Dead Amongst The Living
Author: PaulenaK ~
toukalah@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer:
Everything WWE belongs to Vince McMahon. Everything BTVS belongs to Joss
Whedon.
Author's Note: //
denotes dream state \\
**
Prologue
**
// "Buffy!" Dawn screamed from atop the tower.
"I'm coming Dawn... hold on!" Buffy screamed back, she
could see the beginnings of a portal opening from her position on the tower,
looking up she could see Dawn's face pleading with her to hurry.
"Buffy please... save me!"
She continued up creaky wooden stairs jumping over metal slabs
and pulling her way up through openings that lead her closer to Dawn.
"Buffy!"
"I'm almost there!"
She was close, she knew it... she could hear Dawn's sobs... see
the deeps cuts across her stomach and down her face... see the blood seep down
her legs and over the edge of the tower dripping almost sadistically,
laughingly into the portal below.
She wasn’t going to make it. Buffy ran towards her but she just
kept getting farther and farther away.
"Dawn! Dawn No!"
"Buffyyyyyyyyyy!"
"No! Dawnnnnnnnn!"
\\
"Buffy… Buffy? Wake up honey your having a
nightmare..."
The tears came then, and she turned hiding her face from the
comforting voice of her room mate. "Please forgive me... please forgive
me..." She repeated over and over again retreating back against the wall
almost as if she were trying to become one with it.
Victoria sat back on her knee's wishing her friend would open up
to her about the continuing nightmare that plagued her... but she would never
say a word... she would just roll over like she always did and in the morning
she would act like it had never happened.
"What happened in your past, Buffy? What happened that was
so bad to make you how you are..." She whispered as she pulled the covers
up and over her friend, the soft hiccuping she heard a sign that at least now
her sobbing was spent. Hopefully now the young woman would sleep peacefully
till morning.
**
Part One
**
Buffy stood under the spray of the shower, letting the hot water
scold her skin, the burning sensations drowning out the thoughts of her
nightmare. It was always the same dream over and over again and in them Dawn
always called for Buffy to save her... and in every dream she had failed, just
like in reality.
Shutting off the water she stepped out of the shower her
movements jerky almost robotic as she wrapped a huge white bathrobe around her
body, the hem of the gown brushing the floor as she walked to the basin her
hand reaching out for her toothbrush.
The first thing she noticed as she looked into the mirror was
her eyes, they were huge and the dark circles under them had been there so long
one would think she had been born with them. She looked old... older then
old... dead.
"Buffy? You okay in there?"
She returned her toothbrush to its case before slipping it back
into her travel bag. "I'll be out in a minute." She said her eyes not
leaving her reflection in the mirror.
Grabbing her brush she ran it through her hair before securing
it up in a ponytail, replacing the towel with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
Not the usual dress code for a female who worked in the WWE but it suited her
purposes well and provided ample room for her to conceal the last thing Giles
had ever given her before he was summoned back to England after a 'new' slayer
and her watcher had arrived, a small dagger which held a crescent shaped ruby
in the hilt, legends said that the ruby was enchanted, an all seeing eye that
would protect it's owner.
Throwing the rest of her things in her travel bag she slipped on
her runners before making her way into the other room.
"All ready?"
"As I'll ever be," She replied picking up her other
bag on her way out the door.
"You know Buffy... if you ever want to talk..."
"I know... and... and thankyou, but I'm... dealing."
'Yep, out-in-public-Buffy was firmly in place.'
Buffy had only been part of the roster for a couple months after
winning a 'last 3 minutes' competition, which basically meant she had to last 3
minutes in the ring with either Rosie or Jamal, granted her body didn’t have to
come in contact with either men she only had to last the distance, Jim Ross
having given her an on the spot contract after not only lasting the distance
with Jamal, but also with Rosie.
Sticking pretty much to herself for the first part then upon
Stephanie's orders that none of the diva's room alone had formed a kind of
kinship with the only other tortured soul in the WWE - namely her.
The motherly vibe in
**
Author's Note: Reference to the song 'Farther Away' by
'Evanescence'.
Part Two
**
Buffy sat in the diva locker room awaiting one of the stage
hands to come let her know it was time for her match, she hated just sitting
here doing nothing but it sure beat the hell out of going out there to be
looked at condescendingly by people who knew nothing about you or your past.
She had learned to live by that rule and it had pulled her
through the tough times of being an outcast in the WWE... and brought her to
where she was now, the WWE Women's Champion. 'They couldn’t take that from
her,' Buffy thought. A small victory in their eyes but it had meant the world
to
A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts and she
looked up hesitantly as it was pushed open, a ruddy faced man wearing a black
t-shirt with the words 'back stage' written across the front peered in at her.
"Five minutes." He stated simply closing the door again.
"Well... time to go win a match," She got up and made
her way to the door reaching out with her hand to pull it open. "And
hopefully get my arse kicked in the process." She added shutting the door
behind her.
As she neared the ramp she spied
Buffy arched her eyebrow at the other woman 'She certainly was
persistent,' Buffy had to give her credit for that. In the short time she had
been in the WWE she had wrestled Molly Holly three times and beaten her at each
match, but like a little energizer battery she just kept going and going.
The woman continued to glare bloody murder at her till she was
given the thumbs up by a stage hand to walk through the curtain as her music
blared around the arena.
Buffy waited the required time allowed before she followed
barely registering the roar of the crowd as they cheered her towards the ring
with chants of 'thief, whore and liar' the only thing in her ears the sound of
'Farther Away' by 'Evanescence'. Each word that blared through the arena like a
lash across her back... a reminder of what she deserved once she stepped in
that ring... a constant reminder that she had failed when she was needed the
most.
**
**
Part Three
**
"Why does she do that?"
"Do what?" She replied trying to sound nonchalant as
she turned to look at the man who had spoken to her nearly jumping another two
feet when she was met with the masked face of one half of the tag team
champions.
"Do that," Kane pointed to the monitor to see Molly
Holly delivering numerous kicks to her opponent’s mid-section not letting up,
the referee having to interfere. "It's like she wants to get beat up on...
she never hits back till she’s been battered, bloodied and bruised."
"So you've noticed that too hey?"
"To be honest not just me... thing is I was the only one
with guts enough to approach you."
She nearly smiled at that... nearly... instead opting for
sarcastic humour. "That task would indeed take balls of steel."
He had his back to her as he stared at the monitor his shoulders
shaking hinting at the laughter on his face even though she couldn’t see it.
"So... why does she do it?"
"That's something only she can answer."
Kane nodded, a thoughtful nod... not a look one would expect
from the monster of a man standing before her now. As if realising she was
staring she quickly turned back to the monitor to see the ref signalling for
the bell before raising Buffy's hand in victory.
"Just like the last four times she beat Molly Holly,"
Kane said leaning forward to look closer at the monitor. "She practically
crawls back up the ramp nursing injuries while her opponent comes out
unscathed."
Buffy walked through the curtain then shrugging off the medic's
who surrounded her to disappear down the hallway that lead to the diva's locker
room keeping her eyes on the floor the whole time.
"It's like she's punishing herself."
"Maybe she is."
**
She watched the scene below her seeing the girl winch in pain as
she reached up to turn the shower on full blast before stepping beneath the hot
spray, her painful expression alone telling of the sting the hot water was
having on her already aching flesh.
Her mind screaming pain but her body feeling nothing, she saw
the girl lean her forehead against the tiled wall of the shower allowing her
tears to fall as she did after every match, the sound of the water drowning out
her sobs to everyone except those 'like her' that chose to listen, choosing
that time to send her whispered call down to the weeping girl like a gentle
breeze.
'Another match over…another to come… soon Buffy.'
**
Part Four
**
Buffy emerged from the shower to find Victoria waiting for her
their bags all ready to head back to the hotel, the other woman frowning when
she noticed Buffy favouring her side.
"You should have let the medic's check you over."
"There's nothing they would have told me that I don’t know
already." Buffy informed her bending to pick up her bag slinging it over
her shoulder as they walked out of the diva's locker room and down the hallway
towards the exit,
"Need a ride?"
"God will you stop doing that!"
Buffy turned to look behind her to see a very contrite looking
Kane and a very put out Rob Van Dam who was before she turned and caught him,
waving his arms and shaking his head mouthing the words 'NO' behind Victoria's
back.
"Buffy?"
"I'm good." She replied noticing Rob had the decency
to blush.
"Another time then,"
Kane watched until the door swung shut behind the girls before
turning to look at his friend. "Thanks."
**
/'Buffy... Buffy...'
Buffy was walking down a long hall way, she could hear someone
calling her name although this voice wasn’t the young innocent voice that had
haunted her dreams as well as her waking state. This voice was different...
more mature... more motherly.
'Mom? Mommy?'
'It's not over, Buffy...'
'Mommy... Is it you...' Buffy reached out for the vision dancing
before her. 'Mommy...'
'Your gift is life...'
'Mommy, don’t go... I'm so alone...'
'She will come, Buffy... You must be ready... Your gift is
life...'\
Victoria watched the girl as she tossed and turned in her dream
state, putting down her book she got up from her bed to perch herself on the
edge of Buffy's her hand reaching down to brush the blonde strands away from
the girls face.
"You’re not alone, Buffy..." She whispered,
"You’re not alone..."
**
AN: References to BTVS episode's 'Intervention' and 'The Gift'
Part Five
**
She awoke with a start and looked around her brow creasing. The
darkness of the room had her wondering why she was awake... usually her dream
state held her prisoner till the sun rose. The even sounds of breathing coming
from the bed next to hers told her that
She sat up in bed trying to recall her dream. 'She's coming...
your gift is life...' Her mother's voice... Who's coming? In her mind she went
back to the last time she had heard the words 'Your gift is life...' The First
Slayer.
Her gift had been life back then as well, but look how that had
turned out. Dawn had lost her life up on that tower and in turn... Buffy, not
being fast enough, strong enough and determined enough had lost hers. 'Well...'
she thought looking down at herself. 'Not literally.’
'Your gift is life...' The words were whispered on a cool flow
of air that blew through the open window but she heard the voice as plain as
day in the quiet room. 'Your gift is life...'
**
Victoria looked up in surprise as a whistling Buffy came out of
the bathroom her hair still wet from her shower her eye brow's rising when
Buffy shot a smile her way. Buffy never smiled.
"Ready for breakfast?"
Victoria could only stare opened mouthed at the little blonde
who now sat on her bed with her legs crossed in front of her while she secured
her hair up in her usual pony tail.
"Hello...
"Huh... breakfast... you mean outside of the hotel
room?"
There it was again, that smile.
"Yes of course outside of the hotel room... I'm famished..."
"You are?"
'Buffy never ate breakfast...'
"Yeah, I could really go for a plate of
'
"Oh look, there's a table." Buffy said taking the
lead.
"Ah... Buffy... that table's already taken..."
"May we join you?"
Kane and Rob shared a look before Kane motioned with his hand
for them to take a seat.
Before Buffy could sit
**
Part Six
**
Kane raised a brow at the other man seated across the table from
him but Rob just shrugged in his 'devil may care' manner before turning his
attention back to the girls.
"Did she just giggle?"
"Ah... yeah... that she did." Rob seemed
flabbergasted. "What do you think they're up too?"
"Why must they be up to something... did it not occur to
you that they might just want to enjoy the pleasure of our company?"
Rob looked thoughtful for a minute and then replied. "No.
They're up to something."
"Shhhh... they're coming back." Kane muttered under
his breath all traces of doubt leaving his face as he smiled up at them
noticing only one of the two women returned it... and it wasn’t the one he
expected.
"No, sit here
Kane didn’t mind at all. "So... what are you two lovely
ladies doing today?" he asked kicking Rob under the table, the other guy
straightening in his chair as snickers from the people he deemed on his friend list
carried across the void to reach his ears. Turning in his seat he sent Rhyno,
Christian and Test a glare which only served to turn their snickers into fully
fledged laughter.
"We got no plans," Buffy piped up before
Rob coughed loudly beside Buffy. "Excuse me," he said
reaching for his water glass, his eyes screaming for Kane to get them the hell
out of this.
The big man just smiled back at his friend. "We were
thinking of taking in a football game... you girls want to join us?"
"We'd love too!" Buffy gushed turning to deliver a
mighty slap to Rob's back as he started to choke, earning more laughter from
the other table.
"Great." Kane's grin was just as blinding as Buffy's.
"Oh no." Buffy shrieked slapping her forehead with the
palm of her hand.
"What?"
"I forgot I had that thing today..."
"Thing?"
"Yeah... that thing... oh... hey... and look at the
time..." she looked down at her wrist as she rose from the table quickly
pulling her sleeve down before anyone else saw she wasn’t wearing a watch.
"If I don’t leave now I'm going to be late."
"What thing? Late for what?"
"Have a good time at the game... bring me back a
souvenir..."
"Buffy... wait..."
But Buffy's parting words were for the two men seated with her.
"Anything happens to her... you, you and me..." she stated pointing
between them, "Issues." They were left watching as she raced out the
doors without a second glance.
As Buffy left the hotel her whole demeanour changed... her back
and shoulders straightened, the smile left her face and the teasing glint left
her eyes. The only thing in her mind was the whispered words from her dream
'your gift is life...'
**
AN: 'denotes thoughts, ~denotes phone conversation
Part Seven
**
'Magic shops... magic shops... magic shops... ah here it is...
not much to choose from...' she thought her eyes scanning the list of names
curtesy of
The first one would be found easily enough, only a few blocks
away from the hotel too. She didn’t have much time left in this city knowing
tonight would be the last show and tomorrow they would all move on to the next
city.
But before that she had a phone call to make... turning her back
on the impatient man waiting to use the phone as he tapped heedlessly on the
glass door she dialled the one number she thought she would never use again.
~Hello?~
**
Victoria was having a ball, she hadn’t been to a football game
since high school and the atmosphere of the crowd still hadn't dimmed... it was
strange how surreal a feeling she had being one of the ones cheering instead of
being cheered for.
She had felt a little awkward and hurt before and could have
utterly throttled Buffy for instigating that little scene, it was plain to see
that she had been ditched... and ditched quite expertly too. She had tried to
offer the guys a way out by declining the offer after Buffy had left but Kane
wouldn’t hear of it, stating Buffy had left her in their care and that was
where she was going to stay.
Something was going on she knew that much why else would Buffy
all of the sudden become little miss perky and go to such extreme lengths as to
actually acknowledge other wrestlers in public... it just didn’t add up in her
mind and she wished for the umpteenth time that Buffy would confide in her.
"I can’t believe you let that little psycho talk us into
this."
"Will you keep your voice down?" Kane glared down at
his friend and tag team partner. "
"She's so... distant... cold."
"Don’t forget beautiful... talented... and a crowd
pleaser..." Kane finished for him. He chuckled when Rob elbowed him in the
side before focusing back on the game. "I think you like her."
"Oh please. You couldn’t be more farther from the
truth."
Kane shrugged. "Only reason I can think of for why you’re
so adamant not to be in her company... even when your 'not' in her
company."
Rob opened his mouth to say something then shut it just as
quickly, he could think of no reply to that. "Fine, I won’t say another
word about her."
Kane looked down at his watch and counted down the seconds and
before the big hand on his watch struck 12 he heard his friend say.
"Did she seem a little off beat to you?"
**
Buffy slipped her key card in the slot that would open the door
to her hotel room quickly stepping through and locking it behind her. Emptying
the bag she carried onto the bed she set right to work with moving all the
furniture in the room against the walls, once that was done she drew a big
circle on the floor with coloured sand, lighting four candles she placed them
at the four directional points before unclasping the dagger Giles had given her
from her thigh and placing it beside her as she sat in the circles centre.
Now all she had to do was wait.
As he had promised she didn’t have to wait long as the dagger
rose to dangle precariously in front of her, the rubies centre glowing eerily
before the glow began to rise up out of the ruby to surround her.
Out of the glow she saw a shape emerge and step out of the
circle breaking the spell. She smiled as she looked up at the figure standing
before her.
"Giles."
**
Part Eight
**
"And you’re quite certain?"
"As certain as I can be," Buffy shrugged, "It's the
only explanation I can come up with."
"Well... we can’t exactly rule it out given our
history."
She smiled when he absently removed his glasses to wipe them on
the end of his shirt, 'some things never change.' "The dreams, the
voices... it all points to that night."
"Question is why?"
She got up from the chair she had been seated on to walk over to
the window staring needlessly out into the mid day traffic. "I've thought
about that too... revenge."
"Buffy..."
"I let her die, Giles."
"You need to stop blaming yourself... we were all there. We
all saw what happened... it wasn’t your fault."
Buffy couldn’t help the tears that spilled down her cheeks,
Giles taking the young girl into his arms without a second thought. "I
think revenge would play a part in it but I don’t think it's the main
reason."
She hastily wiped at her eyes moving out of his embrace wrapping
her arms about herself her eyes once more focusing on the happenings outside of
the hotel window. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it... she wasn’t human yet you were what made
her human." Giles moved to stand beside her at the window. "Her
mystical side was appeased... maybe all she wants is for her human side to be
put to rest."
"And if you’re wrong?"
He shrugged. "Then we fight... and in the mean time, you
train."
**
Kane walked
"I'm sorry... you know... about Rob..."
"It's okay you don’t have to explain... I do know that
Buffy and I are not the most liked people back stage of the WWE."
"I wouldn’t go that far as to say 'not liked' cause I can
say right now that you are liked... liked very much in fact."
Kane stared at her as if in a daze for a moment his head moving
of its own accord towards her before a crash that came from inside the room
broke him out of his thoughts.
Barely registering his actions he took a step back before
barrelling right into the closed door.
"What the blazes..."
Buffy and Giles turned to see a man lying prone on top of the
fallen door and a surprised
Kane looked up from his position and smiled. "Ah... hey
Buffy... did you get your thing done?"
**
Part Nine
**
Tears of laughter streamed down Buffy's cheeks as she looked
down at the man lying stomach down with his face up turned and the cheesiest of
smiles plastered to his mug that would have impressed even Xander.
"Well, I'm glad one of us thinks this is funny..."
Giles muttered moving slowly and painfully forward with his hand out stretched
towards the raven haired girl standing in the doorway. "
"No, not at all," Giles replied his smile fading as it
registered in his mind just what the girl actually thought they were
interrupting. "NO! No absolutely not!" he declared in his stiff upper
lip manner causing more laughter to spew forth from Buffy, the same thought
registering in the other man's mind as he rose to grip Giles by the collar
shoving him up against a wall. "Buffy, do stop laughing and tell them who
I am."
"I... I'm sorry... it’s just... the door... the pillows...
duck tape..." taking deep breaths she tried to still the laughter she felt
rumbling up inside of her.
"Buffy!" Giles squeaked as Kane’s grip got tighter.
"Kane let him go... he's a friend." she continued to
smile as she bent down to pick up the fallen door leaning it against the wall,
turning to meet the shocked stares of Kane, Victoria and Rob who now stood
behind Victoria with a bag slung over each shoulder. "Oh... very, very not
heavy door... made with very, very not heavy... wood... and this is Giles!
Giles this is everybody... everybody this is Giles."
"She's smiling again..." Rob whispered up at Kane.
"Thank god you didn’t arrive a few minutes earlier... who
knows what your reaction would be to her laughter."
"She laughed?" Rob looked incredulous.
"Till she cried," Kane replied stepping away form the
wall he was leaning against. "Ah... I'm Kane... this here is Rob... sorry
about... wrinkling your collar..."
"Apology accepted... I'm sure I would have done exactly the
same thing..." Giles replied accepting his out stretched hand. "Maybe
with a little less of the hands on approach..." he added pulling at the
duck tape to release the pillows.
"Sorry to break this reunion up but we only have 20 minutes
to get to the arena." Rob said holding up his wrist to point to his watch.
"Yeah we better hustle... you girls wanna ride with
us?" Kane offered choosing to ignore the roll of Rob's eyes.
"Sure,"
Buffy looked to Giles. "Giles?"
"Where are you going?"
"Work."
"Oh you work... splendid! What is it that you do?" A
proud look came over his face. "No... Let me guess... kinder garden
teacher... aged care worker? Oh, oh I got it... high school councillor?"
"I'm a wrestler for the WWE."
"You’re... a what! Of all the barbaric... neanderthal...
uncivilised... philistine... hmmm..." he removed his glasses to wipe them
on the end of his shirt.
"Actually... that’s pretty much to be expected considering what
you've been brought up with and judging by what I have seen and heard of the
WWE you still have far too many guys in your life."
Buffy smiled surprising her fellow wrestlers by leaning up to
kiss the English's man cheek. "I'm glad your here."
"I'll stay here if you don’t mind... I've seen enough big
bad to last me a life time... no offence..." he added directing the latter
part of his statement at Kane.
"No offence taken." he replied with a shrug.
"Okay then... if you’re sure..."
Giles watched them leave something akin to confusion on all
their faces as Buffy picked up her bag and skipped down the hallway towards the
elevator. "The loneliness, the constant exile, she's...she has gone quite
mad!"
**
AN: ~denotes song lyrics, //denotes Buffy's dream state,
'denotes thoughts and/or emphasis. Song used is 'Missing' by 'Evanescence'.
References to the girl singing suo ‘Tatu’ used.
Part Ten
**
"Not so fast..."
Buffy frowned before turning around to smile innocently at the
two people behind her. Kane and Victoria both stood there, arms folded across
their chest and a look that said 'spill.' on both their faces. 'Scary,' she
thought allowing her glance to fall behind them to Rob who seemed to be showing
his disinterest by busying himself with their bags. 'Now why can’t they all be
as disregarding as Mr Bendy.' She thought with a pout.
All the way here in the car she had known they'd bombard her
with questions concerning Giles, the pillows and duck tape and she had thought
up this really good excuse too but once they had arrived at the arena all
coherent thought had left her as Kane had pulled up next to a long sleek black
limo. Once she had jumped out of Kane's rental she had walked around the limo
trying to see past the shaded windows.
A chill ran up her spine and down her arms.
"Buffy?"
"Hmmm?"
"Much older man in hotel room?"
"Oh... Giles..." she said trying to shake the odd
feeling that had settled itself within her as she glanced once more at the limo
before following
"How do you know him?" Kane asked from behind them
where he and Rob followed with their bags.
"He was my high school librarian." she replied
automatically scanning the empty hallways they passed for any sight of
something 'night worldly' that would explain the creepy feeling she had.
"A high school librarian with a pillow and duck tape
fetish," Rob laughed. "And I thought Golddust had problems."
"Hey, repulsive brain, Giles fetishes stem more towards all
things with dust and a hardcover... and I just put Giles and fetish in the same
sentence... blah!" she screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue at the
thought.
"This isn't the diva's locker room?" she said once
"No, It's ours." Kane spoke up. "No arguments...
from either of you." he added looking towards his tag team partner who
grumbled meaninglessly to himself as he dropped the bags he was carrying before
walking back out of the room.
"If this is going to cause problems between the two of
you..."
"Nah... You don’t know Rob like I do, he's actually stoked
I brought you ladies here." Kane grinned before setting himself down on
the bench, pulling his bag up next to him so he could rifle through it.
"So... back to your friend... how long is he staying and... I don’t mean
to be the cause of more obviously disturbing visuals to flare up inside that
pretty head of yours... but... why did he have pillows duck taped around his
chest?"
Buffy lifted her gaze to meet their's and realised she wasn't
going to put either of them off the topic. "Okay..." she looked up
when the door open again as Rob came back into the room carrying four bottles
of water. "Spillage it is."
Rob grumbled again while he set the bottles down on the table
top before snatching up his bag pulling out his wrestling boots and sitting
down next to Kane.
"I am the slayer," she began with a shrug as if that
explained everything. "Giles is... was... my watcher. The pillows and duck
tape served as protection from my hits to his chest as I followed through with
an old and very in need of updating training sequence and as for how long his
stay will be... well let's just put it down as indefinite... for now." she
smiled brightly at the three of them. 'Phew! So that’s how
"Oh."
"Well... I knew it had to be something to do with
wrestling." Kane said as he stood clearing his throat before reaching for
one of the water bottles Rob had brought back with him. "So he's going to
be your new manager or something?"
"Or something," Buffy replied inwardly pleased at how
Kane had categorized 'slayer' and 'watcher' in the same stack as 'wrestler' and
'manager.'
Rob seemed the only one not to take her explanation at face
value. "Come again?"
"I slay, Giles watches... well at least we use too. Now I
wrestle and he... he visit's."
Rob shook his head. "And you called my brain
repulsive?"
Buffy eyed him seeing the disbelief in his eyes as they met
hers.
'He so knows there's more to my story.' she thought.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door and then a voice
through the wood reminding
"Duty calls." she said getting up from her chair to
stand in front of the mirror to check herself.
"Who are you facing tonight?" Kane asked
conversationally.
Buffy's brows creased and her senses were put on alert at
"A name?"
"Nope... but I got a copy of the new roster from JR last
night... It's in my bag somewhere if you want to check." she replied
replacing the cap on her bottle as another knock sounded on the door this time
accompanied by a rather gruff "five minutes till ringside."
"I better get out there..."
"Kick some ass." Kane said flashing
"
"Don't worry Buff... she can hold her own." Kane said
sending her a smile as he turned to the monitor reaching out to turn it on.
The sounds of 'Tatu' erupting from the tiny speakers as the
picture blared to life showing Victoria walking down the ramp towards the ring,
playing up to the crowd as soon as she slipped through the ropes.
Rob stared at the little blonde as she watched
The melodic sounds of 'Evanescence' came floating up around them
and a hooded figure appeared through the curtain... and right before his eyes
her whole demeanour changed.
~Please, please forgive me~
~But I won't be home again~
~Maybe someday you'll have woke up~
~And, barely conscious, you'll say to no one~
~Isn't something missing~
"Buffy... you okay?"
Kane came to stand beside Rob who had inadvertently moved closer
to the girl and now crouched down in front of her. "What's wrong?"
"I dunno... one minute she's watching then one minute
she's... you know... 'really' watching." Rob replied waving a hand in
front of Buffy's face.
~You won't cry for my absence, I know~
~You forgot me long ago~
~Am I that unimportant...?~
~Am I so insignificant...?~
~Isn't something missing~
~Isn't someone missing me~
Buffy watched motionless as the hooded figure began to move in a
slow daunting gait down the ramp, the evocative words of 'Amy Lee' taking her
back to the night that haunted her dream state.
//'Buffy save me...'
"I'm coming... " She whispered
//'Buffy!' she heard her cry from atop the tower.
"I'm coming ... hold on!"
Kane and Rob stared at each other and Kane saw a look of concern
cross the other man's features.
~Even though I'd be sacrificed~
~You won't try for me, not now~
~Though I'd die to know you love me~
~I'm all alone~
~Isn't someone missing me~
"Buffy..." Rob said reaching out to cradle the side of
her face in his hand but her eyes remained fixated on the television screen.
"She's like in a trance or something."
"Try shaking her," Kane suggested reaching out to do
just that only to have his hand slapped away.
"Haven't you heard your not suppose to wake up someone when
they're dreaming?"
"Rob... she 'is' awake."
~And if I bleed, I'll bleed~
~Knowing you don't care~
~And if I sleep just to dream of you~
~And wake without you there~
~Isn't something missing~
~Isn't something...~
Buffy saw the figure move up the steel steps a curtain of long
brown hair falling forward as she bent to slip through the ropes.
"It can't be..."
The sounds of 'Evanescence' faded off into the background as the
figure removed her hood.
"Dawn."
**
AN: 'denotes thoughts and/or emphasis
Part Eleven
**
"Dawn." Buffy heard the sound of her own voice through
the haze that was her mind, 'It can’t be... she can’t be...' but as she
continued to look at the screen she knew it was... at least on the outside.
Her gaze fell on the other woman in the ring,
'Your gift is life...' the sound of her mothers voice was a mere
whisper brushing over her like a cool soothing breeze, awakening her senses,
bringing alive the slayer that lay dormant inside.
In her mind she saw it happening in slow motion like she was a
fly on the wall, she felt her hand reach inside her jacket to release the catch
that held her dagger in place... heard it clatter as it met with the concrete
floor... felt the heartbeats of the men in front of her as she shoved them away
watching as one fell against a row of closed lockers while the other fell
against the far wall. Her mouth moved almost as if of its own accord as she
uttered the words that would bring Giles to her.
As if someone had read her thoughts a voice entered her
subconscious washing through her like ice overpowering the feeling her mothers
presence had evoked.
'Go Buffy... he comes... but you must go now...'
"Mommy?"
'Go now...' the voice urged.
Buffy yanked open the door slamming it so hard it swung off its
hinges the last thing she heard as she ran down the hallway was the voice
urging her towards the ring.
**
Rob didn't know what had happened... one minute he and Kane were
crouched down beside Buffy the next minute they were on the floor and the
locker room door was swinging on its hinges.
"Kane... Kane... you okay?"
"What the hell happened?"
"Buffy... where's Buffy?"
"Guess she must have made a run for it when we were
attacked."
"We weren’t attacked."
"How else to do you explain us being laid out on the
floor?"
"Kane... we have to-" he grunted in pain as his
shoulder connected with the side of the locker as he and Kane once again found
themselves on their butts across the room, realisation in his eyes as he saw
Giles step through a shroud of light to stand before them, the light
disappearing instantly once he had stepped through.
"How... you..." Kane began but Giles paid them no
heed, all his concentration trained on the book he held in his hands and the
words that flowed from his mouth as he bent down to pick a dagger up off the
floor, a dagger Kane knew had not been there before and without a second glance
in their direction Giles turned and walked out of the locker room.
They followed him down the hallway that lead towards the
curtain, the sound of Giles voice as they followed him seemed to flow past them
like an enchanting aroma of flowers and sunshine... everyone back stage going
about their business like normal only he and Rob knew that what was happening
was anything but normal.
They passed through the curtain to hear the sounds of the crowd
cheering... but it was different somehow... it was like they were blind to what
was happening in the ring, it was like they were being fed something totally
different. It was all so surreal... as if they had found there way into
somebody else's dream.
Rob had to reach out and pull Kane back as he made to run down
towards the ring. "You go down there now and you may be causing more
damage then good." Rob said not noticing Giles had paused in his chanting
to look at him with raised brows.
"That stuff you've been mumbling..." he went on,
"What everyone else is seeing is not what's really happening is
it."
Giles turned to stare at the smaller of the two men behind him.
"It's a cloaking spell... made to play on the ignorance of human
minds."
Rob looked thoughtful. "If circumstances were different I
would take that as a compliment."
Giles brow creased. "You don’t seem as surprised by what
you see as your friend does... why is that?"
Rob lowered his eyes as images of a time long ago flooded his
mind, "Let’s just say my ignorance fled along time ago."
"I want to help." Kane spoke for the first time since
they had passed through the curtain. He had never seen anything so horrific in
his life... there in the middle of the ring Buffy fought blow for blow with
Victoria's opponent only it seemed neither of their hits connected with the
other while above the ring Victoria dangled precariously, blood running down
her legs from a cut across her navel to drip down onto the ring floor below.
She looked so pale... so weak... he saw her eyes flutter open but they closed
almost immediately as if her body didn't weld the strength to perform even that
small task.
"Kane..."
"Please... she... I have to help."
"We both do." Rob agreed.
Giles looked from one man to the other nodding once before
turning back to face the ring.
**
Buffy felt their presence outside the ring. She also knew that
Dawn felt it too... her sister's smile turning maniacal as she spied the
Englishman climbing the steel steps.
"Dear god..." He uttered as his eyes fell to the ring
floor to see the beginnings of a vortex swirling below them where
"Giles, so glad you could join us... again," Dawn said
moving around the vortex as it slowly grew with each drop of
"Who is she?" Rob asked from behind Giles causing Dawn
to roll her eyes at him.
"This is tiring..." she said turning back to Giles.
"Fast. Not how I wanted to spend my night at all... it's just getting
harder and harder to open a dimensional gateway these days. Great job with the
cloaking spell by the way... very councilly of you..."
'Don’t let her escape through the gateway...' Buffy's forehead
creased as the voice entered her head again.
'Dawn? Dawn is that you?'
'I'm counting on you Buffy... to stop the continuality... the
loneliness...'
'How?'
'Your gift is life... it always has been...'
Buffy looked up as the figure before her chuckled. "It's
too late... your too late."
Giles looked directly at Buffy as the figure of Dawn gave in to
the call of the gateway, her body disappearing into the black swirling hole
below. He saw the resolve that settled in Buffy's eyes and the determination in
her stance. The same look she used to get just before she went out on patrol...
scared but excited about doing her bit at keeping Sunnydale and the world safe.
She caught his gaze then, her eyes begging him to understand
that this was something she had to do... his face telling her that he didn't
understand why... but that he knew her well enough to trust her judgement.
What neither of them failed to notice was that someone else was
watching their silent exchange... so when Buffy took that final step into the
still spiralling vortex... someone else took it with her.
**
Part Twelve
**
She felt like she was being pulled in all different directions,
she had no control as her body bounced off of walls that were invisible to her
eyes... all she could do was bare the brunt of the blows time and time again
until they ceased, but it seemed her mind had other idea's as darkness claimed
her subconscious.
Buffy opened her eyes, squinting at the bright light that shone
down on her from above. She turned her head to one side then the other feeling the
slight pang streak up the back of her head as she stretched out her neck
muscles.
She brought her hand up to shade her eyes from the light but it
proved pointless, even with her eyes closed the light still penetrated through
to the sensitive orbs beneath, her hand absently rubbing at them as they slowly
adjusted to the brightness that was now all around her.
Dawn...
"Am I dead?"
"I certainly hope not because this don’t look like
heaven."
The deep voice startled her into a sitting position, the painful
expression on her face telling of how much pain she was in as her body
protested to the quick movement.
Rob crouched down beside her his arms immediately reaching out
to lower her back down to the floor. "Easy, we took quite a tumble coming
out."
"W... we?" she looked around her to see that they were
still in the middle of the ring the only change being that the arena was now
empty.
"Yeah... we, I kinda tapped into your mental conversation
with your watcher and well... here I am." he shrugged giving her his devil
may care smile. "You know you played right into her hands jumping as you
did..." he carried right on not leaving room for her to voice a reply as
he sat down beside her before adding, "but then again you always were one
to jump first ask later."
"I'm sorry. What world have I just jumped into because I
don’t think I like this talky Mr Bendy." she glared at him, "and what
do you mean tapped into my mental conversation?" she exclaimed poking her
finger in his chest, "who the hell are you and if we both came through
together why is it I am the only one who's in pain here?"
Rob chuckled as he listened to her babble but his eyes took on a
concerned look as her face screwed up in pain, obviously finding even the minor
task of poking him in the chest uncomfortable.
Her eyes met his as the pain subsided. "What did you mean I
played right into her hands?"
"You’re in her territory now... you don’t have slayer
strength here."
"Again I say who are you?" Her eyebrows creased as a
thought came to her. "or maybe that should be 'what' are you?"
He shrugged getting to his feet carefully pulling her up with
him. "I'm Rob Van Damn... and right now I am your only hope of surviving
this place."
**
He didn't want to believe it but he had seen it with his own
eyes, as Buffy had stepped into that swirling mass on the ring floor Rob had
followed right behind her, the hole disappearing along with there friends.
Kane slowly made his way to the ring not hearing the fans that
cheered and clapped his descent to where
"Is she..."
"She's alive, but we need to get her out of here."
"The spell... I... I stopped the chant..."
"Right now that’s the last thing on my mind." He
looked around at the crowd and shook his head. "They are so addicted they
wouldn't be able to tell reality from fanciful... personally I blame
technology..." Giles replied not
protesting when Kane picked up
"Well enough, we've been a tag team for a while now-"
"What about his past, his family?" Giles continued to
question him having to quicken his step to keep up with the big mans stride.
"He never talked about it much." Kane snapped
obviously at the end of his rope with the Englishman’s questioning. "Or
them." he continued his voice turning to a whisper as they entered the
backstage ignoring the curious looks he got at having an unconscious
"Please..." Giles persisted, "both their lives
could depend on what you know." Giles watched as Kane seemed to consider
his words before the man's steely gaze met his through the openings in his
mask.
"Okay, I'll tell you what I know."
**
Part Thirteen
**
"Where are we?"
"At the arena," Rob replied deadpanned.
"Gee thanks sparky... now look outside the picture?"
He rolled his eyes. "Keercelttab."
"Huh?"
"Keercelttab." he repeated. "My home
dimension."
He watched for her reaction not surprised when she didn't have
one. "Oh."
"That's it? Oh?" He was actually expecting her to
pounce on him.
"No that’s not it but I'm not about to waste time asking
questions your only going to avoid answering anyway when I can be out there
looking for my dead sister."
"You won’t make it out the front door."
"And you know this how? Cause obviously someone forgot to
pass on the memo." she winced stepping away from him to prove to him that
she didn't need his help then proceeded to glare up at him when his arms
immediately reached out to catch her as she stumbled expecting to see an 'i
told you so' in his expression but instead she saw concern.
"Listen to me," he said locking his gaze with hers,
"You have no power here... you are just a regular human."
Her brows creased as she remembered what the voice had told her,
"Don’t let her escape through the gateway..." she whispered to
herself.
"What?"
"She knew..."
"She who?"
"She knew I'd be helpless here... she was warning
me..."
"Oh... that she..."
The stare Buffy fixed him with made him wish he had kept his
mouth shut as she advanced on him, backing him up until his back was up against
the turnbuckle. "I want answers," she may have been hurt, feeling
every bit of pain a non-slayer would but by the look on his face a knee pressed
up against a groin was not only universally known but dimensionally known as
well.
He chuckled half heartedly, "W... what do you wanna
know?"
"What are you?" she looked at him with curiously.
"And how do you know so much about me?"
"I am Rob Van-" he cringed when she applied more
pressure with her knee.
"I've got the cliff notes on that spiel... try again."
He breathed again when he felt the pressure lesson. "I am
Bornavmad, Prince of Keercelttab."
"And people say Buffy is a weird name..." she muttered
to herself before continuing, "...and how do you know so much about
me?"
"The Key."
She pushed away from him, his words making her reel like a slap
across her face. "The Key?"
He simply nodded.
Buffy was still trying to make sense of it all in her head.
"So you’re in allegiance with 'the key'?"
"Yes."
"Then why are you helping me?"
"Because we both know 'the key' doesn't exist anymore... at
least not in human form."
"So that wasn't Dawn."
"That wasn't Dawn." he confirmed.
"So Dawn is alive... in this world?"
"No Dawn is dead, the key lives."
"Does this world come with a handbook because the more you
talk the more I'm confused?"
He approached her then as her legs buckled beneath her sweeping
her up in his arms before she could protest.
"How did you-"
"I'm empathic, but only to you... a little gift from 'the
key'. I feel what you feel, know what you know, and dream what you dream...
hear what you hear..."
"The voices, my dreams... that’s why you didn't like being
around me... I gave you the hebbiegebbies."
He scowled at her wording but nodded his head in agreement
before slipping through the ropes with her still in his arms.
"Where are we going?"
"My place."
"And my slayer strength?"
"While in my world... is now mine."
**
She had lost a lot of blood, her face as white as the bed linen
she lay on made more prominent by her jet black hair as it fanned out around
her face. His thumb absently tracing the back of her palm as her hand lay
lifeless in his.
He was as confused as ever about what had happened but somehow
he hadn't been surprised by it. Stuff like this seemed to happen everywhere
they went except without all the dangling in midair and swirling black hole.
Rob had told him a little about his past but he had just chalked
it down to Rob wanting to keep his personal life, personal... and it wasn't
everyday you had someone telling you they were from another world. He had just
accepted his friend’s obvious want of privacy and respected that.
"Now after what I seen tonight... I'm not so sure." he
whispered to the sleeping woman.
A soft tap resounded through the door and Kane knew the
Englishman would be there his mind had been ticking over time with questions
about Rob since they left the arena... questions he didn't know if he could
answer without someone committing him to a mental institution.
He leaned forward placing his lips against
**
Part Fourteen
**
"How is she?"
"Still out, but alive..." Kane answered seating
himself on one of the two chairs provided in the tiny hotel room. "So, I
guess you want answers..."
"Yes." Giles admitted, knowing they had left it long
enough already but wanting to allow this man time with the woman he obvious
cared very much about, he maybe a uppity Englishman but he wasn't a heartless
man.
He walked over to a small kitchenette behind a counter and returned
a few minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee.
"Ugh! Horrible stuff!" Giles remarked making a face as
he took a sip of his while placing the other in front of Kane.
"Being English I guess tea is more your thing... wouldn't
be too hard to get you some."
"Tea is preferred yes," Giles answered, "But tea
is meant to be soothing and right now I want to be tense." He saw the
bigger man raise his eyebrow and rushed on before he could comment. "Do
you know where they are?"
Kane lowered his eyes and shook his head. "No. I
don’t." He replied honestly. "Rob would tell me things... strange
things,"
"Like?"
"Darkness, evil, being bound... a key..."
Giles head snapped up. "Key?"
"I wish I had taken more notice of him in his ramblings but
I just thought he was being pretentious." Kane continued as if Giles
hadn't spoken. "It's all true isn’t it?"
"Darkness and evil... yes." He confirmed shifting
forward till he was perched on the end of his seat. "Key?"
"Huh?"
"A key... you mentioned something about a key..."
"Oh right... I don’t remember exactly..." his eyebrows
creased in thought, "There was a key that exists that opens all the
gateways of the world... and that he was bound to it... I don’t know how or
why, sounded like a fairy tale to me."
Giles nodded. "There is a fringe theory, held by a few
folklorists, that some regional stories have actual, very literal
antecedents."
"So basically fairy tales are real?"
"Basically," he replied stunned that this man had
broken down what he had just said to it's simplest form.
"Cool."
Giles reached up to remove his glasses, placing them on the
table in front of him before reaching up to rub at his eyes. "God I wish I
had my books."
"I got some reading material packed in my bag if you
wanna..."
"No, no… thank you." Giles sent the man a half hearted
smile his eyes ceasing in their gentle massage of his temples as a thought came
to him. "Where are Rob's bags?"
Kane looked at the older man in confusion before pointing over
to the door where two carry bags sat against a wall where he had dropped them.
He watched as Giles got up and fetched the two bags, accepting the one that
Giles held out to him, placing it on the floor in front of him.
"Right." Giles said reaching for the zipper.
"Let’s see if your friend Rob has left us anything to work with."
**
Rob kept Buffy in his arms as he made his way across rooftops
keeping to the shadows and always waiting a few minutes in between fire escapes
to stop and listen for any sign that they were being followed.
"I don’t get it..."
At the sound of her voice he purposely turned away from her and
rolled his eyes. She had yet stop asking questions and he didn't know wether she
was truly curious or just trying to piss him off. Somehow he thought the
latter... and it was working!
"There's nothing to get," he said with a shrug before
starting off again.
Buffy watched as he swung his legs over a steel grating that
obviously served as a halfway mark between the building they were on and the
one next to it. Watching him as he juggled with his footing on the steps of the
fire escape as well as keeping her upright in his arms, she saw why he was so
flexible back in her world. You'd have to be made of rubber to do what he was
doing. That thought still in her head as he paused again once they had made it
to the neighbouring building.
"Are you made of rubber?"
He looked at her as if she had horns and a beard.
"No."
"Spandex?"
"No."
"Not even a little?"
'Man, will you shut her up please?' His mind screamed, his dark
look became even darker as he heard the sound of a very feminine chuckle in his
head. 'This isn't funny.'
'Think of this as payback for leaving me over night in a stinky
locker with your stinky wrestling boots.'
'Hey, that wasn't my fault.' his mind grumbled, ‘besides; they
were Kane's wrestling boots.'
"Excuse me, Mary Poppins, but you don't seem to be listening."
Buffy's voice broke into his thoughts and he looked down at her
still cradled in his arms, she wore a little frown and held suspicion in her
eyes as she glared up at him.
She reached up to knock her tiny fist against his forehead.
"Anybody home?"
He jostled her in his arms causing her to reach out and clutch
at his shoulders to stop herself from falling flat on her butt.
"I liked you better in your world." he grumbled
jumping down to the ground below landing easily on his feet. She glared at him.
He glared right back before walking towards a door and shoving it open with his
shoulder.
"I have yet to find a world where I would like you."
Buffy grumbled back smiling inwardly as Rob's face set in annoyance before he
turned on his heel and purposely kicked the door shut again.
**
Part Fifteen
**
"How long do we have to stay here?"
"For as long as it takes."
"And how long is that?"
Rob sighed and got down on the floor to stretch. "Here eat
something." he said reaching towards the small table in front of him he
plucked up an apple from the bowl of fruit that nestled on its centre and threw
it at her. 'That should keep her mouth busy for a while.' he thought resuming
his stretching position on the floor.
"But I'm not hungry." she got up from her chair to
join him on the floor. "Does that hurt?"
Rob's brows knotted as his gaze lowered to where her finger
pointed, his cheeks reddening as his legs snapped shut.
Buffy's expression turned innocent and her eyes widened. "I
didn't mean 'that!'" she declared her eyes falling to his crotch and it
was her turn to blush as his expression turned askance. "I didn't!"
"Hey! I didn't say a thing!" he replied holding both
his hands up in surrender although the laughter never left his eyes.
"That's worse because I can still read you when you don’t
say a thing."
"What?"
Her eyes widened even more and she scooted away from him.
"Eww! Get out of me!"
Rob looked at her as if she were insane. "Out of you! I'm
not in you!"
"Yes you are!" she shrieked. "I can feel you
inside my head!"
"Inside you..." Rob's voice trailed off, his eyes
darting around the room looking for the tell tale ball of green mischief he
knew had to be the cause of Buffy's distress. "Key! Get your little green
butt down here, right now!"
"Key?"
He heard the word muffled through Buffy's finger's as she held
her face in both her hands.
"Key, I swear if you don’t leave her alone-"
"Oh... touchy... do I detect a note of concern?"
Buffy moved her hands away from her face at the new voice in the
room. "Dawn?"
"No, Buffy..." she heard Rob whisper from behind her.
"Here she is known only as the Key."
Buffy stood to her feet rather shakily and felt Rob's arm wrap
around her waist, steadying her. A sparkling green glow appeared before her and
within the sparkles she saw the image of her dead sister smiling back at her.
"Hey Buff."
**
Giles sat on the floor surrounded by the contents of Rob's bags
which now lay empty behind the couch where he had thrown them after Kane had
returned to the sleeping Victoria's side. He sighed as he looked around at the
mess he had made. Searching Rob's things had proved pointless. All he had found
was clothes, shoes and comic books. Not one thing that seemed out of the
ordinary!
He got up and started to pace the room. 'What was he missing?'
he thought as he kicked a path through Rob's belongings as he continued with
his pacing.
"Find anything?"
Giles looked up as the big man exited the bedroom gently closing
the door behind him. "No, everything is... well was perfect." he said
looking down at the mess he had made.
"Almost too perfect hey?" Kane asked getting down to a
crouched position to rifle through the things on the floor.
"Ah... quite." Giles replied as he started to pace
again. "How is your lady?"
"She's sleeping peacefully... and she's not my lady."
"No?" Giles removed his glasses to clean them on the
end of his shirt as he stared speculatively back at the big man who now held a
comic book in his hand. "…my mistake."
"Wow! All this time I never knew Rob had a first edition
Spiderman Vs Daredevil!"
Giles paused in his pacing to turn back to Kane. "Riveting
I'm sure-"
Kane glanced up as Giles stopped mid-sentence. "What? What
is it?" he watched as the other man came forward and crouched down beside
him. He had no idea what Giles was doing but soon he too began to see the
pattern as Giles lay the comics down side by side.
"There... do you see?"
Kane looked down at the arrangement of comics, he must've seen
Rob read these comics over and over again but again just put it down to Rob
being Rob and left it at that, but now seeing them laid out how they were on
the floor he knew they were more then just comic books.
"A map."
Both men scooted forward not noticing the slight figure that had
emerged from the bedroom moments before.
"Victoria!" Kane exclaimed immediately at her side
guiding her over to a chair. "You shouldn't be up."
"Tell that to the voice in my head." she replied with
a shaky laugh.
"Voice?" Giles moved closer to look down at the woman
seated with Kane at her side.
"Yes, a young girl’s voice. She said not to worry... that
Buffy and Rob were safe and that this was all part of the plan."
"What plan?"
"I don’t know." Victoria shrugged, "But her
presence was a calming one... as if she were apart of me."
Giles began to pace again, Kane not liking the way the older man
would flick his gaze towards Victoria every now and then as he passed.
"What's going on in that head of yours, Englishman?"
Kane asked although to Giles ears it sounded more like an order.
He approached Victoria again and crouched down in front of her.
"Do you mind if I ask where you're from?"
"San Bernardino, California."
"And your parents?"
"I never knew them," Giles saw the sad look that
passed over Kane's face but didn't comment allowing Victoria to continue.
"I was moved around from foster home to foster home till the age of
fifteen... been on my own ever since."
"This may sound weird but... do you mind if I take a sample
of your blood?"
Victoria blanched at the request but shakily nodded her head in
agreement.
"Good," Giles replied as he stood to his feet again,
he seemed to have this new vigour about him as if he was on the verge of something
but he didn't go into it more.
"Okay, I feel a little woozy so I might head back to the
other room." She made to stand but was swept up into the arms of the man
at her side, sending him a thankful smile as he walked into the bedroom.
"Ah... Kane?" Giles watched as Kane stuck his head
back into the room his eye brows raised. "Not your lady?"
Kane frowned before stepping back into the bedroom the sound of
Giles haughty laughter floating up to him as he kicked the bedroom door shut.
**
AN: Key = Dawn
Part Sixteen
**
Rob watched the myriad of emotions play across Buffy's face,
each feeling, each thought, each memory bouncing off him tenfold. He wanted to
reach out to her, comfort her. Let her know that she wasn't alone in this, it
was important to him that she knew she wasn't alone.
"Do you have to appear to her in that form?"
Key shrugged. "It is a form she is familiar with."
"It is also a form that brings her much pain."
"Why, my little prince... have you feelings for this
human?" The image of Dawn disappeared, replaced by a shadow of white light
within the green glow.
"We are here to help her, not hinder her from a task only
she can perform."
"Bit hard to perform that task when it exists only in her
dimension. If she had of just listened to me and not followed that lame excuse
for a hell god through the portal we wouldn't have to help her."
"I don’t need help..."
Rob turned to see Buffy up on her feet and judging by her
expression she wasn't happy.
"...from either of you." she continued her expression
thoughtful as she started to pace the small room. "A task only I can
perform? Lame excuse for a hell god? Well that can only be Glory, gee... why
does this all sound so familiar."
"Buffy-"
"What? What could you possibly have to say? That I'm here
to watch Dawn die all over again? Cause frankly that's what it looks
like."
"Insolent human!" The key snapped. "Thinking of
nothing but your own pain. What of the pain of this world? You could have
stopped it all but no, always the hero you had to fall for her ruse and follow
her through the portal. Now 'she' is left without a protector and you are as
useless here as you were when Dawn needed you the most."
"Shut your mouth." Buffy hissed her teeth clenched.
"What's the matter Buffy? Truth hurts doesn't it... you may
have just pushed her off that tower yourself-"
Buffy heard the scream but saw nothing as she held her hands to
her eyes trying to shield them as best she could from the bright light that
exploded inside the room. She opened her eyes and quickly closed them again as
a spattering of tiny lights burned behind her closed lids.
"Buffy? Buffy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, what happened?"
He lifted his hand showing the orb he held in his fingertips, a
swirling green mass encased within. "I just thought maybe Key had done
enough talking for one day, so I put her away."
"Wow, nifty trick."
"Thanks."
"I could've taken her."
Rob chuckled. "No doubt."
"So... what is my task?"
He sighed turning away from her to set the orb down amongst the
fruit in the bowl. "I think you already know."
"And said task can only happen in my dimension?"
He nodded.
"Well then, it's time we stopped sitting around and went
looking for a way back."
He shook his head then, a half hearted smile coming to his face.
"There is no way back."
**
"What exactly are you hoping to find?"
"Syringe, alcohol swabs, bandaids... usual stuff."
Kane rolled his eyes. "I meant in Victoria's blood."
Giles paused in his actions of rummaging through the first aid
kit they had found in bathroom cabinet, a slight flush staining his neck and
cheeks. "Oh." He stood then, his hands automatically slipping into
the front pocket of his trousers as he rocked back and forth on his feet.
"Well, hopefully... nothing."
"Huh?"
"This is more of a hunch then anything else, but if I'm
right... it may well benefit everyone."
"Again… huh?"
Kane's confusion went unheard on Giles as he snapped the cover
to the first aid kit shut and stood to his feet. "I'm gonna have to find
an all night drug store... the supplies contained in this box wouldn't heal a
stubbed toe."
"There's one down in the hotel lobby. Want me to come down
with you?"
"No, no... that’s quite alright."
Kane made himself comfortable on the couch. "Okay."
"Ahhh... maybe we should have a secret knock or something,
so you know it's me." Giles suggested his hand pausing on the door handle.
"Or... you could just take the key card since the door
automatically locks behind you."
"Ah... yes, or I can do that." He picked up the key
card, tucking it safely into his pocket. "Right then..." He nodded to
the big man lounging on the couch and closed the door behind him.
**
Giles found the drug store pretty easily, conveniently located
right next to the bar, the owner obviously thinking ahead business wise,
probably making a hefty profit selling condoms.
He entered the store and started walking up the aisle picking up
bits and pieces as he went on his way.
"Alcohol swabs, cotton... ahhhh a syringe!" he cried
happily adding the packaged needle to the other items gathered in his arms.
"Well, hello there sugar..."
Giles jumped at the unexpected voice not expecting anyone else
to be here. He turned to see what he could only define as a 'man eater'
standing behind him.
"Ah... hello..." he replied glancing over her shoulder
towards the exit, judging the distance between him and the door.
"Aren’t you just the cutest little thing in loafers!"
she all but drooled down his shirt front. "I bet you’re a firecracker
between the sheets!"
"E-excuse me?" He felt a hard surface at his back and
rolled his eyes heavenward when he turned to see the cashier counter behind
him. "Hurry please, charge it to room 314." he sighed practically
throwing the articles he held at the attendant.
"Just what the hell is going on here!"
"Oh dear lord..." Giles mouthed as he felt himself
being hefted up against a wall.
"You mackin' on my hottie?"
"Jamie, let him go... I was just havin' me some fun."
Giles was amazed at how fast he was let go, sending a silent
thankyou to the attendant who stood holding his purchase's out to him.
"See you later, fire cracker."
Closing his eyes in silent prayer he hoped on all things holy
that her parting words didn't come back to haunt him.
**
Kane looked up from the book he was reading to see a very
dishevelled Englishman enter the room muttering something about American woman
before leaning heavily against the closed door.
"Everything okay?"
"Yes!" he squeaked and cleared his throat. "I
mean, yes... is she awake?" he asked waving a hand towards the bedroom.
"Yes, she woke just after you left."
"Good, good." he picked up the bag with the drug store
logo on it and walked towards the bedroom, tapping lightly on the door before
walking in, Kane following behind him.
Victoria smiled at the men as they sat on either side of her.
Her hair was up in a haphazard bun atop her head and Kane breathed in the scent
that played with his senses, she smelt like lavender soap and berry shampoo.
"You ready for this?" he whispered softly taking her
hand in his.
"Yeah sure... it's no big deal right? Just a pin
prick?" she didn't sound as brave as she looked, and Kane found himself
wishing he had left her hand where it was, his teeth clenching at the grip she had
on his fingers.
He kept his expression bland and smiled through his teeth while
Giles readied everything to extract a sample of her blood.
"Okay, here we go, hey?" Giles spoke softly as if he
were speaking to a young child taking hold of her arm he tied a clamp around it
just above her shoulder. "This will be over before you know it."
Victoria shut her eye's and mentally counted back from 10 to 1,
effectively blocking out everything around her but the tiny prick she felt in
her arm.
"There you go, all done."
She opened her eyes to see Giles applying a bandaid to her arm,
a very amused smile on his face. Her brows knotted and she looked around the
room.
"Where did Kane go?"
Giles smile widened. "It seems we have found the one thing
to stop the big red machine in his tracks." he said holding up the syringe
in one hand while pointing to the other side of the bed with the other.
Victoria's confused look soon turned to giggles when her eyes
clamped down on Kane's still form lying flat on the floor.
**
Part Seventeen
**
"What do you mean there's no way back?"
"Exactly what you think I mean, there is no way back
without a human key to open a gateway."
"You mean your little green ball there can’t open it?"
Rob looked towards the fruit bowl to see Key's green shimmer
turn a darker shade and knew he would have hell to pay when she got free. 'Hell
has no fury like a Key scorned.' "This form of the key only exists in this
dimension, she is as much a prisoner here as we are, only thing is where our
time here is ephemeral, her time is lasting."
"Okay, I'm confused again... I thought you said there was
no way back."
"There isn't... not on this side."
"Gee, I wish you would stop going all cryptic guy on me,
but what you just said lightened my mood greatly," Rob swore he could
actually see her mind as it worked overtime. "...and as much as I love
your homely... dwellings, we have to leave." She continued slapping his
knee for good measure before getting up. "Oh, and since the Key cant come
with us, it might be a good idea to let her out of her box... or orb in this
case, so she can continue with the little mind messages."
"Haven’t you heard anything I've said?"
"Yes, every word," Buffy smiled sweetly up at him.
"Now move 'bend and stretch' we gotta hustle."
Rob caught the Key's glow erratically flashing from neon green
to white in amusement and he glared at it opening his mind to allow the thought
running through his mind to be transferred to the orb.
'Oh, shut up!'
He followed Buffy outside, nearly colliding into her when she
stopped suddenly just outside the doorway.
'Wow.' Buffy thought as she stepped outside Rob's front door.
His world looked pretty much like Sunnydale, small, quaint and littered with
cemeteries. In fact this could of been an exact duplicate of her street, her
home, her neighbours homes. 'Why hadn't she seen this before? She hadn't been
that spaced out not to notice her surroundings.'
"They change."
"Huh?"
"The environment changes at Keys will," Rob explained
draping a bag over his shoulder as they started walking. "She can make it
a place of peace and tranquillity or a place full of fire and brimstone at the
drop of a hat."
"Hmmm... well I guess since she can’t leave it's only
fitting it be a place she can change to suit her mood."
"Yep, and it seems we are still in her good books."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because she's been out of her box ever since we left and
we haven’t been pelted with acid rain."
"Oh, that’s always a good sign."
He nearly fell over when she sent him a wink and grinned. 'How
was he ever going to cope if she continued to send him looks like that?'
"Do you even know where you’re going?"
"Of course! We came here via a gateway that was opened in
the middle of a wrestling ring which just for the record had to have been a
mystical hotspot for the gateway to open, and Key has so generously provided me
with an environment I am familiar with and in Sunnydale there is no bigger
mystical hotspot then good ole Sunnydale High."
The look she gave him told her that he was impressed and
couldn't help the silly grin that broke out like a huge pimple on her face.
"And what are we going to do once we get there?" He
asked taking her hand in his as they walked towards the school.
"We wait." She replied simply.
"Wait for what?"
"For Giles."
**
Victoria shifted uneasily under Giles gaze. Ever since he had
come out of the bathroom he had returned with this silly, almost unbelievable
look on his face, and it seemed wholly directed at her!
"Is... is something wrong?" She asked not able to
stand his staring a moment longer. Her words brought Kane's head up from the
comic he was reading to descend on the Englishman who had kneeled down in front
of her as she sat on the couch.
"No, no... Nothings wrong."
"What? What aren’t you telling me?" She exclaimed when
Giles continued to stare at her.
"What is it, Giles?" Kane had gotten up from where he
lounged on the floor to perch himself on the arm of Victoria's chair.
"Your blood... you... you have slayer blood in you."
Her eyes widened. "You mean I'm a chosen one? Like
Buffy?"
"No, I don’t mean that." He removed his glasses
bringing the earpiece to his lips as he searched for the right words.
"What I'm saying is you have Buffy's slayer blood in you."
"So no super hero then?"
"No, but it certainly explains a lot and makes you one
extraordinary young woman. But how did you get it?"
Kane rose and started to pace a thoughtful expression crossing
his features as Victoria answered Giles question.
"A few months back I was attacked by a... a thing... I
don’t remember much but I lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion, Buffy
was my donor."
"Remarkable."
"I don’t get it." Kane said scratching his head in
confusion.
Giles stood to his feet and resumed Kane’s position of pacing
the floor space in front of them. "Only the blood from a dimensional key
can open a gateway to another world. Dawn was a key."
"Victoria's opponent?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't she open the gateway herself."
"Because the real Dawn is dead, the only thing I have been
able to come up with is someone who obviously knows Buffy and the life she's
come from used Dawn's form as a way of striking out at Buffy maybe... to hurt
her in the only way they knew she could be hurt. By re-enacting Dawn's death
with you instead." Giles stopped his pacing and turned to look at them
both. "You see this is the extraordinary part of the puzzle. Buffy's blood
flows within your body, you are a part of Buffy and since Buffy was what made
Dawn human - that makes you a part of Dawn as well."
"That was why the gateway opened? My blood did that?"
"Yes." Giles astonishment showed again in his gaze.
"Utterly remarkable."
"Buffy blames herself for Dawn's death doesn't she?"
Giles eyes took on a more pensive look as the question was
broached. "Yes, what has she told you?"
"Nothing really," Victoria replied truthfully before
explaining. "She has nightmares and often talked in her dream state... who
was Dawn to Buffy?"
He found he couldn't reply to her question straight away and had
to fight to keep his voice from trembling. "Dawn was Buffy's sister."
"Shit! That's really tough."
Giles was surprised to say the least when the big man a lot of
people feared moved forward to place a comforting arm on Giles shoulder.
"So, where do we go from here?" Victoria asked moving
forward offering her own brand of comfort to the man Buffy thought so highly of
by squeezing his hand.
"Well, with your permission I'd like to open the
gateway-"
"You want to cut her open again!" Kane interrupted
stilling Giles words.
"It maybe the only way to get them back." Giles
answered honestly watching as Victoria soothed the bigger man's outburst by
gently rubbing her hand up and down his arm before turning back to Giles.
"I'll do it."
Giles expelled the air in his lungs he hadn't realised he'd been
holding in relief, 'Obstacle one was over.' he thought before facing them
again. "There maybe one tiny little problem though..."
"And that would be?"
"We all need to be down at ringside to do it."
**
Part Eighteen
**
"Are you sure this will work?"
"It'll work, McMahon is all business and money, and he
knows what will draw in the crowds." Kane assured Giles as they headed
towards Vince McMahon's office.
"And Kane and I teaming up in an inter-gender match with
you as our valet will get us all down at ringside together." Victoria
added her patented sneer in place as they passed other WWE wrestlers in the
backstage hallways of the arena.
Giles was amazed at how this sweet innocent woman and huge teddy
bear of a man walking hand in hand beside him could bring out so much fear in
the other wrestlers, kind of reminded him of Anya and her fear of bunnies.
"Okay," Victoria said pulling Kane to a stop outside
of a door marked 'Vince McMahon'. "Here we are,"
Giles ankles nearly gave way on him as he felt the weight of
Kane's arm slump across his shoulder. "Ready to meet the boss man?"
"Quite, yes..." he replied inadvertently backing up
and into someone coming down the hallway behind them.
"Watch where your going, you ole codger." Came a
strangely familiar voice.
"I'm terribly sor- oh my god it's you!" Giles stared
in horror at the woman who stood in front of him.
"In the flesh baby..." Nidia cooed licking her lips,
not hiding the fact that she definitely liked what she saw.
Giles felt naked.
Totally and utterly naked under her perusal.
He didn't even notice Victoria go up on her tippee toes to slap
Kane upside the head when his laughter escaped as Giles attempted to wedge
himself between them.
"I...I-"
Jamie stepped forward pulling Nidia back behind him, "Seems
your friend here cant keep his eyes of my woman." he spoke to Kane
although Giles noticed Jamie's eyes never left him.
"Looks to me like it's your woman who has the roving
eye." Victoria was quick to retort.
"That's not all she's got," Jamie replied pulling
Nidia close before burying his face in her breasts, her excited squeals
bringing there boss from his office.
"What the hell is going on out here?" he barked
looking down his nose at the group gathered outside his office door.
"We come to talk about a match." Kane answered
instantly stepping in front of both Victoria and Giles.
"Is that so," Vince replied looking from couple to
couple before his eyes came to rest on Giles. "Who are you?"
"He's Rob's..." Victoria looked to Kane wide eyed.
Kane shrugged. "He's... Rob's...."
"...replacement." Giles said stepping forward with his
hand out stretched. "How do you do."
Both Vince and Jamie threw their heads back and laughed.
"You? Replacement?" Jamie held his sides having to
lean his body against the wall to keep from keeling over.
"I'll have you know I have fought quite a few
matches..." Giles stated straightening his shoulders as he brought his
form to its full height. "...in my time." he added under his breath
only to cause Vince and Jamie to laugh more.
Vince found his control before Jamie and took a deep breath but
the look on his face told them he was still fighting not to laugh. "So...
you say you came to talk about a match..."
"Yeah-"
"And Rob has a replacement because?"
"He's sick."
"Family commitments."
"Had to fly home."
The three friends said in unison.
Vince eyed each one of them suspiciously, but he smiled again
once he's eyes came back to Giles. "Okay, you got your match."
"They do?" Giles gushed, "That's great!"
Seemed everything was falling into place nicely.
"No, Rob's replacement... you do."
"Huh?"
"What is it with you three? Were you separated at birth or
something?" Vince quirked an eyebrow at the three of them once again when
they spoke in unison. "Tonight, Jamie Noble and Nidia face off against
Victoria... and you." Vince smirked thoroughly pleased with himself,
Victoria swore she could actually see him patting himself on the back.
Kane looked confused. "Him?"
Giles looked ashen. "Me?"
**
Rob watched Buffy, she was off in her own little world as they
sat in the library of Sunnydale High, not that he blamed her, he felt how much
this place and what it represented had shaped her life. He felt her pain, her
joy, her courage and her fear. Such a teeny person yet she'd been the one
protector Sunnydale and the world had. The burden she carried was a major one
even though the role of protector no longer fell to her, it was still there in
her and he had the sudden urge to lift that burden from her shoulders and carry
it on his own.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh? What?"
"I said I'm sorry."
Her brows furrowed. "Why? What did you do?"
"Well nothing... yet." He smiled half heartedly
reaching out to clasp her hand in his. "You forget I feel what you feel,
and right now I can feel all the memories being here hold for you. I'm sorry, I
never realised how much you had been through in such a short time."
Buffy shrugged. "What can I say? It was my destiny."
"And now?"
"And now I am just me."
"Are you happy being just me?"
"I don’t think it's a matter of being happy, I think it's
more about finding a place to be happy."
Rob lowered his eyes, shielding his gaze from hers. "And
have you found that place?"
Her eye's glazed over. "I don’t know, Giles being here...
or there... you know what I mean." she waved her hands in front of her
before placing them on her hips. "Giles being here sure makes my life
easier to bare."
He looked put out by her answer. "And that’s it?"
"What else would there be?"
Buffy's eye's widened in surprise as he suddenly rose to his
feet only to drop back down again as he was hit with a bolt of light.
"Rob? Rob!" she scrambled over to him inadvertently
covering his body with hers as her eyes scanned the rows of book shelves on the
upper level of the library.
"You didn't think I'd just let you go back, did you,
Buffy?"
Dawn's form appeared from the darkness, her eyes taking in the
sight below.
"Still trying to be the hero, I see... the great
protector." she sneered her eyes darkening. "You didn't do so well
the night I died."
Buffy slowly rose to her feet, "Cut the small talk, Glory,
come get me."
"With pleasure." Glory sneered flipping over the
wooden banister kicking out for her foot as she landed sending Buffy reeling
into the table behind her.
Buffy ignored the pain that shot up her back rolling over
backwards across the table to land on her feet on the other side, putting all
her weight behind her she pushed the table into Glory as she approached,
watching as her futile effort merely stalled the hell goddess as she advanced
once again.
'Come on, Rob... wake up!' her mind screamed knowing she was
useless while he possessed her slayer abilities, and right now he lay
unconscious! She backed away from Glory until she felt the wall at her back,
her hand grappled at her side unclasping the watch she wore she positioning it
between her fingers with the clasp sticking out.
"Your nothing to this world, Buffy, which is why I chose
it..." she lifted her hand and grabbed at the thin air beside her head, a
dagger appearing in her hand moments later. "Your reign has ended."
she raised her hand, "And mine has just begun."
Buffy slid to the floor as Glory's words hit there mark, 'this
was really it, here and now... and no one would ever know...'
"Buffy? Buffy?"
She felt someone shaking her and slowly lifted her eyes, to see
Rob staring down at her, with the most odd expression on his face. She turned
her head to the side as she stared at him. 'Would he miss me?' she thought
quirking her brow at him.
"Buffy!"
"Yes?" she replied dreamily.
"The portal it's open."
"What?" Buffy's eye's fell behind him to see the open
wobbling, pitch black portal in the middle of the library floor, her sense's
returning as Rob pulled her to her feet. "Glory!" she said scanning
the room.
"She's gone," At Buffy's confused look he continued.
"The portal opened up right below her."
"Then come on, we get back there before she has a chance to
get away and her ass is mine!" Buffy stated grabbing his hand as she stood
over the portal. "You ready?"
Rob nodded.
"Okay, on the count of three... one, two-"
"Wait!"
"Wait? Wait for what?"
"For this," grabbing her by the shoulders he pulled
her towards him and kissed her. It was a daring kiss that called out for her to
respond, and respond she did. She heard him moan low in his throat as she allowed
his prodding tongue entry.
'Three.' she thought there lips still locked together as they
fell through the portal.
**
AN: 'denotes thoughts and/or emphasis
Part Nineteen
**
'If the council could see you now.' Giles thought as he stared
at the person looking back at him in the mirror. The change of clothes Kane had
given him were, to say the least, tolerable... if you were blind. He had on
bright lime green pants and matching top made of the tightest and thinnest
material imaginable and he refused to bend over or even sit in case the whole
ensemble split at the seams. "Council? Pffft! If 'anybody' could see me
now." he said aloud pulling at the spandex that clung to his legs before
turning to the snickering couple sitting side by side on a locker room bench.
"Are you sure this was all you could find on such short notice?"
"Yes." Kane replied chuckling at the sight of the
stuffy English man trying to conceal his 'package' inside the clingy material.
Victoria made a face turning her head away. "Unless you
want to try on my ring attire?" she suggested holding up her backless cat
suit.
By the look on Giles face she could tell he was seriously
considering it and she couldn't help but feel sorry for the man.
His own thoughts seemed to be on the same wave length as hers
and she heard him expel a long sigh before his shoulders straightened and his
expression set with determination. "I can do this, I have done countless
other things in the name of good and I shall just put this down as my part as a
Watcher, fighting the good fight and all that." he rolled his shoulders
and struck a pose before throwing a few practice punches in the air. "Yes,
I can do this."
"Good." Kane said getting to his feet and pulling Victoria
up with him. "Because we have to go out there and do it now."
"N...n... now?" Giles stuttered removing his glasses
only to return them to his head when he found he didn't have a shirt tail to
wipe them on. "So soon?"
"Look at it this way," Kane began draping his arm over
Giles shoulder pinning the other man to his side. "The sooner we start,
the sooner it'll all be over."
Giles instantly brightened at Kane's words of wisdom although
his brow continued to frown. "Yes, quite."
As a last thought Giles turned his attention towards the bag
lying at his feet, rummaging around inside it until he found what he wanted.
Kane raised a curious eyebrow at the dagger Giles was currently
sliding into his boot. "I'm pretty sure we won’t need that, Jamie and Nidia
are from the other side of the tracks but I don’t think we'd need 'that' kind
of protection from them."
"If anything happens to me tonight, will you see Buffy gets
this." Giles answered holding out a small white envelope to the big man.
"Sure." Kane replied although his eyes remained on the
dagger.
"It's just a precaution, in case something unsavoury comes
through the portal instead of Buffy and Rob." he explained before
following Victoria out of the locker room. 'And for my sake I hope I don’t have
to use it.' he added for his own benefit before leaving Kane to ponder over
what he had just said.
"Oh, good idea..." Kane said shifting uncomfortably
from foot to foot. "You wouldn't happen to have another one lying around
somewhere would you?" he asked as the locker room door swung shut as he
followed them out.
**
"And there opponents Jamie Noble and his girlfriend
Nidia!"
"When should we do this?" Victoria whispered to Giles
as the three of them stood in the middle of the ring awaiting Jamie and Nidia
to make there way down to ringside.
"I don’t mean to sound anxious, god knows if there was any
other way-"
"Giles," Victoria cut into his rambling pulling out
the small blade she held up her sleeve. "I agreed to this, just tell me
when and I'll bleed anywhere in the ring you want me to."
"How about... before the match begins?" he asked
turning one side of his mouth up pleadingly.
Kane chuckled, which went unnoticed to everyone else not
directly in his personal space because of the mask he always wore. "I knew
you'd say that."
"Sorry to spoil your fun." Giles cringed
apologetically.
"Your not, tis Victoria's fun you'll be spoiling."
Giles turned to see Victoria's expression had hardened as her
wrestling persona took over and she turned her attention to Jamie as he entered
the ring. Pounding on the unsuspecting man causing everyone not involved in the
match to scramble through the ropes out of the ring and the referee to signal
for the bell.
"You want in?" Victoria called over her shoulder to
her tag team partner who was at that moment in deep conversation with Kane
while she kept her opponent in place with a well positioned hand to his
forehead as Jamie tried unsuccessfully to hit out at Victoria who stood just
short of his arm's length.
"Oh, no... You look like your having fun, do carry
on." Giles replied turning back to Kane.
"Aw come on," Victoria whined teasingly, "Look, I
softened him up for you." she added proving her point by holding the now
weary Jamie Noble up on his feet, it seemed the other man apparently lacked the
strength to do so on his own.
"Well," Giles again took in Jamie's battered body
before nodding his head. "Alright then."
Victoria took two long strides towards Giles and tapped the
English man in.
"Please, if at anytime you see me in dire need... feel free
to open the portal." he whispered to her as he slipped through the ropes.
"Go get'em Giles," Victoria said tapping him on the
back encouragingly. "Show them all what the English are really made
of."
Giles looked confused. "You want me to take them to tea and
crumpets?"
"If it'll help you win, why not." Victoria grinned
back at him. "Now get on with it." she ordered motioning him to turn
his attention to Jamie.
He turned and saw Jamie no longer seemed as weary as he was
before. "Oh dear lord."
Jamie snickered flipping Kane off before rushing at Giles.
It all happened in the space of a few seconds as Jamie swung the
unsuspecting Giles into the ropes before flying through the air to land across
Giles chest, knocking what little air Giles had managed to inhale before the
other man's elbow came down hard into the middle of Giles chest.
"I thought this was all fake?" Giles grumbled using
the ropes to pull himself up.
"Did you like that old man?" Jamie taunted dancing
around the ring on the balls of his feet.
"I want in! I want in!" Nidia screamed holding her
hand out for Jamie to tap her in.
Jamie ignored her.
Giles looked from Jamie to Nidia. "She wants in." he
suggested hopefully but to no avail he soon realised as Jamie slowly shook his
head.
"Nah ah, old man... your ass is mi- ineeeee...."
"Jamie!" Nidia screamed as a giant hole seemed to open
up beneath him causing him to teeter on its edge.
Giles acting on years of fighting for the side of good let
instinct take over his actions as he reached out and hooked his hand into the
waistband of the denim cut offs Jamie wore. "Don’t struggle!" He
yelled grabbing onto the top rope with his free hand to help relieve part of
the gravitational pull from the portal. He could hear Victoria's hysterical
ramblings from ringside and Kane's calmer tones as he tried to comfort her.
He felt someone's hand clasp on to his, helping to keep his grip
on the rope steadfast and he was shocked when he turned towards his helper, his
eyes meeting the scared eyes of Nidia. In that instant as there eyes met he
didn't see the overly excited girl who had tried to grope him in a hotel
drugstore, he saw a woman worried about the man she loved. And he was relieved
to see that man wasn't him.
With Nidia's help Giles pulled Jamie from the portal and into
the waiting arms of Nidia, watching as she fussed over him checking to see if
he was okay. Jamie held on just as tightly to Nidia but his eyes lifted to meet
Giles, he touched his hand to his chest twice before extending it to Giles in a
silent thankyou.
The crowds roar brought Giles attention back to the situation at
hand and he was amazed at the crowd’s ignorance to a bloody gaping big hole in
the middle of the ring.
"Giles behind you!"
Kane's warning came too late as Giles felt a hand wrap around
his throat, lifting him off his feet.
"Hello, Giles."
He fought the unconsciousness that threatened to overcome him as
he looked down upon the small girl who effortlessly held him in her grip.
"Dawn..."
"Aw, save your breath. We all know I'm not Dawn." she
smiled sweetly up at him before turning her gaze on Kane and Victoria who had
entered the ring. "If you want to live I suggest you hop right back out of
here."
"Do as she says!" Giles croaked when it became
apparent neither Kane nor Victoria were going to move. "Trust me, do as
she says."
Glory chuckled as they both conceded to Giles instructions.
"Aren’t you both good little mortals." she sneered before turning her
attention back to Giles. "I had so hoped to end Buffy's life... but it
seems the powers that be have given me something better instead." Her eyes
gleamed as she tightened her grip on Giles throat. "Can you imagine how
Buffy felt when Dawn perished; I can, and have many, many times. I miss those
times you know. All big bad Glory, evilest hell goddess there ever was... until
Buffy came along and ruined everything." she brought her hand up to study
her finger nails then with a shrug of her shoulders released Giles, leaving him
panting for oxygen on the ring floor. "Revenge is always sweet though, and
with your help... mine will be tenfold."
"What do you plan to do?" Giles hissed his breathing
coming in low shallow gasps.
"Why, kill you of course. Dawn's death merely caused Buffy
to isolate herself from everyone and everything... but what do you think your
death will do on top of that. Especially when I keep you alive long enough for
her to see it." she saw Giles face harden and smiled loving the rush she
got from human's and there fear.
"Buffy's stronger then that." he said, his hand
reaching down towards his boot. "I will see you die before you even get to
see me bleed."
Glory laughed. "I'm shaking in my boots."
Giles pulled out the dagger, keeping it hidden behind his hand
as his thumb moved over the ruby that laid within its handle. A ruby that had
been marked by the 'Coven of the Living Dead.' A most powerful sector that
offered mystical help to those who needed it, but like all things their help
had come with a fairly high price. A price he had willingly paid.
By paying that price he always knew this time would come and he
knew if Buffy were here she would do anything within her power to stop him,
which is why he didn't tell her that his time here wasn't permanent. That his
time here lasted only as long as the dagger he had marked with his life's
essence, the same dagger he had given to her, the same dagger he had travelled
here on at Buffy's summoning, the same dagger that allowed him to live as long
as it remained tainted with his blood only. His debt to the Coven of the Living
Dead now paid in full. Two lives in exchange for one.
He slowly got to his feet, his chest still heaving as he
continued to gulp in air. He glanced outside the ring and saw the scared
expressions of Victoria and Nidia, Jamie's face was one of concern and Giles
knew the other man longed for an opening to come to the aid of the man who only
moments before had saved his life and while Kane's masked face remained hidden,
his eye's held comprehension and compassion. Kane's hand lifting slightly
holding within his fingers the envelope Giles had given to him before the
match. The two men sharing a final look of understanding as Giles lunged at
Glory, taking her by surprise as he plunged the dagger deep within her belly,
twisting it inside her. The pain etched on her face was mirrored on his as they
both fell as one through the ropes, onto the matted concrete below.
"Giles!"
Everyone's attention had been on Giles and Glory that they
hadn't notice the other two people slip through the portal.
"Buffy?" his voice was weak and his eyes soft as Buffy
slipped through the ropes, falling to her knees at his side.
"I'm here, Giles... your going to be okay..." she said
already knowing he wouldn't be by the amount of blood pouring from the wound in
his stomach. She couldn't help the tears that sprang up in her eyes as she
looked down into his. "Oh, Giles... what did you do?" she felt
someone’s hands on her shoulders and quickly shrugged them off.
"What I had to, Buffy..." He whispered his eyes
fluttering to a close. "What I had
to..."
**
AN: //Denotes dream state//
Part Twenty
**
//'Giles.'
Her voice, quiet and inconsolable rose up around them in a swirl
of air and dust, no one moved, no one said a word as the swirling mass gathered
above there heads and within it three figures could be seen.
'Buffy.'
Buffy's head remained lowered, her hand reaching out to close
the still open eyes of the man she considered not only her Watcher and friend,
but her father. As everything else happening around her was lost to her she
cocked her head to one side, seemingly in a trance, before lifting her head to
the voice.
'Mommy?'
The figures within the mass became more clearer and Buffy's brow
unfurrowed, her eyes alight with recognition as her mother's face appeared.
'You did it Buffy.' she whispered.
'I did?'
'Yes Buffy,' she motioned behind her with a slight wave of her
hand. Two figures drew near, figures she recognised before their forms became
clear to her naked eye.
'Dawn...' the warmth that radiated from within her sister was
like a welcoming blast that seeped into the icy wall that she had built up
around herself, thawing the cold that had become her life.
'I'm not alone anymore, Buffy, I'm where I should be.'
'We all are,' Buffy's eyes moved behind Dawn to see Giles
looking very much the English librarian, in tweed pants and a woolly jumper. He
smiled at her. 'Guess the higher powers had bigger plans install for me,'
'Giles, I'm so sorry, I should have been here to stop Glory, 'I'
should be there, not you.' she wailed to the three images hovering in the
middle of the ring.
'No, Buffy,' the image of Giles seemed to grow until it was all
she saw. 'I am needed here, with your mother and with Dawn. You no longer need
a Watcher,' his hand drew forward and Buffy felt a slight sensation graze the
side of her face. 'You haven’t needed one for a while.'
'You’re wrong, I still need you!'
'Our paths no longer run parallel, Buffy. My path now lies here,
with your mother and Dawn. Your path is there in the WWE. You have people there
who need you, support you, love you... it's time for you to start doing what
has been denied you most of your adolescence. It's time for you to start
living.'
'I can’t do this again, I can’t lose someone again.'
'You haven’t lost me, Buffy, as long as the ruby dagger is in
your possession, I will always be near.' the image began to get smaller and
smaller until once again he was joined by the images of her mother and sister.
'We all will.'
'Giles...'
'It's time, Buffy...'
The images began to fade.
'It's time to live...'//
"She's coming too,"
"Buffy?"
"Buffy, can you hear me?"
"Maybe we should shake her?"
"Shake her and I shake you."
"Come on guys, give her some room will you? I swear with
you two around I'm going to have to invest in a bulldozer to fight my way
through just to see her." Victoria stated pushing through the two men to
sit at Buffy's side. "Buffy? Sweetie, it's me Victoria. Can you hear
me?"
Buffy's eyes fluttered open. "Giles..."
"He's gone baby, I'm so sorry."
Buffy allowed the other woman's embrace for a minute before
looking up into the faces of Kane, Rob, Jamie and Nidia who stood awkwardly
behind Victoria.
She frowned. "When did we come back to the locker
room?"
"Almost twenty minutes ago," Victoria answered,
"you fainted inside the ring and Rob carried you back here."
"Oh." Buffy lowered her eyes, refusing to meet Rob's
gaze as thoughts of the last few moments in his home dimension came back to
her. "Where are the bodies? Where is Giles body?"
"The MT's have taken Giles body to the coroner's
office." Jamie said surprising them all by his reply, his smile was unsure
as he meet Buffy's eyes. "Hi."
She smiled. "Hi."
"He saved my life," Jamie said feeling he had to say
something as she gazed at him from the other side of the room where she sat.
"He did that a lot." Buffy said surprising the other
men in the room at how quickly she seemed to take to Jamie Noble. "What
about Glory?"
Kane shuddered. "Let's just say there's no way she's going
to be leaving the ring area without the help of a mop and bucket."
Buffy quirked an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Ever seen The Wizard of Oz?"
"Yeah,"
"Then ding dong, Dorothy, the witch is dead."
Buffy didn't seem to see the funny side. "You’re sure? You
saw her body?"
Kane crouched down in front of her, wanting her to see the
seriousness in his eyes. "She's gone, Buffy. We all watched as she turned
to liquid mush."
"Hmmm..." Her bottom lip jutted out. "That's
something you don’t see everyday."
"And something I wont be forgetting in a hurry
either." Nidia said from beside Jamie. "He was a very special
man."
"Yes, yes he was."
A knock sounded at the door and a pasty faced official peered in
through the slightly ajar door. "Five minutes till ringside people."
Buffy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Ringside?"
"This is for you, Buff." Kane said handing Buffy a
small white envelope. "Come on guys, we have a match." he said
turning to the others.
Buffy accepted the envelope recognising Giles handwriting on the
front.
Kane started to follow Jamie and Nidia out of the locker room.
"Did anyone else see the way Rob had his lips locked with Buffy-"
Smack! "Hey!"
Victoria smiled sweetly "We shouldn't be too long."
Victoria said reaching out to brush Buffy's hair back over her shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere." Buffy replied already
pulling out the contents of the envelope.
Dearest Buffy,
I have followed you all the days of your life, not just through
sunrise and sunset, but through the hours of the night when the stars turned in
silence around the world. I knew your dreams and fears. You peered with me, at
times reluctantly, and puzzled over the forces of good and evil in books, and
I, too, struggled with you in your loneliness and pain. If you are reading this
then chances are I am no longer on the same dimensional plane as you, so with
this letter I leave one last gift. A spell that will erase the events that
unfolded tonight in the minds of everyone down at ringside, backstage, in the
stands and at home watching and new events will be written except for you and
those with you. The spell will be triggered soon after my passing. In my mind
and in my heart you are my daughter, my beloved daughter, and as any father
would want the best for his daughter, I want the same for you. It's time to
stop living for the world and to start living for Buffy Summers.
It has been an honour and a privilege to not only be your
Watcher, but to also be your friend. Know that whilst I remain in your heart,
you will never be alone.
Always... Giles.
She hadn't realised Rob was still in the room until she heard
him speak.
"Buffy, are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah," she sniffed, her hand reaching up to wipe the
tears she hadn't realised had fallen before replacing Giles letter inside the
envelope. "I think I'm going to be okay."
"From what Kane and Victoria have told me, he loved you
very much. The whole time we were in Keercelttab, he never stopped in his
efforts of looking for a way to bring you back. And he did." Pulling a
chair over he turned it so that the back of the chair was facing her before
straddling it to look at her. "He didn't die in vain."
'It's time for you to start living...' Giles last words of
advice circled around in her head and she smiled reaching up to cup Rob's cheek
in the palm of her hand, suddenly understanding what Giles had meant.
"No, his death wasn't in vain. He died so that I may
live." She pulled him closer, her mind full of possibility for the future.
"That 'we' may live."
**
END
**
Title: Dead Amongst The Living
Author: PaulenaK
Email: toukalah@hotmail.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Everything WWE belongs to Vince McMahon. Everything
BTVS belongs to Joss Whedon.
Author's Note: // denotes dream state \\
**
Prologue
**
// "Buffy!" Dawn screamed from atop the tower.
"I'm coming Dawn... hold on!" Buffy screamed back, she
could see the beginnings of a portal opening from her position on the tower,
looking up she could see Dawn's face pleading with her to hurry.
"Buffy please... save me!"
She continued up creaky wooden stairs jumping over metal slabs
and pulling her way up through openings that lead her closer to Dawn.
"Buffy!"
"I'm almost there!"
She was close, she knew it... she could hear Dawn's sobs... see
the deeps cuts across her stomach and down her face... see the blood seep down
her legs and over the edge of the tower dripping almost sadistically,
laughingly into the portal below.
She wasn’t going to make it. Buffy ran towards her but she just
kept getting farther and farther away.
"Dawn! Dawn No!"
"Buffyyyyyyyyyy!"
"No! Dawnnnnnnnn!"
\\
"Buffy… Buffy? Wake up honey your having a
nightmare..."
The tears came then, and she turned hiding her face from the
comforting voice of her room mate. "Please forgive me... please forgive
me..." She repeated over and over again retreating back against the wall
almost as if she were trying to become one with it.
Victoria sat back on her knee's wishing her friend would open up
to her about the continuing nightmare that plagued her... but she would never
say a word... she would just roll over like she always did and in the morning
she would act like it had never happened.
"What happened in your past, Buffy? What happened that was
so bad to make you how you are..." She whispered as she pulled the covers
up and over her friend, the soft hiccuping she heard a sign that at least now
her sobbing was spent. Hopefully now the young woman would sleep peacefully
till morning.
**
Part One
**
Buffy stood under the spray of the shower, letting the hot water
scold her skin, the burning sensations drowning out the thoughts of her
nightmare. It was always the same dream over and over again and in them Dawn
always called for Buffy to save her... and in every dream she had failed, just
like in reality.
Shutting off the water she stepped out of the shower her
movements jerky almost robotic as she wrapped a huge white bathrobe around her
body, the hem of the gown brushing the floor as she walked to the basin her
hand reaching out for her toothbrush.
The first thing she noticed as she looked into the mirror was
her eyes, they were huge and the dark circles under them had been there so long
one would think she had been born with them. She looked old... older then
old... dead.
"Buffy? You okay in there?"
She returned her toothbrush to its case before slipping it back
into her travel bag. "I'll be out in a minute." She said her eyes not
leaving her reflection in the mirror.
Grabbing her brush she ran it through her hair before securing
it up in a ponytail, replacing the towel with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
Not the usual dress code for a female who worked in the WWE but it suited her
purposes well and provided ample room for her to conceal the last thing Giles
had ever given her before he was summoned back to England after a 'new' slayer
and her watcher had arrived, a small dagger which held a crescent shaped ruby
in the hilt, legends said that the ruby was enchanted, an all seeing eye that
would protect it's owner.
Willow and Xander got on well with the new slayer and she was
glad because they needed someone to look after them. Where as Spike and Anya
seemed to rekindle their table top romance taking off for parts unknown and
according to Xander, untried. They had all made an attempt to act like there
was still a place there for her, but two slayers in Sunnydale was one slayer
too many... besides there was nothing there for her now... so she had left.
Throwing the rest of her things in her travel bag she slipped on
her runners before making her way into the other room.
"All ready?" Victoria asked getting up from the couch
and tossing a water bottle in her direction.
"As I'll ever be," She replied picking up her other
bag on her way out the door.
"You know Buffy... if you ever want to talk..."
"I know... and... and thankyou, but I'm... dealing."
'Yep, out-in-public-Buffy was firmly in place.' Victoria thought
grabbing her own bags as she followed the girl out.
Buffy had only been part of the roster for a couple months after
winning a 'last 3 minutes' competition, which basically meant she had to last 3
minutes in the ring with either Rosie or Jamal, granted her body didn’t have to
come in contact with either men she only had to last the distance, Jim Ross
having given her an on the spot contract after not only lasting the distance
with Jamal, but also with Rosie.
Sticking pretty much to herself for the first part then upon
Stephanie's orders that none of the diva's room alone had formed a kind of
kinship with the only other tortured soul in the WWE - namely her.
The motherly vibe in Victoria called to her and she had
immediately taken the young woman under her wing, only thing was her tortured
soul act was exactly that... an act. Where in Buffy's case she seemed to live
and breathe whatever it was that had her calling out for forgiveness over and
over again in her sleep... and whatever it was, equally called back in return.
**
Author's Note: Reference to the song 'Farther Away' by
'Evanescence'.
Part Two
**
Buffy sat in the diva locker room awaiting one of the stage
hands to come let her know it was time for her match, she hated just sitting
here doing nothing but it sure beat the hell out of going out there to be
looked at condescendingly by people who knew nothing about you or your past.
Victoria was much like her she mused, cold and detached from the
other people in the WWE... talked about, but not talked to... first impressions
looked on like gospel. Not that Victoria cared, one of the first things the
older woman had told her was 'I know me... in here...' She had said pointing to
her chest, '...and that’s all that matters.'
She had learned to live by that rule and it had pulled her
through the tough times of being an outcast in the WWE... and brought her to
where she was now, the WWE Women's Champion. 'They couldn’t take that from
her,' Buffy thought. A small victory in their eyes but it had meant the world
to Victoria.
A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts and she
looked up hesitantly as it was pushed open, a ruddy faced man wearing a black
t-shirt with the words 'back stage' written across the front peered in at her.
"Five minutes." He stated simply closing the door again.
"Well... time to go win a match," She got up and made
her way to the door reaching out with her hand to pull it open. "And
hopefully get my arse kicked in the process." She added shutting the door
behind her.
As she neared the ramp she spied Victoria returning from a promo
sending the other woman a nod before she turned towards the curtain to see
Molly Holly there waiting to walk through.
Buffy arched her eyebrow at the other woman 'She certainly was
persistent,' Buffy had to give her credit for that. In the short time she had
been in the WWE she had wrestled Molly Holly three times and beaten her at each
match, but like a little energizer battery she just kept going and going.
The woman continued to glare bloody murder at her till she was
given the thumbs up by a stage hand to walk through the curtain as her music
blared around the arena.
Buffy waited the required time allowed before she followed
barely registering the roar of the crowd as they cheered her towards the ring
with chants of 'thief, whore and liar' the only thing in her ears the sound of
'Farther Away' by 'Evanescence'. Each word that blared through the arena like a
lash across her back... a reminder of what she deserved once she stepped in
that ring... a constant reminder that she had failed when she was needed the
most.
**
**
Part Three
**
"Why does she do that?"
Victoria clearly jumped two feet in the air at the sound of the
voice behind her, she had been so preoccupied with watching the monitor she
hadn’t realised someone was there... and even more shocked that he had spoken
to her... no one spoke to her unless it was an absolute necessity… no one -
other than Buffy.
"Do what?" She replied trying to sound nonchalant as
she turned to look at the man who had spoken to her nearly jumping another two
feet when she was met with the masked face of one half of the tag team
champions.
"Do that," Kane pointed to the monitor to see Molly
Holly delivering numerous kicks to her opponent’s mid-section not letting up,
the referee having to interfere. "It's like she wants to get beat up on...
she never hits back till she’s been battered, bloodied and bruised."
"So you've noticed that too hey?"
"To be honest not just me... thing is I was the only one
with guts enough to approach you."
She nearly smiled at that... nearly... instead opting for
sarcastic humour. "That task would indeed take balls of steel."
He had his back to her as he stared at the monitor his shoulders
shaking hinting at the laughter on his face even though she couldn’t see it.
"So... why does she do it?"
"That's something only she can answer."
Kane nodded, a thoughtful nod... not a look one would expect
from the monster of a man standing before her now. As if realising she was
staring she quickly turned back to the monitor to see the ref signalling for
the bell before raising Buffy's hand in victory.
"Just like the last four times she beat Molly Holly,"
Kane said leaning forward to look closer at the monitor. "She practically
crawls back up the ramp nursing injuries while her opponent comes out
unscathed."
Buffy walked through the curtain then shrugging off the medic's
who surrounded her to disappear down the hallway that lead to the diva's locker
room keeping her eyes on the floor the whole time.
"It's like she's punishing herself."
Victoria's brow creased as she thought about his words a mental
image of Buffy tossing and turning in her sleep, her feverish whisperings for
forgiveness flashing through Victoria's mind.
"Maybe she is."
**
She watched the scene below her seeing the girl winch in pain as
she reached up to turn the shower on full blast before stepping beneath the hot
spray, her painful expression alone telling of the sting the hot water was
having on her already aching flesh.
Her mind screaming pain but her body feeling nothing, she saw
the girl lean her forehead against the tiled wall of the shower allowing her
tears to fall as she did after every match, the sound of the water drowning out
her sobs to everyone except those 'like her' that chose to listen, choosing
that time to send her whispered call down to the weeping girl like a gentle
breeze.
'Another match over…another to come… soon Buffy.'
**
Part Four
**
Buffy emerged from the shower to find Victoria waiting for her
their bags all ready to head back to the hotel, the other woman frowning when
she noticed Buffy favouring her side.
"You should have let the medic's check you over."
"There's nothing they would have told me that I don’t know
already." Buffy informed her bending to pick up her bag slinging it over
her shoulder as they walked out of the diva's locker room and down the hallway
towards the exit, Victoria already reaching into her bag for her mobile to call
a cab.
"Need a ride?"
"God will you stop doing that!" Victoria shrieked when
once again the voice of Kane boomed out behind her and again sending her air
borne.
Buffy turned to look behind her to see a very contrite looking
Kane and a very put out Rob Van Dam who was before she turned and caught him,
waving his arms and shaking his head mouthing the words 'NO' behind Victoria's
back.
"Buffy?" Victoria asked not wanting to put the other
girl in a position she was uncomfortable with by accepting on her behalf.
"I'm good." She replied noticing Rob had the decency
to blush.
"Another time then," Victoria replied with a shrug as
they continued out of the building.
Kane watched until the door swung shut behind the girls before
turning to look at his friend. "Thanks."
**
/'Buffy... Buffy...'
Buffy was walking down a long hall way, she could hear someone
calling her name although this voice wasn’t the young innocent voice that had
haunted her dreams as well as her waking state. This voice was different...
more mature... more motherly.
'Mom? Mommy?'
'It's not over, Buffy...'
'Mommy... Is it you...' Buffy reached out for the vision dancing
before her. 'Mommy...'
'Your gift is life...'
'Mommy, don’t go... I'm so alone...'
'She will come, Buffy... You must be ready... Your gift is
life...'\
Victoria watched the girl as she tossed and turned in her dream
state, putting down her book she got up from her bed to perch herself on the
edge of Buffy's her hand reaching down to brush the blonde strands away from
the girls face.
"You’re not alone, Buffy..." She whispered,
"You’re not alone..."
**
AN: References to BTVS episode's 'Intervention' and 'The Gift'
Part Five
**
She awoke with a start and looked around her brow creasing. The
darkness of the room had her wondering why she was awake... usually her dream
state held her prisoner till the sun rose. The even sounds of breathing coming
from the bed next to hers told her that Victoria was sound in her slumber and
the continual tick of Victoria's glow in the dark wind up Mickey Mouse clock
told her it was nearing 3am.
She sat up in bed trying to recall her dream. 'She's coming...
your gift is life...' Her mother's voice... Who's coming? In her mind she went
back to the last time she had heard the words 'Your gift is life...' The First
Slayer.
Her gift had been life back then as well, but look how that had
turned out. Dawn had lost her life up on that tower and in turn... Buffy, not
being fast enough, strong enough and determined enough had lost hers. 'Well...'
she thought looking down at herself. 'Not literally.’
'Your gift is life...' The words were whispered on a cool flow
of air that blew through the open window but she heard the voice as plain as
day in the quiet room. 'Your gift is life...'
**
Victoria looked up in surprise as a whistling Buffy came out of
the bathroom her hair still wet from her shower her eye brow's rising when
Buffy shot a smile her way. Buffy never smiled.
"Ready for breakfast?"
Victoria could only stare opened mouthed at the little blonde
who now sat on her bed with her legs crossed in front of her while she secured
her hair up in her usual pony tail.
"Hello... Victoria?"
"Huh... breakfast... you mean outside of the hotel
room?"
There it was again, that smile.
"Yes of course outside of the hotel room... I'm
famished..."
"You are?"
'Buffy never ate breakfast...'
"Yeah, I could really go for a plate of Willow's funny
shaped pancakes right now."
'Willow's funny shaped pancakes?' Victoria still wasn’t sure
what was going on but she'd play along... for now. "Let's go."
Victoria nearly laughed outright when they entered the hotel
diner and the room which had been buzzing with activity suddenly came to a stop
as all eyes turned there way.
"Oh look, there's a table." Buffy said taking the
lead.
"Ah... Buffy... that table's already taken..."
Victoria began when she realised which table Buffy was heading for.
"May we join you?"
Kane and Rob shared a look before Kane motioned with his hand
for them to take a seat.
Before Buffy could sit Victoria pulled her aside. "Okay,
who are you and what have you done with Buffy."
**
Part Six
**
Kane raised a brow at the other man seated across the table from
him but Rob just shrugged in his 'devil may care' manner before turning his
attention back to the girls.
"Did she just giggle?"
"Ah... yeah... that she did." Rob seemed
flabbergasted. "What do you think they're up too?"
"Why must they be up to something... did it not occur to
you that they might just want to enjoy the pleasure of our company?"
Rob looked thoughtful for a minute and then replied. "No.
They're up to something."
"Shhhh... they're coming back." Kane muttered under
his breath all traces of doubt leaving his face as he smiled up at them
noticing only one of the two women returned it... and it wasn’t the one he
expected.
"No, sit here Victoria..." Buffy said practically
pushing her down in the chair beside Kane. "Ahh... I wanted you to have
the seat with the view." she rambled on taking the seat next to Rob, who
seemed to cower away from the young girl sending her side glances.
Kane didn’t mind at all. "So... what are you two lovely
ladies doing today?" he asked kicking Rob under the table, the other guy
straightening in his chair as snickers from the people he deemed on his friend
list carried across the void to reach his ears. Turning in his seat he sent
Rhyno, Christian and Test a glare which only served to turn their snickers into
fully fledged laughter.
"We got no plans," Buffy piped up before Victoria
could even open her mouth. "What are you guys doing?"
Rob coughed loudly beside Buffy. "Excuse me," he said
reaching for his water glass, his eyes screaming for Kane to get them the hell
out of this.
The big man just smiled back at his friend. "We were
thinking of taking in a football game... you girls want to join us?"
"We'd love too!" Buffy gushed turning to deliver a
mighty slap to Rob's back as he started to choke, earning more laughter from
the other table.
Victoria looked at her friend who now grinned from ear to ear,
'I think I prefer stoic Buffy to ditzy Buffy.' she thought covering her face
with her hands.
"Great." Kane's grin was just as blinding as Buffy's.
"Oh no." Buffy shrieked slapping her forehead with the
palm of her hand.
"What?" Victoria asked putting the menu she had been
reading down.
"I forgot I had that thing today..."
"Thing?"
"Yeah... that thing... oh... hey... and look at the
time..." she looked down at her wrist as she rose from the table quickly
pulling her sleeve down before anyone else saw she wasn’t wearing a watch.
"If I don’t leave now I'm going to be late."
"What thing? Late for what?"
"Have a good time at the game... bring me back a
souvenir..."
"Buffy... wait..."
But Buffy's parting words were for the two men seated with her.
"Anything happens to her... you, you and me..." she stated pointing
between them, "Issues." They were left watching as she raced out the
doors without a second glance.
As Buffy left the hotel her whole demeanour changed... her back
and shoulders straightened, the smile left her face and the teasing glint left
her eyes. The only thing in her mind was the whispered words from her dream
'your gift is life...'
**
AN: 'denotes thoughts, ~denotes phone conversation
Part Seven
**
'Magic shops... magic shops... magic shops... ah here it is...
not much to choose from...' she thought her eyes scanning the list of names
curtesy of New Yorks yellow pages. 'You'd think in a city this big they'd be
more...' she added tearing out the page before letting the phone book drop and
dangle needlessly around her legs.
The first one would be found easily enough, only a few blocks
away from the hotel too. She didn’t have much time left in this city knowing
tonight would be the last show and tomorrow they would all move on to the next
city.
But before that she had a phone call to make... turning her back
on the impatient man waiting to use the phone as he tapped heedlessly on the
glass door she dialled the one number she thought she would never use again.
~Hello?~
**
Victoria was having a ball, she hadn’t been to a football game
since high school and the atmosphere of the crowd still hadn't dimmed... it was
strange how surreal a feeling she had being one of the ones cheering instead of
being cheered for.
She had felt a little awkward and hurt before and could have
utterly throttled Buffy for instigating that little scene, it was plain to see
that she had been ditched... and ditched quite expertly too. She had tried to
offer the guys a way out by declining the offer after Buffy had left but Kane
wouldn’t hear of it, stating Buffy had left her in their care and that was
where she was going to stay.
Something was going on she knew that much why else would Buffy
all of the sudden become little miss perky and go to such extreme lengths as to
actually acknowledge other wrestlers in public... it just didn’t add up in her
mind and she wished for the umpteenth time that Buffy would confide in her.
"I can’t believe you let that little psycho talk us into
this."
"Will you keep your voice down?" Kane glared down at
his friend and tag team partner. "Victoria is seated right next to me for
god’s sake."
"She's so... distant... cold."
"Don’t forget beautiful... talented... and a crowd
pleaser..." Kane finished for him. He chuckled when Rob elbowed him in the
side before focusing back on the game. "I think you like her."
"Oh please. You couldn’t be more farther from the
truth."
Kane shrugged. "Only reason I can think of for why you’re
so adamant not to be in her company... even when your 'not' in her company."
Rob opened his mouth to say something then shut it just as
quickly, he could think of no reply to that. "Fine, I won’t say another
word about her."
Kane looked down at his watch and counted down the seconds and
before the big hand on his watch struck 12 he heard his friend say.
"Did she seem a little off beat to you?"
**
Buffy slipped her key card in the slot that would open the door
to her hotel room quickly stepping through and locking it behind her. Emptying
the bag she carried onto the bed she set right to work with moving all the
furniture in the room against the walls, once that was done she drew a big
circle on the floor with coloured sand, lighting four candles she placed them
at the four directional points before unclasping the dagger Giles had given her
from her thigh and placing it beside her as she sat in the circles centre.
Now all she had to do was wait.
As he had promised she didn’t have to wait long as the dagger
rose to dangle precariously in front of her, the rubies centre glowing eerily
before the glow began to rise up out of the ruby to surround her.
Out of the glow she saw a shape emerge and step out of the
circle breaking the spell. She smiled as she looked up at the figure standing
before her.
"Giles."
**
Part Eight
**
"And you’re quite certain?"
"As certain as I can be," Buffy shrugged, "It's the
only explanation I can come up with."
"Well... we can’t exactly rule it out given our
history."
She smiled when he absently removed his glasses to wipe them on
the end of his shirt, 'some things never change.' "The dreams, the
voices... it all points to that night."
"Question is why?"
She got up from the chair she had been seated on to walk over to
the window staring needlessly out into the mid day traffic. "I've thought
about that too... revenge."
"Buffy..."
"I let her die, Giles."
"You need to stop blaming yourself... we were all there. We
all saw what happened... it wasn’t your fault."
Buffy couldn’t help the tears that spilled down her cheeks,
Giles taking the young girl into his arms without a second thought. "I
think revenge would play a part in it but I don’t think it's the main
reason."
She hastily wiped at her eyes moving out of his embrace wrapping
her arms about herself her eyes once more focusing on the happenings outside of
the hotel window. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it... she wasn’t human yet you were what made
her human." Giles moved to stand beside her at the window. "Her
mystical side was appeased... maybe all she wants is for her human side to be
put to rest."
"And if you’re wrong?"
He shrugged. "Then we fight... and in the mean time, you
train."
**
Kane walked Victoria back to her room after they had arrived
back at the hotel Rob having gone straight to their room to grab their bags so
they could head straight out to the arena.
"I'm sorry... you know... about Rob..."
"It's okay you don’t have to explain... I do know that
Buffy and I are not the most liked people back stage of the WWE."
"I wouldn’t go that far as to say 'not liked' cause I can
say right now that you are liked... liked very much in fact."
Victoria smiled coming to a stop beside her hotel room door.
"Your really sweet Kane," she said leaning up to kiss his cheek
surprising herself more then him.
Kane stared at her as if in a daze for a moment his head moving
of its own accord towards her before a crash that came from inside the room
broke him out of his thoughts.
Barely registering his actions he took a step back before
barrelling right into the closed door.
"What the blazes..."
Buffy and Giles turned to see a man lying prone on top of the
fallen door and a surprised Victoria standing in the door way her eyes darting
back and forth between Buffy and the older man who for some reason had pillows
taped around his torso with duck tape.
Kane looked up from his position and smiled. "Ah... hey
Buffy... did you get your thing done?"
**
Part Nine
**
Tears of laughter streamed down Buffy's cheeks as she looked
down at the man lying stomach down with his face up turned and the cheesiest of
smiles plastered to his mug that would have impressed even Xander.
"Well, I'm glad one of us thinks this is funny..."
Giles muttered moving slowly and painfully forward with his hand out stretched
towards the raven haired girl standing in the doorway. "Victoria, I
presume?"
Victoria could only nod and stare until a quick tap on her ankle
by Kane's shoed foot brought her to her senses. "Ah... yes, yes I'm
Victoria." her eyes fell again to the pillows taped around his body and
then back again to the still laughing Buffy. "Did we interrupt
something?"
"No, not at all," Giles replied his smile fading as it
registered in his mind just what the girl actually thought they were
interrupting. "NO! No absolutely not!" he declared in his stiff upper
lip manner causing more laughter to spew forth from Buffy, the same thought
registering in the other man's mind as he rose to grip Giles by the collar
shoving him up against a wall. "Buffy, do stop laughing and tell them who
I am."
"I... I'm sorry... it’s just... the door... the pillows...
duck tape..." taking deep breaths she tried to still the laughter she felt
rumbling up inside of her.
"Buffy!" Giles squeaked as Kane’s grip got tighter.
"Kane let him go... he's a friend." she continued to
smile as she bent down to pick up the fallen door leaning it against the wall,
turning to meet the shocked stares of Kane, Victoria and Rob who now stood
behind Victoria with a bag slung over each shoulder. "Oh... very, very not
heavy door... made with very, very not heavy... wood... and this is Giles!
Giles this is everybody... everybody this is Giles."
"She's smiling again..." Rob whispered up at Kane.
"Thank god you didn’t arrive a few minutes earlier... who
knows what your reaction would be to her laughter."
"She laughed?" Rob looked incredulous.
"Till she cried," Kane replied stepping away form the
wall he was leaning against. "Ah... I'm Kane... this here is Rob... sorry
about... wrinkling your collar..."
"Apology accepted... I'm sure I would have done exactly the
same thing..." Giles replied accepting his out stretched hand. "Maybe
with a little less of the hands on approach..." he added pulling at the
duck tape to release the pillows.
"Sorry to break this reunion up but we only have 20 minutes
to get to the arena." Rob said holding up his wrist to point to his watch.
"Yeah we better hustle... you girls wanna ride with
us?" Kane offered choosing to ignore the roll of Rob's eyes.
"Sure," Victoria smiled moving fully into the room to
grab her bag. "Buffy?"
Buffy looked to Giles. "Giles?"
"Where are you going?"
"Work."
"Oh you work... splendid! What is it that you do?" A
proud look came over his face. "No... Let me guess... kinder garden teacher...
aged care worker? Oh, oh I got it... high school councillor?"
"I'm a wrestler for the WWE."
Victoria felt like laughing now at the total change in the man's
expression, it went from ecstatic to despondent to outrage in two seconds flat.
"You’re... a what! Of all the barbaric... neanderthal...
uncivilised... philistine... hmmm..." he removed his glasses to wipe them
on the end of his shirt.
"Actually... that’s pretty much to be expected considering what
you've been brought up with and judging by what I have seen and heard of the
WWE you still have far too many guys in your life."
Buffy smiled surprising her fellow wrestlers by leaning up to
kiss the English's man cheek. "I'm glad your here."
Victoria looked on in fascination. That was the first sign of
affection she had seen from the other girl and her friend’s response equally as
affectionate until his eyes once again fell on them.
"I'll stay here if you don’t mind... I've seen enough big
bad to last me a life time... no offence..." he added directing the latter
part of his statement at Kane.
"No offence taken." he replied with a shrug.
"Okay then... if you’re sure..."
Giles watched them leave something akin to confusion on all
their faces as Buffy picked up her bag and skipped down the hallway towards the
elevator. "The loneliness, the constant exile, she's...she has gone quite
mad!"
**
AN: ~denotes song lyrics, //denotes Buffy's dream state,
'denotes thoughts and/or emphasis. Song used is 'Missing' by 'Evanescence'.
References to the girl singing suo ‘Tatu’ used.
Part Ten
**
"Not so fast..."
Buffy frowned before turning around to smile innocently at the
two people behind her. Kane and Victoria both stood there, arms folded across
their chest and a look that said 'spill.' on both their faces. 'Scary,' she
thought allowing her glance to fall behind them to Rob who seemed to be showing
his disinterest by busying himself with their bags. 'Now why can’t they all be
as disregarding as Mr Bendy.' She thought with a pout.
All the way here in the car she had known they'd bombard her
with questions concerning Giles, the pillows and duck tape and she had thought
up this really good excuse too but once they had arrived at the arena all
coherent thought had left her as Kane had pulled up next to a long sleek black
limo. Once she had jumped out of Kane's rental she had walked around the limo
trying to see past the shaded windows.
A chill ran up her spine and down her arms.
"Buffy?"
"Hmmm?"
"Much older man in hotel room?"
"Oh... Giles..." she said trying to shake the odd
feeling that had settled itself within her as she glanced once more at the limo
before following Victoria through the back stage entrance of the arena.
"He's an old friend."
"How do you know him?" Kane asked from behind them
where he and Rob followed with their bags.
"He was my high school librarian." she replied
automatically scanning the empty hallways they passed for any sight of
something 'night worldly' that would explain the creepy feeling she had.
"A high school librarian with a pillow and duck tape
fetish," Rob laughed. "And I thought Golddust had problems."
"Hey, repulsive brain, Giles fetishes stem more towards all
things with dust and a hardcover... and I just put Giles and fetish in the same
sentence... blah!" she screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue at the
thought.
Victoria had to pull Buffy the rest of the way down the hall as
Buffy held her head in her hands and chanted, "So not getting visuals...
So not getting visuals..."
"This isn't the diva's locker room?" she said once
Victoria had pushed her down into a chair pulling another one over so that she
sat across from her.
"No, It's ours." Kane spoke up. "No arguments...
from either of you." he added looking towards his tag team partner who
grumbled meaninglessly to himself as he dropped the bags he was carrying before
walking back out of the room.
"If this is going to cause problems between the two of
you..."
"Nah... You don’t know Rob like I do, he's actually stoked
I brought you ladies here." Kane grinned before setting himself down on
the bench, pulling his bag up next to him so he could rifle through it.
"So... back to your friend... how long is he staying and... I don’t mean
to be the cause of more obviously disturbing visuals to flare up inside that
pretty head of yours... but... why did he have pillows duck taped around his
chest?"
Buffy lifted her gaze to meet their's and realised she wasn't
going to put either of them off the topic. "Okay..." she looked up
when the door open again as Rob came back into the room carrying four bottles
of water. "Spillage it is."
Rob grumbled again while he set the bottles down on the table
top before snatching up his bag pulling out his wrestling boots and sitting
down next to Kane.
"I am the slayer," she began with a shrug as if that
explained everything. "Giles is... was... my watcher. The pillows and duck
tape served as protection from my hits to his chest as I followed through with
an old and very in need of updating training sequence and as for how long his
stay will be... well let's just put it down as indefinite... for now." she
smiled brightly at the three of them. 'Phew! So that’s how Willow did it.' she
thought not letting her smile slip.
"Oh." Victoria said after a moment of silence more
confused now then she was before.
"Well... I knew it had to be something to do with
wrestling." Kane said as he stood clearing his throat before reaching for
one of the water bottles Rob had brought back with him. "So he's going to
be your new manager or something?"
"Or something," Buffy replied inwardly pleased at how
Kane had categorized 'slayer' and 'watcher' in the same stack as 'wrestler' and
'manager.'
Rob seemed the only one not to take her explanation at face
value. "Come again?"
"I slay, Giles watches... well at least we use too. Now I
wrestle and he... he visit's."
Rob shook his head. "And you called my brain
repulsive?"
Buffy eyed him seeing the disbelief in his eyes as they met
hers.
'He so knows there's more to my story.' she thought.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door and then a voice
through the wood reminding Victoria that she had a match in ten minutes.
"Duty calls." she said getting up from her chair to
stand in front of the mirror to check herself.
"Who are you facing tonight?" Kane asked
conversationally.
Victoria frowned. "I don’t know... a new girl Vince just
hired, apparently she breezed through training camp and JR snapped her up right
away."
Buffy's brows creased and her senses were put on alert at
Victoria's words. "Do you know who she is?"
Victoria shook her head opening her bottle of water to take a
sip.
"A name?"
"Nope... but I got a copy of the new roster from JR last
night... It's in my bag somewhere if you want to check." she replied
replacing the cap on her bottle as another knock sounded on the door this time
accompanied by a rather gruff "five minutes till ringside."
"I better get out there..." Victoria said reaching to
open the door. "See youse back here after my match."
"Kick some ass." Kane said flashing Victoria a grin
while Buffy wasted no time in snatching up Victoria's bag and was now rummaging
through it looking for the roster sheet.
"Victoria wait-" she called out but her words were cut
off as the door closed.
"Don't worry Buff... she can hold her own." Kane said
sending her a smile as he turned to the monitor reaching out to turn it on.
The sounds of 'Tatu' erupting from the tiny speakers as the
picture blared to life showing Victoria walking down the ramp towards the ring,
playing up to the crowd as soon as she slipped through the ropes.
Rob stared at the little blonde as she watched Victoria a tiny
smile playing on her lips when Victoria sneered at the camera then stepped back
to await her opponent’s entrance.
The melodic sounds of 'Evanescence' came floating up around them
and a hooded figure appeared through the curtain... and right before his eyes
her whole demeanour changed.
~Please, please forgive me~
~But I won't be home again~
~Maybe someday you'll have woke up~
~And, barely conscious, you'll say to no one~
~Isn't something missing~
"Buffy... you okay?"
Kane came to stand beside Rob who had inadvertently moved closer
to the girl and now crouched down in front of her. "What's wrong?"
"I dunno... one minute she's watching then one minute
she's... you know... 'really' watching." Rob replied waving a hand in
front of Buffy's face.
~You won't cry for my absence, I know~
~You forgot me long ago~
~Am I that unimportant...?~
~Am I so insignificant...?~
~Isn't something missing~
~Isn't someone missing me~
Buffy watched motionless as the hooded figure began to move in a
slow daunting gait down the ramp, the evocative words of 'Amy Lee' taking her
back to the night that haunted her dream state.
//'Buffy save me...'
"I'm coming... " She whispered
//'Buffy!' she heard her cry from atop the tower.
"I'm coming ... hold on!"
Kane and Rob stared at each other and Kane saw a look of concern
cross the other man's features.
~Even though I'd be sacrificed~
~You won't try for me, not now~
~Though I'd die to know you love me~
~I'm all alone~
~Isn't someone missing me~
"Buffy..." Rob said reaching out to cradle the side of
her face in his hand but her eyes remained fixated on the television screen.
"She's like in a trance or something."
"Try shaking her," Kane suggested reaching out to do
just that only to have his hand slapped away.
"Haven't you heard your not suppose to wake up someone when
they're dreaming?"
"Rob... she 'is' awake."
~And if I bleed, I'll bleed~
~Knowing you don't care~
~And if I sleep just to dream of you~
~And wake without you there~
~Isn't something missing~
~Isn't something...~
Buffy saw the figure move up the steel steps a curtain of long
brown hair falling forward as she bent to slip through the ropes.
"It can't be..."
The sounds of 'Evanescence' faded off into the background as the
figure removed her hood.
"Dawn."
**
AN: 'denotes thoughts and/or emphasis
Part Eleven
**
"Dawn." Buffy heard the sound of her own voice through
the haze that was her mind, 'It can’t be... she can’t be...' but as she
continued to look at the screen she knew it was... at least on the outside.
Her gaze fell on the other woman in the ring, Victoria... an
innocent who needed saving... just like Dawn.
'Your gift is life...' the sound of her mothers voice was a mere
whisper brushing over her like a cool soothing breeze, awakening her senses,
bringing alive the slayer that lay dormant inside.
In her mind she saw it happening in slow motion like she was a
fly on the wall, she felt her hand reach inside her jacket to release the catch
that held her dagger in place... heard it clatter as it met with the concrete
floor... felt the heartbeats of the men in front of her as she shoved them away
watching as one fell against a row of closed lockers while the other fell
against the far wall. Her mouth moved almost as if of its own accord as she
uttered the words that would bring Giles to her.
As if someone had read her thoughts a voice entered her
subconscious washing through her like ice overpowering the feeling her mothers
presence had evoked.
'Go Buffy... he comes... but you must go now...'
"Mommy?"
'Go now...' the voice urged.
Buffy yanked open the door slamming it so hard it swung off its
hinges the last thing she heard as she ran down the hallway was the voice
urging her towards the ring.
**
Rob didn't know what had happened... one minute he and Kane were
crouched down beside Buffy the next minute they were on the floor and the
locker room door was swinging on its hinges.
"Kane... Kane... you okay?"
"What the hell happened?"
"Buffy... where's Buffy?"
"Guess she must have made a run for it when we were
attacked."
"We weren’t attacked."
"How else to do you explain us being laid out on the
floor?"
"Kane... we have to-" he grunted in pain as his
shoulder connected with the side of the locker as he and Kane once again found
themselves on their butts across the room, realisation in his eyes as he saw
Giles step through a shroud of light to stand before them, the light
disappearing instantly once he had stepped through.
"How... you..." Kane began but Giles paid them no
heed, all his concentration trained on the book he held in his hands and the
words that flowed from his mouth as he bent down to pick a dagger up off the
floor, a dagger Kane knew had not been there before and without a second glance
in their direction Giles turned and walked out of the locker room.
They followed him down the hallway that lead towards the
curtain, the sound of Giles voice as they followed him seemed to flow past them
like an enchanting aroma of flowers and sunshine... everyone back stage going
about their business like normal only he and Rob knew that what was happening
was anything but normal.
They passed through the curtain to hear the sounds of the crowd
cheering... but it was different somehow... it was like they were blind to what
was happening in the ring, it was like they were being fed something totally different.
It was all so surreal... as if they had found there way into somebody else's
dream.
Rob had to reach out and pull Kane back as he made to run down
towards the ring. "You go down there now and you may be causing more
damage then good." Rob said not noticing Giles had paused in his chanting
to look at him with raised brows.
"That stuff you've been mumbling..." he went on,
"What everyone else is seeing is not what's really happening is
it."
Giles turned to stare at the smaller of the two men behind him.
"It's a cloaking spell... made to play on the ignorance of human
minds."
Rob looked thoughtful. "If circumstances were different I
would take that as a compliment."
Giles brow creased. "You don’t seem as surprised by what
you see as your friend does... why is that?"
Rob lowered his eyes as images of a time long ago flooded his
mind, "Let’s just say my ignorance fled along time ago."
"I want to help." Kane spoke for the first time since
they had passed through the curtain. He had never seen anything so horrific in
his life... there in the middle of the ring Buffy fought blow for blow with
Victoria's opponent only it seemed neither of their hits connected with the
other while above the ring Victoria dangled precariously, blood running down
her legs from a cut across her navel to drip down onto the ring floor below.
She looked so pale... so weak... he saw her eyes flutter open but they closed
almost immediately as if her body didn't weld the strength to perform even that
small task.
"Kane..."
"Please... she... I have to help."
"We both do." Rob agreed.
Giles looked from one man to the other nodding once before
turning back to face the ring.
**
Buffy felt their presence outside the ring. She also knew that
Dawn felt it too... her sister's smile turning maniacal as she spied the
Englishman climbing the steel steps.
"Dear god..." He uttered as his eyes fell to the ring
floor to see the beginnings of a vortex swirling below them where Victoria's
blood had fallen.
"Giles, so glad you could join us... again," Dawn said
moving around the vortex as it slowly grew with each drop of Victoria's blood.
"I mean it wasn't that long ago we were in a similar position... me,
Buffy, Vortex... happy times, happy times..." she rolled her eyes in
Buffy's direction. "…until of
course someone forgot to save me."
"Who is she?" Rob asked from behind Giles causing Dawn
to roll her eyes at him.
"This is tiring..." she said turning back to Giles.
"Fast. Not how I wanted to spend my night at all... it's just getting
harder and harder to open a dimensional gateway these days. Great job with the
cloaking spell by the way... very councilly of you..."
'Don’t let her escape through the gateway...' Buffy's forehead
creased as the voice entered her head again.
'Dawn? Dawn is that you?'
'I'm counting on you Buffy... to stop the continuality... the
loneliness...'
'How?'
'Your gift is life... it always has been...'
Buffy looked up as the figure before her chuckled. "It's
too late... your too late."
Giles looked directly at Buffy as the figure of Dawn gave in to
the call of the gateway, her body disappearing into the black swirling hole
below. He saw the resolve that settled in Buffy's eyes and the determination in
her stance. The same look she used to get just before she went out on patrol...
scared but excited about doing her bit at keeping Sunnydale and the world safe.
She caught his gaze then, her eyes begging him to understand
that this was something she had to do... his face telling her that he didn't
understand why... but that he knew her well enough to trust her judgement.
What neither of them failed to notice was that someone else was
watching their silent exchange... so when Buffy took that final step into the
still spiralling vortex... someone else took it with her.
**
Part Twelve
**
She felt like she was being pulled in all different directions,
she had no control as her body bounced off of walls that were invisible to her
eyes... all she could do was bare the brunt of the blows time and time again
until they ceased, but it seemed her mind had other idea's as darkness claimed
her subconscious.
Buffy opened her eyes, squinting at the bright light that shone
down on her from above. She turned her head to one side then the other feeling
the slight pang streak up the back of her head as she stretched out her neck
muscles.
She brought her hand up to shade her eyes from the light but it
proved pointless, even with her eyes closed the light still penetrated through
to the sensitive orbs beneath, her hand absently rubbing at them as they slowly
adjusted to the brightness that was now all around her.
Dawn... Victoria's blood... the gateway... the voices... her
dream... stepping through...
"Am I dead?"
"I certainly hope not because this don’t look like
heaven."
The deep voice startled her into a sitting position, the painful
expression on her face telling of how much pain she was in as her body
protested to the quick movement.
Rob crouched down beside her his arms immediately reaching out
to lower her back down to the floor. "Easy, we took quite a tumble coming
out."
"W... we?" she looked around her to see that they were
still in the middle of the ring the only change being that the arena was now
empty.
"Yeah... we, I kinda tapped into your mental conversation
with your watcher and well... here I am." he shrugged giving her his devil
may care smile. "You know you played right into her hands jumping as you
did..." he carried right on not leaving room for her to voice a reply as
he sat down beside her before adding, "but then again you always were one
to jump first ask later."
"I'm sorry. What world have I just jumped into because I
don’t think I like this talky Mr Bendy." she glared at him, "and what
do you mean tapped into my mental conversation?" she exclaimed poking her
finger in his chest, "who the hell are you and if we both came through
together why is it I am the only one who's in pain here?"
Rob chuckled as he listened to her babble but his eyes took on a
concerned look as her face screwed up in pain, obviously finding even the minor
task of poking him in the chest uncomfortable.
Her eyes met his as the pain subsided. "What did you mean I
played right into her hands?"
"You’re in her territory now... you don’t have slayer
strength here."
"Again I say who are you?" Her eyebrows creased as a
thought came to her. "or maybe that should be 'what' are you?"
He shrugged getting to his feet carefully pulling her up with
him. "I'm Rob Van Damn... and right now I am your only hope of surviving
this place."
**
He didn't want to believe it but he had seen it with his own
eyes, as Buffy had stepped into that swirling mass on the ring floor Rob had
followed right behind her, the hole disappearing along with there friends.
Kane slowly made his way to the ring not hearing the fans that
cheered and clapped his descent to where Victoria now lay beaten and unmoving
with Giles hovering over her.
"Is she..."
"She's alive, but we need to get her out of here."
"The spell... I... I stopped the chant..."
"Right now that’s the last thing on my mind." He
looked around at the crowd and shook his head. "They are so addicted they
wouldn't be able to tell reality from fanciful... personally I blame
technology..." Giles replied not
protesting when Kane picked up Victoria's limp form in his arms, watching as he
moved towards the ropes. "How well do you know your friend?" he asked
as Kane got down and slid under the bottom rope without letting Victoria go.
"Well enough, we've been a tag team for a while now-"
"What about his past, his family?" Giles continued to
question him having to quicken his step to keep up with the big mans stride.
"He never talked about it much." Kane snapped
obviously at the end of his rope with the Englishman’s questioning. "Or
them." he continued his voice turning to a whisper as they entered the
backstage ignoring the curious looks he got at having an unconscious Victoria
in his arms. "Look my mind is kinda on other things right now namely
getting Victoria to the medic's."
"Please..." Giles persisted, "both their lives
could depend on what you know." Giles watched as Kane seemed to consider
his words before the man's steely gaze met his through the openings in his
mask.
"Okay, I'll tell you what I know."
**
Part Thirteen
**
"Where are we?"
"At the arena," Rob replied deadpanned.
"Gee thanks sparky... now look outside the picture?"
He rolled his eyes. "Keercelttab."
"Huh?"
"Keercelttab." he repeated. "My home
dimension."
He watched for her reaction not surprised when she didn't have
one. "Oh."
"That's it? Oh?" He was actually expecting her to
pounce on him.
"No that’s not it but I'm not about to waste time asking
questions your only going to avoid answering anyway when I can be out there
looking for my dead sister."
"You won’t make it out the front door."
"And you know this how? Cause obviously someone forgot to
pass on the memo." she winced stepping away from him to prove to him that
she didn't need his help then proceeded to glare up at him when his arms
immediately reached out to catch her as she stumbled expecting to see an 'i
told you so' in his expression but instead she saw concern.
"Listen to me," he said locking his gaze with hers,
"You have no power here... you are just a regular human."
Her brows creased as she remembered what the voice had told her,
"Don’t let her escape through the gateway..." she whispered to
herself.
"What?"
"She knew..."
"She who?"
"She knew I'd be helpless here... she was warning me..."
"Oh... that she..."
The stare Buffy fixed him with made him wish he had kept his
mouth shut as she advanced on him, backing him up until his back was up against
the turnbuckle. "I want answers," she may have been hurt, feeling
every bit of pain a non-slayer would but by the look on his face a knee pressed
up against a groin was not only universally known but dimensionally known as
well.
He chuckled half heartedly, "W... what do you wanna
know?"
"What are you?" she looked at him with curiously.
"And how do you know so much about me?"
"I am Rob Van-" he cringed when she applied more
pressure with her knee.
"I've got the cliff notes on that spiel... try again."
He breathed again when he felt the pressure lesson. "I am
Bornavmad, Prince of Keercelttab."
"And people say Buffy is a weird name..." she muttered
to herself before continuing, "...and how do you know so much about
me?"
"The Key."
She pushed away from him, his words making her reel like a slap
across her face. "The Key?"
He simply nodded.
Buffy was still trying to make sense of it all in her head.
"So you’re in allegiance with 'the key'?"
"Yes."
"Then why are you helping me?"
"Because we both know 'the key' doesn't exist anymore... at
least not in human form."
"So that wasn't Dawn."
"That wasn't Dawn." he confirmed.
"So Dawn is alive... in this world?"
"No Dawn is dead, the key lives."
"Does this world come with a handbook because the more you
talk the more I'm confused?"
He approached her then as her legs buckled beneath her sweeping
her up in his arms before she could protest.
"How did you-"
"I'm empathic, but only to you... a little gift from 'the
key'. I feel what you feel, know what you know, and dream what you dream...
hear what you hear..."
"The voices, my dreams... that’s why you didn't like being
around me... I gave you the hebbiegebbies."
He scowled at her wording but nodded his head in agreement
before slipping through the ropes with her still in his arms.
"Where are we going?"
"My place."
"And my slayer strength?"
"While in my world... is now mine."
**
She had lost a lot of blood, her face as white as the bed linen
she lay on made more prominent by her jet black hair as it fanned out around
her face. His thumb absently tracing the back of her palm as her hand lay
lifeless in his.
He was as confused as ever about what had happened but somehow
he hadn't been surprised by it. Stuff like this seemed to happen everywhere
they went except without all the dangling in midair and swirling black hole.
Rob had told him a little about his past but he had just chalked
it down to Rob wanting to keep his personal life, personal... and it wasn't
everyday you had someone telling you they were from another world. He had just
accepted his friend’s obvious want of privacy and respected that.
"Now after what I seen tonight... I'm not so sure." he
whispered to the sleeping woman.
A soft tap resounded through the door and Kane knew the
Englishman would be there his mind had been ticking over time with questions
about Rob since they left the arena... questions he didn't know if he could
answer without someone committing him to a mental institution.
He leaned forward placing his lips against Victoria's forehead.
"I'll be back." he whispered brushing her hair back behind her ear
before walking towards the door and opening it, causing the man outside to step
back as he stepped through the doorway shutting the door quietly behind him.
**
Part Fourteen
**
"How is she?"
"Still out, but alive..." Kane answered seating
himself on one of the two chairs provided in the tiny hotel room. "So, I
guess you want answers..."
"Yes." Giles admitted, knowing they had left it long
enough already but wanting to allow this man time with the woman he obvious
cared very much about, he maybe a uppity Englishman but he wasn't a heartless
man.
He walked over to a small kitchenette behind a counter and
returned a few minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee.
"Ugh! Horrible stuff!" Giles remarked making a face as
he took a sip of his while placing the other in front of Kane.
"Being English I guess tea is more your thing... wouldn't
be too hard to get you some."
"Tea is preferred yes," Giles answered, "But tea
is meant to be soothing and right now I want to be tense." He saw the
bigger man raise his eyebrow and rushed on before he could comment. "Do
you know where they are?"
Kane lowered his eyes and shook his head. "No. I
don’t." He replied honestly. "Rob would tell me things... strange
things,"
"Like?"
"Darkness, evil, being bound... a key..."
Giles head snapped up. "Key?"
"I wish I had taken more notice of him in his ramblings but
I just thought he was being pretentious." Kane continued as if Giles
hadn't spoken. "It's all true isn’t it?"
"Darkness and evil... yes." He confirmed shifting
forward till he was perched on the end of his seat. "Key?"
"Huh?"
"A key... you mentioned something about a key..."
"Oh right... I don’t remember exactly..." his eyebrows
creased in thought, "There was a key that exists that opens all the
gateways of the world... and that he was bound to it... I don’t know how or
why, sounded like a fairy tale to me."
Giles nodded. "There is a fringe theory, held by a few
folklorists, that some regional stories have actual, very literal
antecedents."
"So basically fairy tales are real?"
"Basically," he replied stunned that this man had
broken down what he had just said to it's simplest form.
"Cool."
Giles reached up to remove his glasses, placing them on the
table in front of him before reaching up to rub at his eyes. "God I wish I
had my books."
"I got some reading material packed in my bag if you
wanna..."
"No, no… thank you." Giles sent the man a half hearted
smile his eyes ceasing in their gentle massage of his temples as a thought came
to him. "Where are Rob's bags?"
Kane looked at the older man in confusion before pointing over
to the door where two carry bags sat against a wall where he had dropped them.
He watched as Giles got up and fetched the two bags, accepting the one that
Giles held out to him, placing it on the floor in front of him.
"Right." Giles said reaching for the zipper.
"Let’s see if your friend Rob has left us anything to work with."
**
Rob kept Buffy in his arms as he made his way across rooftops
keeping to the shadows and always waiting a few minutes in between fire escapes
to stop and listen for any sign that they were being followed.
"I don’t get it..."
At the sound of her voice he purposely turned away from her and
rolled his eyes. She had yet stop asking questions and he didn't know wether
she was truly curious or just trying to piss him off. Somehow he thought the
latter... and it was working!
"There's nothing to get," he said with a shrug before
starting off again.
Buffy watched as he swung his legs over a steel grating that
obviously served as a halfway mark between the building they were on and the
one next to it. Watching him as he juggled with his footing on the steps of the
fire escape as well as keeping her upright in his arms, she saw why he was so
flexible back in her world. You'd have to be made of rubber to do what he was
doing. That thought still in her head as he paused again once they had made it
to the neighbouring building.
"Are you made of rubber?"
He looked at her as if she had horns and a beard.
"No."
"Spandex?"
"No."
"Not even a little?"
'Man, will you shut her up please?' His mind screamed, his dark
look became even darker as he heard the sound of a very feminine chuckle in his
head. 'This isn't funny.'
'Think of this as payback for leaving me over night in a stinky
locker with your stinky wrestling boots.'
'Hey, that wasn't my fault.' his mind grumbled, ‘besides; they
were Kane's wrestling boots.'
"Excuse me, Mary Poppins, but you don't seem to be
listening."
Buffy's voice broke into his thoughts and he looked down at her
still cradled in his arms, she wore a little frown and held suspicion in her
eyes as she glared up at him.
She reached up to knock her tiny fist against his forehead.
"Anybody home?"
He jostled her in his arms causing her to reach out and clutch
at his shoulders to stop herself from falling flat on her butt.
"I liked you better in your world." he grumbled
jumping down to the ground below landing easily on his feet. She glared at him.
He glared right back before walking towards a door and shoving it open with his
shoulder.
"I have yet to find a world where I would like you."
Buffy grumbled back smiling inwardly as Rob's face set in annoyance before he
turned on his heel and purposely kicked the door shut again.
**
Part Fifteen
**
"How long do we have to stay here?"
"For as long as it takes."
"And how long is that?"
Rob sighed and got down on the floor to stretch. "Here eat
something." he said reaching towards the small table in front of him he
plucked up an apple from the bowl of fruit that nestled on its centre and threw
it at her. 'That should keep her mouth busy for a while.' he thought resuming
his stretching position on the floor.
"But I'm not hungry." she got up from her chair to
join him on the floor. "Does that hurt?"
Rob's brows knotted as his gaze lowered to where her finger
pointed, his cheeks reddening as his legs snapped shut.
Buffy's expression turned innocent and her eyes widened. "I
didn't mean 'that!'" she declared her eyes falling to his crotch and it
was her turn to blush as his expression turned askance. "I didn't!"
"Hey! I didn't say a thing!" he replied holding both
his hands up in surrender although the laughter never left his eyes.
"That's worse because I can still read you when you don’t
say a thing."
"What?"
Her eyes widened even more and she scooted away from him.
"Eww! Get out of me!"
Rob looked at her as if she were insane. "Out of you! I'm
not in you!"
"Yes you are!" she shrieked. "I can feel you
inside my head!"
"Inside you..." Rob's voice trailed off, his eyes
darting around the room looking for the tell tale ball of green mischief he
knew had to be the cause of Buffy's distress. "Key! Get your little green
butt down here, right now!"
"Key?"
He heard the word muffled through Buffy's finger's as she held
her face in both her hands.
"Key, I swear if you don’t leave her alone-"
"Oh... touchy... do I detect a note of concern?"
Buffy moved her hands away from her face at the new voice in the
room. "Dawn?"
"No, Buffy..." she heard Rob whisper from behind her.
"Here she is known only as the Key."
Buffy stood to her feet rather shakily and felt Rob's arm wrap
around her waist, steadying her. A sparkling green glow appeared before her and
within the sparkles she saw the image of her dead sister smiling back at her.
"Hey Buff."
**
Giles sat on the floor surrounded by the contents of Rob's bags
which now lay empty behind the couch where he had thrown them after Kane had
returned to the sleeping Victoria's side. He sighed as he looked around at the
mess he had made. Searching Rob's things had proved pointless. All he had found
was clothes, shoes and comic books. Not one thing that seemed out of the
ordinary!
He got up and started to pace the room. 'What was he missing?'
he thought as he kicked a path through Rob's belongings as he continued with
his pacing.
"Find anything?"
Giles looked up as the big man exited the bedroom gently closing
the door behind him. "No, everything is... well was perfect." he said
looking down at the mess he had made.
"Almost too perfect hey?" Kane asked getting down to a
crouched position to rifle through the things on the floor.
"Ah... quite." Giles replied as he started to pace
again. "How is your lady?"
"She's sleeping peacefully... and she's not my lady."
"No?" Giles removed his glasses to clean them on the
end of his shirt as he stared speculatively back at the big man who now held a
comic book in his hand. "…my mistake."
"Wow! All this time I never knew Rob had a first edition
Spiderman Vs Daredevil!"
Giles paused in his pacing to turn back to Kane. "Riveting
I'm sure-"
Kane glanced up as Giles stopped mid-sentence. "What? What
is it?" he watched as the other man came forward and crouched down beside
him. He had no idea what Giles was doing but soon he too began to see the
pattern as Giles lay the comics down side by side.
"There... do you see?"
Kane looked down at the arrangement of comics, he must've seen
Rob read these comics over and over again but again just put it down to Rob
being Rob and left it at that, but now seeing them laid out how they were on
the floor he knew they were more then just comic books.
"A map."
Both men scooted forward not noticing the slight figure that had
emerged from the bedroom moments before.
"Victoria!" Kane exclaimed immediately at her side
guiding her over to a chair. "You shouldn't be up."
"Tell that to the voice in my head." she replied with
a shaky laugh.
"Voice?" Giles moved closer to look down at the woman
seated with Kane at her side.
"Yes, a young girl’s voice. She said not to worry... that
Buffy and Rob were safe and that this was all part of the plan."
"What plan?"
"I don’t know." Victoria shrugged, "But her
presence was a calming one... as if she were apart of me."
Giles began to pace again, Kane not liking the way the older man
would flick his gaze towards Victoria every now and then as he passed.
"What's going on in that head of yours, Englishman?"
Kane asked although to Giles ears it sounded more like an order.
He approached Victoria again and crouched down in front of her.
"Do you mind if I ask where you're from?"
"San Bernardino, California."
"And your parents?"
"I never knew them," Giles saw the sad look that
passed over Kane's face but didn't comment allowing Victoria to continue.
"I was moved around from foster home to foster home till the age of
fifteen... been on my own ever since."
"This may sound weird but... do you mind if I take a sample
of your blood?"
Victoria blanched at the request but shakily nodded her head in
agreement.
"Good," Giles replied as he stood to his feet again,
he seemed to have this new vigour about him as if he was on the verge of
something but he didn't go into it more.
"Okay, I feel a little woozy so I might head back to the
other room." She made to stand but was swept up into the arms of the man
at her side, sending him a thankful smile as he walked into the bedroom.
"Ah... Kane?" Giles watched as Kane stuck his head
back into the room his eye brows raised. "Not your lady?"
Kane frowned before stepping back into the bedroom the sound of
Giles haughty laughter floating up to him as he kicked the bedroom door shut.
**
AN: Key = Dawn
Part Sixteen
**
Rob watched the myriad of emotions play across Buffy's face,
each feeling, each thought, each memory bouncing off him tenfold. He wanted to
reach out to her, comfort her. Let her know that she wasn't alone in this, it
was important to him that she knew she wasn't alone.
"Do you have to appear to her in that form?"
Key shrugged. "It is a form she is familiar with."
"It is also a form that brings her much pain."
"Why, my little prince... have you feelings for this
human?" The image of Dawn disappeared, replaced by a shadow of white light
within the green glow.
"We are here to help her, not hinder her from a task only
she can perform."
"Bit hard to perform that task when it exists only in her
dimension. If she had of just listened to me and not followed that lame excuse
for a hell god through the portal we wouldn't have to help her."
"I don’t need help..."
Rob turned to see Buffy up on her feet and judging by her
expression she wasn't happy.
"...from either of you." she continued her expression
thoughtful as she started to pace the small room. "A task only I can
perform? Lame excuse for a hell god? Well that can only be Glory, gee... why
does this all sound so familiar."
"Buffy-"
"What? What could you possibly have to say? That I'm here
to watch Dawn die all over again? Cause frankly that's what it looks
like."
"Insolent human!" The key snapped. "Thinking of
nothing but your own pain. What of the pain of this world? You could have
stopped it all but no, always the hero you had to fall for her ruse and follow
her through the portal. Now 'she' is left without a protector and you are as
useless here as you were when Dawn needed you the most."
"Shut your mouth." Buffy hissed her teeth clenched.
"What's the matter Buffy? Truth hurts doesn't it... you may
have just pushed her off that tower yourself-"
Buffy heard the scream but saw nothing as she held her hands to
her eyes trying to shield them as best she could from the bright light that
exploded inside the room. She opened her eyes and quickly closed them again as
a spattering of tiny lights burned behind her closed lids.
"Buffy? Buffy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, what happened?"
He lifted his hand showing the orb he held in his fingertips, a
swirling green mass encased within. "I just thought maybe Key had done
enough talking for one day, so I put her away."
"Wow, nifty trick."
"Thanks."
"I could've taken her."
Rob chuckled. "No doubt."
"So... what is my task?"
He sighed turning away from her to set the orb down amongst the
fruit in the bowl. "I think you already know."
"And said task can only happen in my dimension?"
He nodded.
"Well then, it's time we stopped sitting around and went
looking for a way back."
He shook his head then, a half hearted smile coming to his face.
"There is no way back."
**
"What exactly are you hoping to find?"
"Syringe, alcohol swabs, bandaids... usual stuff."
Kane rolled his eyes. "I meant in Victoria's blood."
Giles paused in his actions of rummaging through the first aid
kit they had found in bathroom cabinet, a slight flush staining his neck and
cheeks. "Oh." He stood then, his hands automatically slipping into
the front pocket of his trousers as he rocked back and forth on his feet.
"Well, hopefully... nothing."
"Huh?"
"This is more of a hunch then anything else, but if I'm
right... it may well benefit everyone."
"Again… huh?"
Kane's confusion went unheard on Giles as he snapped the cover
to the first aid kit shut and stood to his feet. "I'm gonna have to find
an all night drug store... the supplies contained in this box wouldn't heal a
stubbed toe."
"There's one down in the hotel lobby. Want me to come down
with you?"
"No, no... that’s quite alright."
Kane made himself comfortable on the couch. "Okay."
"Ahhh... maybe we should have a secret knock or something,
so you know it's me." Giles suggested his hand pausing on the door handle.
"Or... you could just take the key card since the door
automatically locks behind you."
"Ah... yes, or I can do that." He picked up the key
card, tucking it safely into his pocket. "Right then..." He nodded to
the big man lounging on the couch and closed the door behind him.
**
Giles found the drug store pretty easily, conveniently located
right next to the bar, the owner obviously thinking ahead business wise,
probably making a hefty profit selling condoms.
He entered the store and started walking up the aisle picking up
bits and pieces as he went on his way.
"Alcohol swabs, cotton... ahhhh a syringe!" he cried
happily adding the packaged needle to the other items gathered in his arms.
"Well, hello there sugar..."
Giles jumped at the unexpected voice not expecting anyone else
to be here. He turned to see what he could only define as a 'man eater'
standing behind him.
"Ah... hello..." he replied glancing over her shoulder
towards the exit, judging the distance between him and the door.
"Aren’t you just the cutest little thing in loafers!"
she all but drooled down his shirt front. "I bet you’re a firecracker
between the sheets!"
"E-excuse me?" He felt a hard surface at his back and
rolled his eyes heavenward when he turned to see the cashier counter behind
him. "Hurry please, charge it to room 314." he sighed practically
throwing the articles he held at the attendant.
"Just what the hell is going on here!"
"Oh dear lord..." Giles mouthed as he felt himself
being hefted up against a wall.
"You mackin' on my hottie?"
"Jamie, let him go... I was just havin' me some fun."
Giles was amazed at how fast he was let go, sending a silent
thankyou to the attendant who stood holding his purchase's out to him.
"See you later, fire cracker."
Closing his eyes in silent prayer he hoped on all things holy
that her parting words didn't come back to haunt him.
**
Kane looked up from the book he was reading to see a very
dishevelled Englishman enter the room muttering something about American woman
before leaning heavily against the closed door.
"Everything okay?"
"Yes!" he squeaked and cleared his throat. "I
mean, yes... is she awake?" he asked waving a hand towards the bedroom.
"Yes, she woke just after you left."
"Good, good." he picked up the bag with the drug store
logo on it and walked towards the bedroom, tapping lightly on the door before
walking in, Kane following behind him.
Victoria smiled at the men as they sat on either side of her.
Her hair was up in a haphazard bun atop her head and Kane breathed in the scent
that played with his senses, she smelt like lavender soap and berry shampoo.
"You ready for this?" he whispered softly taking her
hand in his.
"Yeah sure... it's no big deal right? Just a pin
prick?" she didn't sound as brave as she looked, and Kane found himself
wishing he had left her hand where it was, his teeth clenching at the grip she
had on his fingers.
He kept his expression bland and smiled through his teeth while
Giles readied everything to extract a sample of her blood.
"Okay, here we go, hey?" Giles spoke softly as if he
were speaking to a young child taking hold of her arm he tied a clamp around it
just above her shoulder. "This will be over before you know it."
Victoria shut her eye's and mentally counted back from 10 to 1,
effectively blocking out everything around her but the tiny prick she felt in
her arm.
"There you go, all done."
She opened her eyes to see Giles applying a bandaid to her arm,
a very amused smile on his face. Her brows knotted and she looked around the
room.
"Where did Kane go?"
Giles smile widened. "It seems we have found the one thing
to stop the big red machine in his tracks." he said holding up the syringe
in one hand while pointing to the other side of the bed with the other.
Victoria's confused look soon turned to giggles when her eyes
clamped down on Kane's still form lying flat on the floor.
**
Part Seventeen
**
"What do you mean there's no way back?"
"Exactly what you think I mean, there is no way back
without a human key to open a gateway."
"You mean your little green ball there can’t open it?"
Rob looked towards the fruit bowl to see Key's green shimmer
turn a darker shade and knew he would have hell to pay when she got free. 'Hell
has no fury like a Key scorned.' "This form of the key only exists in this
dimension, she is as much a prisoner here as we are, only thing is where our
time here is ephemeral, her time is lasting."
"Okay, I'm confused again... I thought you said there was
no way back."
"There isn't... not on this side."
"Gee, I wish you would stop going all cryptic guy on me,
but what you just said lightened my mood greatly," Rob swore he could
actually see her mind as it worked overtime. "...and as much as I love
your homely... dwellings, we have to leave." She continued slapping his
knee for good measure before getting up. "Oh, and since the Key cant come
with us, it might be a good idea to let her out of her box... or orb in this
case, so she can continue with the little mind messages."
"Haven’t you heard anything I've said?"
"Yes, every word," Buffy smiled sweetly up at him.
"Now move 'bend and stretch' we gotta hustle."
Rob caught the Key's glow erratically flashing from neon green
to white in amusement and he glared at it opening his mind to allow the thought
running through his mind to be transferred to the orb.
'Oh, shut up!'
He followed Buffy outside, nearly colliding into her when she
stopped suddenly just outside the doorway.
'Wow.' Buffy thought as she stepped outside Rob's front door.
His world looked pretty much like Sunnydale, small, quaint and littered with
cemeteries. In fact this could of been an exact duplicate of her street, her
home, her neighbours homes. 'Why hadn't she seen this before? She hadn't been
that spaced out not to notice her surroundings.'
"They change."
"Huh?"
"The environment changes at Keys will," Rob explained
draping a bag over his shoulder as they started walking. "She can make it
a place of peace and tranquillity or a place full of fire and brimstone at the
drop of a hat."
"Hmmm... well I guess since she can’t leave it's only
fitting it be a place she can change to suit her mood."
"Yep, and it seems we are still in her good books."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because she's been out of her box ever since we left and
we haven’t been pelted with acid rain."
"Oh, that’s always a good sign."
He nearly fell over when she sent him a wink and grinned. 'How
was he ever going to cope if she continued to send him looks like that?'
"Do you even know where you’re going?"
"Of course! We came here via a gateway that was opened in
the middle of a wrestling ring which just for the record had to have been a
mystical hotspot for the gateway to open, and Key has so generously provided me
with an environment I am familiar with and in Sunnydale there is no bigger
mystical hotspot then good ole Sunnydale High."
The look she gave him told her that he was impressed and
couldn't help the silly grin that broke out like a huge pimple on her face.
"And what are we going to do once we get there?" He
asked taking her hand in his as they walked towards the school.
"We wait." She replied simply.
"Wait for what?"
"For Giles."
**
Victoria shifted uneasily under Giles gaze. Ever since he had
come out of the bathroom he had returned with this silly, almost unbelievable
look on his face, and it seemed wholly directed at her!
"Is... is something wrong?" She asked not able to
stand his staring a moment longer. Her words brought Kane's head up from the
comic he was reading to descend on the Englishman who had kneeled down in front
of her as she sat on the couch.
"No, no... Nothings wrong."
"What? What aren’t you telling me?" She exclaimed when
Giles continued to stare at her.
"What is it, Giles?" Kane had gotten up from where he
lounged on the floor to perch himself on the arm of Victoria's chair.
"Your blood... you... you have slayer blood in you."
Her eyes widened. "You mean I'm a chosen one? Like
Buffy?"
"No, I don’t mean that." He removed his glasses
bringing the earpiece to his lips as he searched for the right words.
"What I'm saying is you have Buffy's slayer blood in you."
"So no super hero then?"
"No, but it certainly explains a lot and makes you one
extraordinary young woman. But how did you get it?"
Kane rose and started to pace a thoughtful expression crossing
his features as Victoria answered Giles question.
"A few months back I was attacked by a... a thing... I
don’t remember much but I lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion, Buffy
was my donor."
"Remarkable."
"I don’t get it." Kane said scratching his head in
confusion.
Giles stood to his feet and resumed Kane’s position of pacing
the floor space in front of them. "Only the blood from a dimensional key
can open a gateway to another world. Dawn was a key."
"Victoria's opponent?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't she open the gateway herself."
"Because the real Dawn is dead, the only thing I have been
able to come up with is someone who obviously knows Buffy and the life she's
come from used Dawn's form as a way of striking out at Buffy maybe... to hurt
her in the only way they knew she could be hurt. By re-enacting Dawn's death
with you instead." Giles stopped his pacing and turned to look at them
both. "You see this is the extraordinary part of the puzzle. Buffy's blood
flows within your body, you are a part of Buffy and since Buffy was what made
Dawn human - that makes you a part of Dawn as well."
"That was why the gateway opened? My blood did that?"
"Yes." Giles astonishment showed again in his gaze.
"Utterly remarkable."
"Buffy blames herself for Dawn's death doesn't she?"
Giles eyes took on a more pensive look as the question was
broached. "Yes, what has she told you?"
"Nothing really," Victoria replied truthfully before
explaining. "She has nightmares and often talked in her dream state... who
was Dawn to Buffy?"
He found he couldn't reply to her question straight away and had
to fight to keep his voice from trembling. "Dawn was Buffy's sister."
"Shit! That's really tough."
Giles was surprised to say the least when the big man a lot of
people feared moved forward to place a comforting arm on Giles shoulder.
"So, where do we go from here?" Victoria asked moving
forward offering her own brand of comfort to the man Buffy thought so highly of
by squeezing his hand.
"Well, with your permission I'd like to open the
gateway-"
"You want to cut her open again!" Kane interrupted
stilling Giles words.
"It maybe the only way to get them back." Giles
answered honestly watching as Victoria soothed the bigger man's outburst by
gently rubbing her hand up and down his arm before turning back to Giles.
"I'll do it."
Giles expelled the air in his lungs he hadn't realised he'd been
holding in relief, 'Obstacle one was over.' he thought before facing them
again. "There maybe one tiny little problem though..."
"And that would be?"
"We all need to be down at ringside to do it."
**
Part Eighteen
**
"Are you sure this will work?"
"It'll work, McMahon is all business and money, and he
knows what will draw in the crowds." Kane assured Giles as they headed
towards Vince McMahon's office.
"And Kane and I teaming up in an inter-gender match with
you as our valet will get us all down at ringside together." Victoria
added her patented sneer in place as they passed other WWE wrestlers in the
backstage hallways of the arena.
Giles was amazed at how this sweet innocent woman and huge teddy
bear of a man walking hand in hand beside him could bring out so much fear in
the other wrestlers, kind of reminded him of Anya and her fear of bunnies.
"Okay," Victoria said pulling Kane to a stop outside
of a door marked 'Vince McMahon'. "Here we are,"
Giles ankles nearly gave way on him as he felt the weight of
Kane's arm slump across his shoulder. "Ready to meet the boss man?"
"Quite, yes..." he replied inadvertently backing up
and into someone coming down the hallway behind them.
"Watch where your going, you ole codger." Came a
strangely familiar voice.
"I'm terribly sor- oh my god it's you!" Giles stared
in horror at the woman who stood in front of him.
"In the flesh baby..." Nidia cooed licking her lips,
not hiding the fact that she definitely liked what she saw.
Giles felt naked.
Totally and utterly naked under her perusal.
He didn't even notice Victoria go up on her tippee toes to slap
Kane upside the head when his laughter escaped as Giles attempted to wedge
himself between them.
"I...I-"
Jamie stepped forward pulling Nidia back behind him, "Seems
your friend here cant keep his eyes of my woman." he spoke to Kane
although Giles noticed Jamie's eyes never left him.
"Looks to me like it's your woman who has the roving
eye." Victoria was quick to retort.
"That's not all she's got," Jamie replied pulling
Nidia close before burying his face in her breasts, her excited squeals
bringing there boss from his office.
"What the hell is going on out here?" he barked
looking down his nose at the group gathered outside his office door.
"We come to talk about a match." Kane answered
instantly stepping in front of both Victoria and Giles.
"Is that so," Vince replied looking from couple to
couple before his eyes came to rest on Giles. "Who are you?"
"He's Rob's..." Victoria looked to Kane wide eyed.
Kane shrugged. "He's... Rob's...."
"...replacement." Giles said stepping forward with his
hand out stretched. "How do you do."
Both Vince and Jamie threw their heads back and laughed.
"You? Replacement?" Jamie held his sides having to
lean his body against the wall to keep from keeling over.
"I'll have you know I have fought quite a few
matches..." Giles stated straightening his shoulders as he brought his
form to its full height. "...in my time." he added under his breath
only to cause Vince and Jamie to laugh more.
Vince found his control before Jamie and took a deep breath but
the look on his face told them he was still fighting not to laugh. "So...
you say you came to talk about a match..."
"Yeah-"
"And Rob has a replacement because?"
"He's sick."
"Family commitments."
"Had to fly home."
The three friends said in unison.
Vince eyed each one of them suspiciously, but he smiled again
once he's eyes came back to Giles. "Okay, you got your match."
"They do?" Giles gushed, "That's great!"
Seemed everything was falling into place nicely.
"No, Rob's replacement... you do."
"Huh?"
"What is it with you three? Were you separated at birth or
something?" Vince quirked an eyebrow at the three of them once again when
they spoke in unison. "Tonight, Jamie Noble and Nidia face off against
Victoria... and you." Vince smirked thoroughly pleased with himself,
Victoria swore she could actually see him patting himself on the back.
Kane looked confused. "Him?"
Giles looked ashen. "Me?"
**
Rob watched Buffy, she was off in her own little world as they
sat in the library of Sunnydale High, not that he blamed her, he felt how much
this place and what it represented had shaped her life. He felt her pain, her
joy, her courage and her fear. Such a teeny person yet she'd been the one
protector Sunnydale and the world had. The burden she carried was a major one
even though the role of protector no longer fell to her, it was still there in
her and he had the sudden urge to lift that burden from her shoulders and carry
it on his own.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh? What?"
"I said I'm sorry."
Her brows furrowed. "Why? What did you do?"
"Well nothing... yet." He smiled half heartedly
reaching out to clasp her hand in his. "You forget I feel what you feel,
and right now I can feel all the memories being here hold for you. I'm sorry, I
never realised how much you had been through in such a short time."
Buffy shrugged. "What can I say? It was my destiny."
"And now?"
"And now I am just me."
"Are you happy being just me?"
"I don’t think it's a matter of being happy, I think it's
more about finding a place to be happy."
Rob lowered his eyes, shielding his gaze from hers. "And
have you found that place?"
Her eye's glazed over. "I don’t know, Giles being here...
or there... you know what I mean." she waved her hands in front of her
before placing them on her hips. "Giles being here sure makes my life
easier to bare."
He looked put out by her answer. "And that’s it?"
"What else would there be?"
Buffy's eye's widened in surprise as he suddenly rose to his
feet only to drop back down again as he was hit with a bolt of light.
"Rob? Rob!" she scrambled over to him inadvertently
covering his body with hers as her eyes scanned the rows of book shelves on the
upper level of the library.
"You didn't think I'd just let you go back, did you,
Buffy?"
Dawn's form appeared from the darkness, her eyes taking in the
sight below.
"Still trying to be the hero, I see... the great
protector." she sneered her eyes darkening. "You didn't do so well
the night I died."
Buffy slowly rose to her feet, "Cut the small talk, Glory,
come get me."
"With pleasure." Glory sneered flipping over the
wooden banister kicking out for her foot as she landed sending Buffy reeling into
the table behind her.
Buffy ignored the pain that shot up her back rolling over
backwards across the table to land on her feet on the other side, putting all
her weight behind her she pushed the table into Glory as she approached,
watching as her futile effort merely stalled the hell goddess as she advanced
once again.
'Come on, Rob... wake up!' her mind screamed knowing she was
useless while he possessed her slayer abilities, and right now he lay
unconscious! She backed away from Glory until she felt the wall at her back,
her hand grappled at her side unclasping the watch she wore she positioning it
between her fingers with the clasp sticking out.
"Your nothing to this world, Buffy, which is why I chose
it..." she lifted her hand and grabbed at the thin air beside her head, a
dagger appearing in her hand moments later. "Your reign has ended."
she raised her hand, "And mine has just begun."
Buffy slid to the floor as Glory's words hit there mark, 'this
was really it, here and now... and no one would ever know...'
"Buffy? Buffy?"
She felt someone shaking her and slowly lifted her eyes, to see
Rob staring down at her, with the most odd expression on his face. She turned
her head to the side as she stared at him. 'Would he miss me?' she thought
quirking her brow at him.
"Buffy!"
"Yes?" she replied dreamily.
"The portal it's open."
"What?" Buffy's eye's fell behind him to see the open
wobbling, pitch black portal in the middle of the library floor, her sense's
returning as Rob pulled her to her feet. "Glory!" she said scanning
the room.
"She's gone," At Buffy's confused look he continued.
"The portal opened up right below her."
"Then come on, we get back there before she has a chance to
get away and her ass is mine!" Buffy stated grabbing his hand as she stood
over the portal. "You ready?"
Rob nodded.
"Okay, on the count of three... one, two-"
"Wait!"
"Wait? Wait for what?"
"For this," grabbing her by the shoulders he pulled
her towards him and kissed her. It was a daring kiss that called out for her to
respond, and respond she did. She heard him moan low in his throat as she allowed
his prodding tongue entry.
'Three.' she thought there lips still locked together as they
fell through the portal.
**
AN: 'denotes thoughts and/or emphasis
Part Nineteen
**
'If the council could see you now.' Giles thought as he stared
at the person looking back at him in the mirror. The change of clothes Kane had
given him were, to say the least, tolerable... if you were blind. He had on
bright lime green pants and matching top made of the tightest and thinnest
material imaginable and he refused to bend over or even sit in case the whole
ensemble split at the seams. "Council? Pffft! If 'anybody' could see me
now." he said aloud pulling at the spandex that clung to his legs before
turning to the snickering couple sitting side by side on a locker room bench.
"Are you sure this was all you could find on such short notice?"
"Yes." Kane replied chuckling at the sight of the
stuffy English man trying to conceal his 'package' inside the clingy material.
Victoria made a face turning her head away. "Unless you
want to try on my ring attire?" she suggested holding up her backless cat
suit.
By the look on Giles face she could tell he was seriously
considering it and she couldn't help but feel sorry for the man.
His own thoughts seemed to be on the same wave length as hers
and she heard him expel a long sigh before his shoulders straightened and his
expression set with determination. "I can do this, I have done countless
other things in the name of good and I shall just put this down as my part as a
Watcher, fighting the good fight and all that." he rolled his shoulders
and struck a pose before throwing a few practice punches in the air. "Yes,
I can do this."
"Good." Kane said getting to his feet and pulling
Victoria up with him. "Because we have to go out there and do it
now."
"N...n... now?" Giles stuttered removing his glasses
only to return them to his head when he found he didn't have a shirt tail to
wipe them on. "So soon?"
"Look at it this way," Kane began draping his arm over
Giles shoulder pinning the other man to his side. "The sooner we start,
the sooner it'll all be over."
Giles instantly brightened at Kane's words of wisdom although
his brow continued to frown. "Yes, quite."
As a last thought Giles turned his attention towards the bag
lying at his feet, rummaging around inside it until he found what he wanted.
Kane raised a curious eyebrow at the dagger Giles was currently
sliding into his boot. "I'm pretty sure we won’t need that, Jamie and
Nidia are from the other side of the tracks but I don’t think we'd need 'that'
kind of protection from them."
"If anything happens to me tonight, will you see Buffy gets
this." Giles answered holding out a small white envelope to the big man.
"Sure." Kane replied although his eyes remained on the
dagger.
"It's just a precaution, in case something unsavoury comes
through the portal instead of Buffy and Rob." he explained before
following Victoria out of the locker room. 'And for my sake I hope I don’t have
to use it.' he added for his own benefit before leaving Kane to ponder over
what he had just said.
"Oh, good idea..." Kane said shifting uncomfortably
from foot to foot. "You wouldn't happen to have another one lying around
somewhere would you?" he asked as the locker room door swung shut as he
followed them out.
**
"And there opponents Jamie Noble and his girlfriend
Nidia!"
"When should we do this?" Victoria whispered to Giles
as the three of them stood in the middle of the ring awaiting Jamie and Nidia
to make there way down to ringside.
"I don’t mean to sound anxious, god knows if there was any
other way-"
"Giles," Victoria cut into his rambling pulling out
the small blade she held up her sleeve. "I agreed to this, just tell me
when and I'll bleed anywhere in the ring you want me to."
"How about... before the match begins?" he asked
turning one side of his mouth up pleadingly.
Kane chuckled, which went unnoticed to everyone else not
directly in his personal space because of the mask he always wore. "I knew
you'd say that."
"Sorry to spoil your fun." Giles cringed
apologetically.
"Your not, tis Victoria's fun you'll be spoiling."
Giles turned to see Victoria's expression had hardened as her
wrestling persona took over and she turned her attention to Jamie as he entered
the ring. Pounding on the unsuspecting man causing everyone not involved in the
match to scramble through the ropes out of the ring and the referee to signal
for the bell.
"You want in?" Victoria called over her shoulder to
her tag team partner who was at that moment in deep conversation with Kane
while she kept her opponent in place with a well positioned hand to his
forehead as Jamie tried unsuccessfully to hit out at Victoria who stood just
short of his arm's length.
"Oh, no... You look like your having fun, do carry
on." Giles replied turning back to Kane.
"Aw come on," Victoria whined teasingly, "Look, I
softened him up for you." she added proving her point by holding the now
weary Jamie Noble up on his feet, it seemed the other man apparently lacked the
strength to do so on his own.
"Well," Giles again took in Jamie's battered body
before nodding his head. "Alright then."
Victoria took two long strides towards Giles and tapped the
English man in.
"Please, if at anytime you see me in dire need... feel free
to open the portal." he whispered to her as he slipped through the ropes.
"Go get'em Giles," Victoria said tapping him on the
back encouragingly. "Show them all what the English are really made
of."
Giles looked confused. "You want me to take them to tea and
crumpets?"
"If it'll help you win, why not." Victoria grinned
back at him. "Now get on with it." she ordered motioning him to turn
his attention to Jamie.
He turned and saw Jamie no longer seemed as weary as he was
before. "Oh dear lord."
Jamie snickered flipping Kane off before rushing at Giles.
It all happened in the space of a few seconds as Jamie swung the
unsuspecting Giles into the ropes before flying through the air to land across
Giles chest, knocking what little air Giles had managed to inhale before the
other man's elbow came down hard into the middle of Giles chest.
"I thought this was all fake?" Giles grumbled using
the ropes to pull himself up.
"Did you like that old man?" Jamie taunted dancing
around the ring on the balls of his feet.
"I want in! I want in!" Nidia screamed holding her
hand out for Jamie to tap her in.
Jamie ignored her.
Giles looked from Jamie to Nidia. "She wants in." he
suggested hopefully but to no avail he soon realised as Jamie slowly shook his
head.
"Nah ah, old man... your ass is mi- ineeeee...."
"Jamie!" Nidia screamed as a giant hole seemed to open
up beneath him causing him to teeter on its edge.
Giles acting on years of fighting for the side of good let
instinct take over his actions as he reached out and hooked his hand into the
waistband of the denim cut offs Jamie wore. "Don’t struggle!" He
yelled grabbing onto the top rope with his free hand to help relieve part of
the gravitational pull from the portal. He could hear Victoria's hysterical
ramblings from ringside and Kane's calmer tones as he tried to comfort her.
He felt someone's hand clasp on to his, helping to keep his grip
on the rope steadfast and he was shocked when he turned towards his helper, his
eyes meeting the scared eyes of Nidia. In that instant as there eyes met he
didn't see the overly excited girl who had tried to grope him in a hotel
drugstore, he saw a woman worried about the man she loved. And he was relieved
to see that man wasn't him.
With Nidia's help Giles pulled Jamie from the portal and into
the waiting arms of Nidia, watching as she fussed over him checking to see if
he was okay. Jamie held on just as tightly to Nidia but his eyes lifted to meet
Giles, he touched his hand to his chest twice before extending it to Giles in a
silent thankyou.
The crowds roar brought Giles attention back to the situation at
hand and he was amazed at the crowd’s ignorance to a bloody gaping big hole in
the middle of the ring.
"Giles behind you!"
Kane's warning came too late as Giles felt a hand wrap around
his throat, lifting him off his feet.
"Hello, Giles."
He fought the unconsciousness that threatened to overcome him as
he looked down upon the small girl who effortlessly held him in her grip.
"Dawn..."
"Aw, save your breath. We all know I'm not Dawn." she
smiled sweetly up at him before turning her gaze on Kane and Victoria who had
entered the ring. "If you want to live I suggest you hop right back out of
here."
"Do as she says!" Giles croaked when it became
apparent neither Kane nor Victoria were going to move. "Trust me, do as
she says."
Glory chuckled as they both conceded to Giles instructions.
"Aren’t you both good little mortals." she sneered before turning her
attention back to Giles. "I had so hoped to end Buffy's life... but it
seems the powers that be have given me something better instead." Her eyes
gleamed as she tightened her grip on Giles throat. "Can you imagine how
Buffy felt when Dawn perished; I can, and have many, many times. I miss those
times you know. All big bad Glory, evilest hell goddess there ever was... until
Buffy came along and ruined everything." she brought her hand up to study
her finger nails then with a shrug of her shoulders released Giles, leaving him
panting for oxygen on the ring floor. "Revenge is always sweet though, and
with your help... mine will be tenfold."
"What do you plan to do?" Giles hissed his breathing
coming in low shallow gasps.
"Why, kill you of course. Dawn's death merely caused Buffy
to isolate herself from everyone and everything... but what do you think your
death will do on top of that. Especially when I keep you alive long enough for
her to see it." she saw Giles face harden and smiled loving the rush she
got from human's and there fear.
"Buffy's stronger then that." he said, his hand
reaching down towards his boot. "I will see you die before you even get to
see me bleed."
Glory laughed. "I'm shaking in my boots."
Giles pulled out the dagger, keeping it hidden behind his hand
as his thumb moved over the ruby that laid within its handle. A ruby that had
been marked by the 'Coven of the Living Dead.' A most powerful sector that
offered mystical help to those who needed it, but like all things their help
had come with a fairly high price. A price he had willingly paid.
By paying that price he always knew this time would come and he
knew if Buffy were here she would do anything within her power to stop him,
which is why he didn't tell her that his time here wasn't permanent. That his
time here lasted only as long as the dagger he had marked with his life's
essence, the same dagger he had given to her, the same dagger he had travelled
here on at Buffy's summoning, the same dagger that allowed him to live as long
as it remained tainted with his blood only. His debt to the Coven of the Living
Dead now paid in full. Two lives in exchange for one.
He slowly got to his feet, his chest still heaving as he
continued to gulp in air. He glanced outside the ring and saw the scared
expressions of Victoria and Nidia, Jamie's face was one of concern and Giles
knew the other man longed for an opening to come to the aid of the man who only
moments before had saved his life and while Kane's masked face remained hidden,
his eye's held comprehension and compassion. Kane's hand lifting slightly
holding within his fingers the envelope Giles had given to him before the
match. The two men sharing a final look of understanding as Giles lunged at
Glory, taking her by surprise as he plunged the dagger deep within her belly,
twisting it inside her. The pain etched on her face was mirrored on his as they
both fell as one through the ropes, onto the matted concrete below.
"Giles!"
Everyone's attention had been on Giles and Glory that they
hadn't notice the other two people slip through the portal.
"Buffy?" his voice was weak and his eyes soft as Buffy
slipped through the ropes, falling to her knees at his side.
"I'm here, Giles... your going to be okay..." she said
already knowing he wouldn't be by the amount of blood pouring from the wound in
his stomach. She couldn't help the tears that sprang up in her eyes as she
looked down into his. "Oh, Giles... what did you do?" she felt someone’s
hands on her shoulders and quickly shrugged them off.
"What I had to, Buffy..." He whispered his eyes
fluttering to a close. "What I had
to..."
**
AN: //Denotes dream state//
Part Twenty
**
//'Giles.'
Her voice, quiet and inconsolable rose up around them in a swirl
of air and dust, no one moved, no one said a word as the swirling mass gathered
above there heads and within it three figures could be seen.
'Buffy.'
Buffy's head remained lowered, her hand reaching out to close
the still open eyes of the man she considered not only her Watcher and friend,
but her father. As everything else happening around her was lost to her she
cocked her head to one side, seemingly in a trance, before lifting her head to
the voice.
'Mommy?'
The figures within the mass became more clearer and Buffy's brow
unfurrowed, her eyes alight with recognition as her mother's face appeared.
'You did it Buffy.' she whispered.
'I did?'
'Yes Buffy,' she motioned behind her with a slight wave of her
hand. Two figures drew near, figures she recognised before their forms became
clear to her naked eye.
'Dawn...' the warmth that radiated from within her sister was
like a welcoming blast that seeped into the icy wall that she had built up
around herself, thawing the cold that had become her life.
'I'm not alone anymore, Buffy, I'm where I should be.'
'We all are,' Buffy's eyes moved behind Dawn to see Giles
looking very much the English librarian, in tweed pants and a woolly jumper. He
smiled at her. 'Guess the higher powers had bigger plans install for me,'
'Giles, I'm so sorry, I should have been here to stop Glory, 'I'
should be there, not you.' she wailed to the three images hovering in the
middle of the ring.
'No, Buffy,' the image of Giles seemed to grow until it was all
she saw. 'I am needed here, with your mother and with Dawn. You no longer need
a Watcher,' his hand drew forward and Buffy felt a slight sensation graze the
side of her face. 'You haven’t needed one for a while.'
'You’re wrong, I still need you!'
'Our paths no longer run parallel, Buffy. My path now lies here,
with your mother and Dawn. Your path is there in the WWE. You have people there
who need you, support you, love you... it's time for you to start doing what
has been denied you most of your adolescence. It's time for you to start
living.'
'I can’t do this again, I can’t lose someone again.'
'You haven’t lost me, Buffy, as long as the ruby dagger is in
your possession, I will always be near.' the image began to get smaller and
smaller until once again he was joined by the images of her mother and sister.
'We all will.'
'Giles...'
'It's time, Buffy...'
The images began to fade.
'It's time to live...'//
"She's coming too,"
"Buffy?"
"Buffy, can you hear me?"
"Maybe we should shake her?"
"Shake her and I shake you."
"Come on guys, give her some room will you? I swear with
you two around I'm going to have to invest in a bulldozer to fight my way
through just to see her." Victoria stated pushing through the two men to
sit at Buffy's side. "Buffy? Sweetie, it's me Victoria. Can you hear
me?"
Buffy's eyes fluttered open. "Giles..."
"He's gone baby, I'm so sorry."
Buffy allowed the other woman's embrace for a minute before
looking up into the faces of Kane, Rob, Jamie and Nidia who stood awkwardly
behind Victoria.
She frowned. "When did we come back to the locker
room?"
"Almost twenty minutes ago," Victoria answered,
"you fainted inside the ring and Rob carried you back here."
"Oh." Buffy lowered her eyes, refusing to meet Rob's
gaze as thoughts of the last few moments in his home dimension came back to
her. "Where are the bodies? Where is Giles body?"
"The MT's have taken Giles body to the coroner's
office." Jamie said surprising them all by his reply, his smile was unsure
as he meet Buffy's eyes. "Hi."
She smiled. "Hi."
"He saved my life," Jamie said feeling he had to say
something as she gazed at him from the other side of the room where she sat.
"He did that a lot." Buffy said surprising the other
men in the room at how quickly she seemed to take to Jamie Noble. "What
about Glory?"
Kane shuddered. "Let's just say there's no way she's going
to be leaving the ring area without the help of a mop and bucket."
Buffy quirked an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Ever seen The Wizard of Oz?"
"Yeah,"
"Then ding dong, Dorothy, the witch is dead."
Buffy didn't seem to see the funny side. "You’re sure? You
saw her body?"
Kane crouched down in front of her, wanting her to see the
seriousness in his eyes. "She's gone, Buffy. We all watched as she turned
to liquid mush."
"Hmmm..." Her bottom lip jutted out. "That's
something you don’t see everyday."
"And something I wont be forgetting in a hurry
either." Nidia said from beside Jamie. "He was a very special
man."
"Yes, yes he was."
A knock sounded at the door and a pasty faced official peered in
through the slightly ajar door. "Five minutes till ringside people."
Buffy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Ringside?"
"This is for you, Buff." Kane said handing Buffy a
small white envelope. "Come on guys, we have a match." he said
turning to the others.
Buffy accepted the envelope recognising Giles handwriting on the
front.
Kane started to follow Jamie and Nidia out of the locker room.
"Did anyone else see the way Rob had his lips locked with Buffy-"
Smack! "Hey!"
Victoria smiled sweetly "We shouldn't be too long."
Victoria said reaching out to brush Buffy's hair back over her shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere." Buffy replied already
pulling out the contents of the envelope.
Dearest Buffy,
I have followed you all the days of your life, not just through
sunrise and sunset, but through the hours of the night when the stars turned in
silence around the world. I knew your dreams and fears. You peered with me, at
times reluctantly, and puzzled over the forces of good and evil in books, and
I, too, struggled with you in your loneliness and pain. If you are reading this
then chances are I am no longer on the same dimensional plane as you, so with
this letter I leave one last gift. A spell that will erase the events that
unfolded tonight in the minds of everyone down at ringside, backstage, in the
stands and at home watching and new events will be written except for you and
those with you. The spell will be triggered soon after my passing. In my mind and
in my heart you are my daughter, my beloved daughter, and as any father would
want the best for his daughter, I want the same for you. It's time to stop
living for the world and to start living for Buffy Summers.
It has been an honour and a privilege to not only be your
Watcher, but to also be your friend. Know that whilst I remain in your heart,
you will never be alone.
Always... Giles.
She hadn't realised Rob was still in the room until she heard
him speak.
"Buffy, are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah," she sniffed, her hand reaching up to wipe the
tears she hadn't realised had fallen before replacing Giles letter inside the
envelope. "I think I'm going to be okay."
"From what Kane and Victoria have told me, he loved you
very much. The whole time we were in Keercelttab, he never stopped in his
efforts of looking for a way to bring you back. And he did." Pulling a
chair over he turned it so that the back of the chair was facing her before
straddling it to look at her. "He didn't die in vain."
'It's time for you to start living...' Giles last words of
advice circled around in her head and she smiled reaching up to cup Rob's cheek
in the palm of her hand, suddenly understanding what Giles had meant.
"No, his death wasn't in vain. He died so that I may
live." She pulled him closer, her mind full of possibility for the future.
"That 'we' may live."
**
END
**