow with a knife in his hands. Oz tried to jump at Pixie, but she dodged him. She drove her own knife towards the prisoner, muttering some words in a different language. They watched as a dark inky substance seemed to leach out of him before she drove the knife into his chest, watching as he hit the floor. Some of the blood that sprayed from his wound splashed down Willow’s face as she looked on in awe.

Then Helena and Xander burst into the room. They took in the bodies lying on the floor and the others gathered around the room.

Pixie glanced at Helena. “I see you made your choice.”

“Giles.” Xander fell to the floor next to Willow.

“We were too late.” Willow said dully. “He’s gone.”


A/N: Thanks to Demonica for reminding what chapter I was on and catching the bunny. This chapter is for Ella who has been with it from the beginning and waiting patiently for it.
And thank you to whoever nominated this story at the Lost In Spike Awards and the Spuffy Awards. Everyone should go vote at the Spuffy awards. Thanks for staying with this story. I've already got the next chapter almost finished so another update soon.