Distribution: Anywhere and everywhere Just keep me attached
Content: Major Angst fest
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Spiral, The Gift
Summary: After the apocalypse the surviving members of the Slayerettes are given a chance at life
Disclaimer: All surviving members of the Slayerettes do not belong to me Robert Swindles "Brother In The Land" belongs to Puffin Books.
Authors notes: Time line wise it’s set way in the future. Warning major angst ahead and I mean it not for the easily depressed. I wrote this story after I read Robert Swindles "Brother In The Land". I strongly recommend that you read his book.
Feed back: Yes! Yes! Feed me
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Excerpt from Robert Swindles "Brother In The Land"
Before
East is East and West is West, and maybe it was a difference of opinion or just a computer malfunction. Either way, it set off a chain of events that nobody but a madman could have wanted and which nobody, not even the madmen, could stop.
There were missiles.
Under the earth.
In the sky.
Beneath the waves.
Missiles with thermo-nuclear warheads, enough to kill everybody on earth.
Three times over.
And something set them off; sent them flying, West to East and East to West, crossing in the middle like cars on a cable-railway.
East and West, the sirens wailed. Emergency procedures began, hampered here and there by understandable panic. Helpful leaflets were distributed and roads sealed off. VIPs went to their bunkers and volunteers stood at their posts. Suddenly, nobody wanted to be an engine-driver anymore, or a model or a rock-star. Everybody wanted to be one thing: a survivor. But it was an overcrowded profession.
The missiles climbed their trajectory arcs, rolled over the top and came down, accelerating. Below, everyone was ready. The Frimleys had their shelter in the lounge. The Bukovskys favoured the cellar. A quick survey would have revealed no overwhelming preference, worldwide, for one part of the house over the others.
Down came the missiles. Some had just the one warhead, others had several, ranging from the compact, almost tactical warhead to the large, family size. Every town was to receive its own, individually-programmed warhead. Not one had been left out.
They struck, screaming in with pinpoint accuracy, bursting with blinding flashes, brighter than a thousand suns. Whole towns and city-centres vaporized instantly; while tarmac, trees and houses thirty miles from the explosions burst into flames. Fireballs, expanding in a second to several miles across, melted and devoured all matter that fell within their diameters. Blast-waves, travelling faster than sound, ripped through the suburbs. Houses disintegrated and vanished. So fierce were the flames that they devoured all the oxygen around them, suffocating those people who had sought refuge in deep shelters. Winds of a hundred-and-fifty miles an hour, rushing in to fill the vacuum, created fire-storms that howled through the streets, where temperatures in the thousands cooked the subterranean dead. The very earth heaved and shook as the warheads rained down, burst upon burst upon burst, and a terrible thunder rent the skies.
For an hour the warheads fell, then ceased. A great silence descended over the land. The Bukovskys had gone, and the Frimleys were no more. Through the silence, through the pall of smoke and dust that blackened the sky, trillions of deadly radioactive particles began to fall. They fell soundlessly, settling like an invisible snow on the devastated earth.
Incredibly, here and there, people had survived the bombardment. They lay stunned in the ruins, incapable of thought. Drifting on the wind, the particles sifted in upon them, landing unseen on clothing, skin and hair, so that most of these too would die, but slowly.
Most, but not all. There were those whose fate it was to wander this landscape of poisonous desolation. One of them was me.
~~~*~~~
~Part: 1~
No one really knew what happened just that it did. On the twenty first of July two thousand and one the world ended and it was no demon. Sometimes I wish that the hellmouth had opened up that night and it away it did but instead of hell coming from below it came from above. Hellfire from the heavens. That events far out of our control would be the end of us. That something we overlooked years ago was the end of us. That it was no demon covered in slime but a man in a uniform buried a mile under the earth thousands of miles away, with a little red key could end the world. That no prophecy could have warned us of the impending fate.
We'd saved the world again but at hell of a price. Buffy had died when the dimensions opened. She'd sacrificed her self to save her sister. When they closed we were left to deal with the fallout several demons had made their way into our dimension, but something that we'd never expected. Were people normal people that had been taken out of their dimensions and stuffed in ours. In all there were twelve demons, one dragon and thirty-four humans plus some vampires but we never got to count them and something else, unseen unknown but totally evil.
We now had no slayer as it turned out Buffy's replacement was already here, Faith but she was still in prison and wasn't due out for at least ten to twelve years.
The weeks after Buffy's death passed in some sort of haze. No one could get hold of Angel, Cordy or Wesley. An ex-police officer called Kate had deemed them out of town with no way to contact them.
Buffy's funeral had been a somewhat rushed affair as most funerals in Sunnydale were. Finally after much deliberation a simple statement had been decided on "She saved the world a lot" and she had been buried in a shaded spot next to her mother. It had been a painful shame to have to class Buffy's death as a suicide but the police wanted something to go on their forms and nobody questioned it.
Spike turned into something unrecognizable he went around by night killing anything that didn’t have a pulse. The twelve demons we'd inherited didn’t last long, neither did the dragon. He was fiercely protective of Dawn he'd made a promise to Buffy and he kept it. He doted on Dawn one of the great puzzles someone with that much money had decided to live in a crypt.
With the demons and the vampire's taken care of all we had to do was figure out what to do with our new residents of Sunnydale. They were a complete cross section half of them believed in demons and vampire and most of that half decided that this dimension was better than the dimension that they had come from. There were four that were completely psychotic they were admitted to Sunnydale mental hospital, which is the largest in the state; well no one believed them anyway.
You then had the non-believers where vampires, demons went against everything. The came from dimensions where vampires simply didn’t exist. We couldn't get them home we just didn’t know how and we couldn't send them back the way they came. We did our best to get them settled. I became quite good at making fake ID's and finding them jobs and places to live. Then there was this one kid Cara Sowyer must have been twelve, thirteen who insisted that she knew us, that we didn't exist, that we were just a TV show and this was some kind of VR. A nice middle aged man took her under his wing and that was the last we herd of TV show's and VR. A group of about three came and asked us how to get funding to research the Einstein Rosenberg Podalski bridge saying that magic was impossible and that physics was the only way to go.
It was on a trip to LA when I dropped by the hotel, to see if angel had been back at all. When he came through the door announcing that there was no place like home. Hours later I had explained the whole story and Angel was devastated. All the non-brooding had been doing while away in this other dimension evaporated and he came to Sunnydale and had a vicious bust up with Spike and left the pair of them left to lick there wounds.
This girl Fred, who'd, spent too long in this other dimension. Came along she met up with the other scientists and they hit it of. For some reason they believed a slightly nutty scientist over me a sane Wiccan. Each to there own I suppose.
Our other loss was Giles he was guilt ridden over Buffy's death and something else that he wouldn't talk to us about, he left to return to England and we have never seen or heard from him again. He handed the shop over to us all six of us have run it together for years. It's kept us all comfortable. Xander and Anya through there many kids it's four with a fifth on it's way but its thought that there is a sixth in there as well. Me through tragedy Tara died in a car crash three years ago they say she died instantly, In away I'm glad that it wasn’t demon related.
Dawn's graduated from university with a medical degree, we’ve already been to the ceremony that was a yesterday. We have a double reason to party we're finally got a slayer and she saved the world. Faith had made early parole we have been talking for years ever since Buffy's death. Angel's picking her up they should be here soon.
For year's Angel severed all contact with us he wouldn't even set foot in Sunnydale. He worked with Wesley, Gun and Cordelia and helped to build Angel investigations into quite a lucrative business. Their greatest triumphs being winning a fraud case against Wolfram and Heart forcing the company into liquidation. Causing the forces of evil to have to reorganize them selves. Maybe that's what caused it? I don't know why I still want to refuse the fact that it was no demonic force or ancient evil but a human. It would be easier to accept it that way that something alien had done this not that we only had our selves to blame.
The cruelest twist of fate the night the world ended and the fire that swept the land robbing so many of their lives, was the night that Angel gained his.
~Part: 2~
I remember that night as if it was only yesterday. I was talking to Spike when the ground heaved and bucked knocking me to the floor followed by a rumble of what sounded like thunder shook the room then and almighty boom like a plane breaking the sound barrier. Spike grabbing me and yanking in to the doorway and screaming for Dawn to get under cover.
It's weird you never believe people when they say it's like time slows but it dose. I watched as Xander leapt to cover his wife and child, as Gun pushed Wesley out of the way of a falling beam only to have it fall on him, as Angel grabbed Cordy and dived under a table with her. Then there was silence, silence like I'd never heard it. There wasn't a sound for it must have only a minuet but it was an eternity. I lay there with Spikes body covering my own then a frenzied panic swept through me, I must have started screaming because the next thing I remember was being pulled into his embrace and that it was over that everything would be fine. Then I looked out across the room. Everything was not fine and it would never be again.
Gun had been crushed by the beam and lay in a puddle of his own blood. He was the lucky one he died instantly he would never know of the horrors that were to fallow. Dawn was fine her arm was obviously broken from when she had fallen. Cordy scrambled out from under the table dragging Angel's unconscious form with her and began shaking him to try and rouse him.
Across the room there was this scream Anya lay there on the floor in a puddle she had gone in to labor. We had to get help; we had to find out what had happened to Faith and the Kid's upstairs. But the stairs were blocked. Wesley, Spike and I dug our way out. The shop was gone nothing but rubble. That was when I saw it and nothing terrified me more than that did, I've faced down demons, but none as hideous as this one a Grey smoky mushroom the hung where LA should have been, but instead there was an orange glow that lit up the night sky. I looked around at what remained of Sunnydale, Some buildings were fine they looked as the always had, some were half falling down, some were heaps like ours.
We began again to dig through the rubble and found four little bodies, they were only bodies to badly mutilated to identify. I don't know whether it was miraculous or not but we found Faith alive. She was burnt all down one side and as we were to discover later totally blind. We carried her in and laid her down on the floor I think we all expected her to die.
While we had been outside Angel had woken up, but he was alive as in living and breathing, Why? Was all I could think but there were more pressing issues.
Neither twin nor their mother survived the week. Faith regained consciousness two days later but she was completely blind. We buried our fallen friends. Found our family's dead also the nights after the apocalypse. Vampires and demons took the advantage preying on the newfound homeless.
The mansion was intacked and we all moved in, but that was three years ago.
~Part: 3~
Lightning streaked across the sky followed by a thunderous clap echoing off the surrounding hills which made the window vibrate slightly. Winter was here, the winter that would never end. The wind howled across the barren land, land that had born us no crops. You could only tell it was day time because it was a little less dark and on occasion a stray ray of sun light would peak through but even that was easily missed against the lightning. You had to be mad to be out in the storms but a lone figure was. She scrambled up and over the ruble of the ruined town, ploughing through mountainous snowdrifts until she reached her destination.
Cara Sowyer began to pound relentlessly on the oak door of a mansion she knew so well but had never visited. "Willow, Spike, Angel someone You've got to let me in it's Cara, you probably don't remember me I arrived here the night Buffy died, I have news, Please let me in" Cara screamed as she continued to pound on the door.
She heard a large wooden bolt from behind the door being drawn back and the creaked door open. "What do you want" Spike snapped as he opened the door just enough to see who it was. "Spike I have to speak to you it's very important, It's about Buffy"
Spike looked at Cara shocked Buffy's name hadn't been mentioned since the apocalypse. He opened the door enough to allow her entrance. Cara took a moment to relish the warmth of the house before her attention was drawn back to the annoyed vampire "Well then?" he snapped again. Cara stood there momentarily forgetting what she was doing taking in the room it was exactly as she remembered it. "I'll toss you back out in the snow" Spike growled reaching to grab her
"Oh Sorry it's just…" Cara said backing out of Spike's range flapping her arms indicating the whole room
"What do you want?"
"Oh yes I have to tell you all something it's about what happened more why it happened"
"Some idiot with a red key destroyed the world, what of why"
"There maybe away to change things"
"Who is it?" Willow asked as she came down the stairs. She had a blanked rapped round her small waif like frame.
"Hello Willow" Cara Said turning to face her
"Who are you"
"Cara Sowyer" she stated extending her hand "I came here the night" she paused seeing the flicker of pain in Willow's eyes "the dimensions opened"
"Oh yes I remember you, you were the little one who insisted that we all didn't exist"
"Oh you don't, but you do. Don't get me started on that one. But if you accept what I'm going to say that won't matter"
"What have you got to tell us"
"I'd rather tell everyone"
"I'll go get everyone, take a seat by the fire you must be freezing" Willow said, she then turned to Spike "Spike I think Wesley is in the library
Willow went back up stairs and knocked on Angel and Cordy's room. Who would have thought they of all people would end up together but within months of the apocalypse Cordy was pregnant. Apparently Cordy had been in love with Angel for years but never made a move, but with Angel now human that had changed. The child had given us hope that we could rebuild. But that was dashed six months later when the baby was still born, premature and hideously deformed. That was when I realized that we were the last generation there would be no more humans.
"Angel, Cordy could you come down please. We've got a visitor"
"A visitor?" Angel said opening the door
"Yes, Cara"
"Cara?" Angel asked
"Yes she's of the ones that came here the night" Willow paused not sure how to phrase it then went for the same as Cara "The dimensions opened"
"Oh! What dose she want"
"She says she has something important to tell us"
"Okay I'll be down in a minuet" he said shutting the door and Willow could hear him talking to Cordy, she had the sickness.
The sickness claimed those that, the bombs hadn't. We still concerned our selves with rebuilding. That was before the crops failed and the animals died. They couldn't produce offspring and we needed to eat.
Xander was the first to fall victim to the sickness I think it was loosing his entire family that did it but at least he's with them now. Hey if there's a hell there's just gotta be a heaven it's what keeps me going that I'll see them all again one day and I doubt that day's too far off. You see I have the sickness too not as advanced but dose that really matter. Spike has offered to turn me but seeing as blood is in as short supply as food.
Willow pushed open the door to Faith's room, Faith was sitting on her bed chatting to Dawn she turned and focused her blind gaze on Willow
"Hi Will" Dawn said
"Hi, we've got a visitor she has something important to tell us"
"Oh! What"
"Don't know but she wants to tell everyone" Willow explained. As Dawn reached down and guided Faiths hand to her elbow in order to lead her down stairs. Really what was the point of a slayer anymore, at night vampire and demons preyed on anything and by day it wasn't exactly safe either. The Human race had been driven to such extremes as to prey on it's self making us no better than the demons that stalked the night.
***
Cara didn't know which to be more shocked at the fact that Angel was obviously human or that Faith was totally blind, face was also horrifically scared, Cara just knew how she had lost her sight, but Angel "When did you Shanshu" Cara asked with out thinking
"How did you know about that"
"Long, long complicated story and seeing as time is a desperate factor here not a conversation I'm willing to have at the moment. I have to tell you what I have to tell you."
"Go on"
"Remember Arthur McCormack"
"Yeah he was one of the guys that we took down when we took on Wolfram and Heart" Wesley said
"Do you remember Arthur's origin," Cara asked then paused to make sure she had everyone's attention "He arrived the same night I did"
"He's not the one who said he would look after you"
"The one and the same,"
"But he was so nice"
"He was evil incarnate the worst the human race can spit out. To everyone else he was this nice gentleman a pleasure to know. Behind closed doors he was quite different. He made me tell him everything I knew. Believe me I know a whole hell of a lot, at home I used to pride my self on the fact that I could recite all the demons In BTVS and Angel alphabetically with a description"
"BTVS"
"Buffy The Vampire Slayer, that I could list the entire family history of Angel with Dates."
"How did you know all this"
"As I said your all a TV show, It was my hobby"
"Well I presented a very interesting case for Wolfram and Heart, the information given to them led them to seek out the Initiative. Each keeping the other in the dark until your fraud case. Forcing the senior partners to find new partners and as we know they don't make evil. They exacerbate it, - bring it out in people. When the initiative found out who they had been working with, they panicked. Well they meant to neutralize what they thought was the threat, the Hellmouth. Arthur was there; they believed him to be the prime representative of the senior partners"
"They were going to blow up the Hellmouth"
"Yes! The rest of the world is actually oblivious to this town through carefully monitored media"
"Surely some one would notice if you wiped out a whole town"
"You know people especially around here, they'd far rather turn a blind eye than accept the truth"
"Where were you all this time"
"Arthur liked me, not in the way which you like to be liked"
"Oh god"
"Never mind no point crying over spilt milk when you can mop it up again"
"What do you mean"
"Let me finish"
"The day of the intended strike someone broke in to the house while Arthur was out and took me. My knowledge was to valuable to loose so I was whisked away. I've never been one to go quietly I made my bid for freedom and got all the way to the control room. I've always had this niggling feeling that was just where they wanted me. The General said I was just in time. I watched as this guy typed something into the computer the General inserted a key and that was it. Then something went wrong, horribly wrong. The look on the Generals face when he realized what had happened; I've never seen anyone look that white. Then the ground shook bucked heaved and the lights went out when the emergency lights flicked on the General had shot himself."
"What use is this to us and what dose it have to do with Buffy" Spike asked glaring at Cara
"Do you realize what the day after tomorrow is"
"I think it's Thursday but I could be wrong"
"Ten years to the day that I came here Ten years to the day that "
"Buffy died"
"We can tap into that undo the events from that point,"
"We?" Angel asked
"Yeah! Remember Fred"
"Winfred, I thought that she died"
"Oh no! Remember she met up with those scientists and ever since then they've all been working on a way to get home. Fred's been helping them since she had some experience with inter-dimensional travel. Well they've kind of cracked it but not in the way they were hoping. We can just stop our selves from ever coming"
"How?"
"Time travel"
"Don't be ridiculous"
"Think about it, I'd never be here to tell Arthur the things that I know and he'd never be here to ask, This would never happen plus Buffy would be alive."
"Why do you need us"
"If we're going to go back. Then we need people who remember what happened. Somebody that you back then would believe, If just I went you'd never believe me."
"You got a point there, I don't believe you now"
"I know it's allot to take in but you have to believe me"
"I have a question, how did you find Fred"
"She was right there in the complex, you see this complex is on the out skirts of town. The initiative didn't leave they just went about things a little more discreetly."
"You mean that the Research and Development Park on the road leading to LA is the Initiative"
"Yep"
"But that's where?"
"Fred got her funding" Cara finished
"So you've been working in this complex and choose now to come and tell us this,"
"We only made the break through the other week and we weren't entirely sure that you were alive plus we've run out of food and this is our last best hope"
"What makes you think that we'll come with you"
"What have you got to loose" Cara asked looking at them all. That was so true they had run out of food three days ago and there was no hope of finding any more.
So we packed up what little belongings we had and set off into the snow. I used to love the snow, okay living in California land of the perpetual summer we never got much but when and if we did I would always run out and play. Even when I was an adult snow could always bring out a child like joy, But as it covers the land smothering it. It brings me an odd kind of hope. Maybe the next race to populate this planet will be a little more wise
~Part: 4~
We trudged through the snow down what was the high street, passed what was the bronze and then out of the town. Up to a vast set of rusting metal gates with spikes and barbed wire on the top. Just inside the gates was a lone shack from which a weak light came.
"PATRICK" Cara yelled at the top of her voice "PATRICK! IT'S CARA! I MADE IT! I'M BACK!"
There was a commotion from inside the shack and a rag-clad figure came stumbling out holding a lantern out in front of him as she shuffled through the snow. "CARA IS THAT REALY YOU" he bellowed over the roaring wind
"YES NOW LET ME IN ITS BLOODY FREAZING"
"HANG ON A MO" He yelled as he fumbled with the key in the frozen lock. Finally the gates were open enough to let them in; Patrick immediately involved Cara in a giant hug "COME ON IN ALL OF YOU" he said as he lead the way to a dilapidated building that was marginally intacked. Once inside he led them down a corridor to a lift but the lift was broken and had been for years.
"Are you all okay for the climb, its about four-hundred feet. I'll go and call and say that you're here" Patrick said and then turned to Cara "I'm of shift in an hour"
"Come down with us now, we'll be proceeding immediately. No need to spend your last hours hypothermic"
After the long climb we reached the bottom of the lift shaft and the door opened, not with smooth grace but by force as someone pulled them apart. I was reminded of the time that we broke into the initiative to defeat Adam, and now we were welcomed but again it was to save the world.
"This way please" Cara said directing them down the corridor. Patrick to her hand as they lead the way. Only dim flickering emergency lighting eluminated the erie darkness of the complex. As we made our way deep insider the complex the low rumbling chugging sound became louder and the air smelled of wood smoke and oil.
Cara pushed open a door and led us into a large room which was quite hot, on one side was huge furnace which was powering an old fashioned steam engine which. Answered my question on where did the electricity come from.
"Angel!" Came the cry of a small dark haired woman as she pushed her way through the crowd of people. They were all that was left of the initiative.
"Fred" he replied disbelieving that she was still alive
"Hansom man come to save me"
Angel smiled and nodded "well let's get on with it"
"Okay, this way" She led us over to the other side of the room which looked like something out of an old bad B movie that Xander used to make me watch saying that they were classic. Well how do I describe it, it was a large satellite type dish, and the receptor part was pointing towards a large mirror. There were cables and wires all over the place leading to a bank of computers. Painted on to the dish and on the mirror was an intrically-detailed symbol.
"The mark Of the Order of Kyllick" Wesley asked stunned
"Yes they've been very helpful" Cara said
"You mean you actually have an member here?" Wesley gasped in ore
"What is the order of Kyllick" Faith asked
"Those that can alter the Foundation of the Epoch"
"Great textbook description now I layman's terms"
"They can alter the fabric of time; I thought that they had all disbanded millennia's ago. It was thought to be just a myth" Wesley explained
"How did you come into contact with them" Angel asked
"They contacted us they sensed that we were experimenting and they came saying that we had called them, we explained what we were trying to do. That was last year and since then our project has taken off they said we had a noble cause." Fred explained
"So how dose this work" I asked
"It's actually quite simple. Three members of The order chant, the energy created by the this is collected in the dish. Then amplified by a couple hundred volts and focused by that laser, where the information is added i.e. the where and most importantly when. It then hits the mirror which turns into the portal, which you step through, well that's the theory anyway."
"You mean this thing hasn't been tested"
"There's no time like the present" Cara said
"Plus we only have enough power to have one shot"
"Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow"
"why" Fred asked
"The anniversary of the dimensions opening"
"Oh if you want to do it tomorrow we can, but no later than that we're running out of thing to burn."
"Cara, I thought that you said you had to do it on the anniversary"
"Well not exactly, I had to get you here"
"Were actually planning on sending you a full forty-eight hours earlier." a tech said coming out from behind her computer. "To stop the Key from ever falling into the wrong hands," she the glanced down at her pad and continued on in her clinical tone, "If the key is kept safe past the time it is required time it becomes useless."
Dawn flinched as the tech described her in such distant clinical terms
"Thanks Mary for your clinical description, But yep that's the plan"
"let me get this straight you want us to risk our lives in a machine that has never been tested and relive one of my worst experiences"
"Well yep"
"hell why not, were all gonna die any way" Spike said
"So you'll do it" Cara said hopefully
"Yes" came the response from then all
"Great, lets get going then"
The room erupted into a hive of activity as the furnace we fed with the last of the fuel, the boiler was topped up and the generator oiled. Three small purple demons stood in a circle on the platform in front of the dish computer whirred into action. Then the room went silent and all that could be heard was the crackle of the fire, the puffing and the gentle humm of the generator. Soon the sound of the chanting demons filled the room, as did the oppressive energy that was slowly being channeled down the beam. At the mirror that was loosing its glassy appearance and became like water, ripples began to travel across its surface. The demons stopped there chanting. All eye's fell on the mirror and there was silence.
We all stood there looking at the mirror it was like looking into the past, in fact we were.
"You understand that if you step through there, there is no coming back and if you stop the dimensions from opening you will cease to exist we all will" Fred explained
"I Kinda guessed that" I said
We watched as if watching on a gigantic TV screen, as the RV we had fled Sunnyvale all those years ago spun out of control and toppled over. The memory of why the RV had gone out of control suddenly hit me "Giles" and with out thinking leapt into the mirror.
A tech handed Spike a large tattered military blanket, he took it and leapt into the mirror. Angel swept Cordy up into his arms and leapt in after him. Wesley followed leading Faith through which just left Dawn. She was just about to leap in when Cara yelled her name "Dawn" Dawn turned to face her and a bag was stuffed into her hand's "The last of our medical supplies" Cara explained
"You're not coming"
"No, Now go" Cara said pushing Dawn into the mirror just be fore the power cut out as the generator burnt out with a bang leaving them all in darkness
~Part: 5~ present day Willow's POV
We were walking away from the wrecked Winnebago. Spike had a blanket covering his head but it was doing a poor job of protecting him from the sun. Buffy and Xander were supporting Giles. The road opened out in front of us one of those unending desert roads. Up a head was a mirage that shimmered with the desert heat. Then out of the mirage appeared figures. We stopped, Buffy let Xander take Giles' weight as she hoisted her cross bow into position as the group approached. Dawn came to my side watching Buffy watch the group. I took her hand and tighten my hold on Tara and began to mutter a protection spell. Anya moved to help support Giles. One of the figures broke off from the group and began to run yelling Buffy's name.
"Buffy, Buffy, Buffy, Buffy, Buffy, It's me Dawn" The ragged figure screeched, stopping abruptly as Buffy trained her crossbow at her.
It was Dawn all right she hadn't changed much. She had filled out in place and grown taller but mainly the stayed the same but the look in her eyes showed that she may look the same but time had changed her. But it was the ragged group that accompanied her shocked me.
They were all clothed in ragged layers of clothing; they were all nothing but animated skeletons. The other dark haired figure took me a wile to recognize. Faith was barely recognizable as such and being totally blind she had her hand resting in the crook of a mans arm to guide her. Who I recognized as Wesley, he had aged greatly wrinkles lined his face, his gray hair was falling out in patches. The figure huddling under a tatty dark green army blanket had to be Spike his trademark leather duster hung over is frame. There was Angel who was standing in the sunlight. Angel can't be standing in the sunlight he's a vampire, So it cant be Angel, He was cradling in his arms a ragged figure who was complaining about the light being too bright.
"It's okay Cordy, close your eyes and it'll all be okay," He said
The figure that had been standing next to Spike took a step forward. Buffy re-aimed her crossbow and the figure stopped and reached up to take the shawl off her head. The figure was me, older me but me.
"Buffy I know this is a little strange"
"I think that's an understatement"
"Do you think that we could all get under cover before I become charcoal" the ragged figure under the blanket snapped
"Yeah there's a gas station up a head" the other me said
"Yeah but when you get there you've got a lot of explaining to do"
***
We came to an abandoned gas station with a rusting old truck in front of it. Spike kicked the door open and hurried inside followed quickly by the other Spike.
"Careful." Buffy said as she surveyed the room
Dawn coughed from the dust, watched with concern as the others brought Giles in. Anya closed the door behind them. It was an empty room with little or no furniture it had been stripped. The windows were boarded up but incompletely, so stripes of light enter the room. There's a long sort of counter halfway in. Spike and Xander helped Buffy bring Giles over to the counter. Giles groaned in pain. The lower left side of his stomach was covered in blood. Giles groaned as Xander and Spike lifted him onto the counter. Spike also groaned in pain from his wounded hands. Spike finished helping Giles onto the counter and hurried out of the sunlight. Tara and I went over to Giles' side I put a bag under his head. He was sweaty and panting.
"Let me" the older Dawn said slipping the bag off her shoulders, Buffy looked skeptically at her, "Don’t worry he's in good hands I'm a doctor"
"You're a doctor" Dawn asked
"Yeah!" She said but Buffy still stood in her way "Giles is getting worse someone need's to look at him soon, seeing as we cant have Ben come"
"What do you know about Ben"
"That he's Glorys" the other Spike said
"WHAT?" Buffy snapped
"Ben's Glorys, Glorys's Ben. Simple" he said
"You've got to be kidding me" Spike said
"No That's basically why were here, you see you called Ben to help you he changed into Glorys and took me. We're here to stop that" The older Dawn explained
"I failed"
"No you didn't, You saved the world. You sacrificed yourself for me." The older Dawn said taking a step forward and putting her hand on Buffy's shoulder
"Then why are you here, If she saved the world" Xander asked
"For the short period when the dimensions were open things got in, something, Someone that eight years later would destroyed the world and it was no demon, It was human, made by humans, to kill humans, the bombs lots of them"
"Oh God" was all I could gasp as the realization of what had happened
The older Dawn during her speech had made her way over to Giles and began to clean his wound with the vast array of medical supplies that she had in her bag.
Suddenly a flaming arrow shot through a boarded-up window and embeds in the wall opposite. Everyone turned to look.
"Dawn, get down!" Buffy yelled
Another fiery arrow smashed through what is left of window. Xander pulled the first arrow out of the window and stomped out the fire. Buffy pushed Dawn behind the counter so that she is protected on three sides. More fiery arrows come shooting through the windows. I pushed Tara down to a crouch next to as he Xander peeked out the hole made by one arrow.
***
Outside the knights are setting up, mostly hiding behind the abandoned truck and gas pumps with their bows and arrows. There were a few garbage barrels with fires lit in them.
***
"We got company." Xander exclaimed as he is forced to duck as anther volley "And they brought a crusade."
The older Dawn was bent over Giles but continuing to work on stitching up his wound.
"Willow!" Buffy asked trying to get my attention, I was crouched beside the counter flipping the pages of my magic book. Tara huddles next to me whimpering and covering her head.
"I'm working on it!" I yell back
The other Willow came over and sat beside me taking my hand I could feel her power and we both began to chant.
Buffy and Spike together shoved a large coffee machine in front of the door tipping it over on its side to wedge the door closed.
***
Outside The General sat on his horse watching the action. "Go! Go! Go! Let's move! Come on, move it!" the nights yelled as they charged on the target and began to attack the boarded-up windows of the building with various weapons, trying to break in.
A knight's axe broke through the wall right next to Dawn's head. She screamed. The knight continued to hack the wall he then reached an arm in. Dawn screamed again. "Buffy!"
Buffy runs over to help just as a knight came through the door beside the counter. He punched her and she fell aside.
Faith got up and moved over to Dawn pulling her towards Wesley and Angel.
Spike lunged at the knight, punched him, then screamed in pain and clutches his head. The knight lifts his weapon to strike Spike but the other Spike intervened, kicked him and then punched him. The knight punched him back. Spike grabbed him by the neck a swiftly snapped it with a sickening crunch.
The boards on the windows rattle as more knights pounded on them and the glass shattered. Spike covers his head as glass fell on him.
The other knights continue beating on the walls and windows, knocking out the glass with their weapons. A knight stuck his arm through the door to try and reach for the handle, Angel grabs the arm twisting it until it broke the knight screamed and pulled his arm back. Groups of knights began to pound on the door and shoved it forcefully open.
"It's clear!" one yelled as he stormed in
Dawn starts to stands up but is yanked down by Faith. The General entered, Buffy turned to look at him. He pointed his sword at the group protecting Dawn.
"The key."
"Which one" the older Dawn said as she took a step round the counter to protect Giles who lay there unconscious.
The General looked dumbfounded. Buffy picks up one of the knight's weapons from the ground and threw it at him, hitting him on the hand, making him drop his sword. He lunged at Buffy and she hit him, making him reel aside into a pillar. He hit it face-first and fell down unconscious.
"Enemies, fly and fall." We chanted as we sat on the floor facing each other holding hands "Circling arms, raise a wall." We raise our arms and a circle of light emits from out joined hands, expanding outward. The Sphere spreads out through the walls and all the knights are forced backward, flying through the air. They land several feet away from the building as the bubble holds.
***
A knight hits the barrier with his sword. It shimmers but he can't get through. "They have the General. Clerics!" He growls
Two elderly men in long black robes come forward. They walk up to the barrier and hold up their hands to it. One begins to chant while the other turns back to him
"Energy barrier. A most powerful one." The clerics agree
"Can it be breached?" he asks
"The witch's magic pales to the might of our god. The infidels' wall ...shall tumble before us." The cleric replied
***
"Will? How long will it hold?" Buffy asked me
"As long as you need it" the older me replied
I went over to the window and peeks out. The two clerics are chanting while the knights wait behind them.
"Or till Heckle and Jeckle punch a hole through it." I said
"They won't" the older me said
Spike walks forward, looking down at the ground. "So. What's the story with these role-playing rejects?" Nodding at the General lying unconscious on the floor.
"Let's find out." Buffy asks more to the group that had just joined than to the General on the floor
~Part: 6~
The General was tied to a pillar whilst he was still unconscious. The older Dawn was stitching up Giles she had stopped the external bleeding but he was still bleeding internally. "He's lost a lot of blood we need to get him to a hospital"
"How long before it gets critical" Angel asked
"It's critical now" Buffy demanded nearly screaming
Dawn ignored her out burst and turned back to Giles looked at him a frowned contemplating "Four maybe five at a push
"I take it you came here with a plan" Spike said
"Not exactly" Willow said "This was kind of a last minuet, last ditch hope, I thought that Cara would be coming"
"I don't think she wanted to leave Patrick" Dawn replied
"Well it's simple we've just got to make sure that Glorys does not get her hands on Dawn until after tomorrow night" the other Spike said
"Why tomorrow night" Xander asked
"She only gets one shot at opening the dimensions"
"Why dose she want to open the dimensions, how dose she…"
"Me" the older Dawn interrupted "Well at least the younger version of myself it's my blood that'll open the gates between ALL the dimensions"
"Which is why you should be destroyed?" The General said having regained consciousness
"But she's Human now" Buffy yelled marching over to him
"Human that's a joke" Cordy croaked and pushed her self up into a sitting position. Everybody looked at her she hadn't spoken since they had arrived.
But the General continued on undeterred by Cordy's out burst "Yes. The key has been transformed, given ... breath, life. Yet, this makes no difference. The key is the link. The link must be severed. Such is the will of god. He said
"She doesn't remember anything about being this key you're all looking for. The only thing that she remembers is growing up with a mother, and a sister that love her. What kind of god would demand her life for something that she has no control over?" Buffy demanded
"Cordy easy" Angel soothed as Cordy tried to get up
"No, why are we here, saving the world again. All we ever do. Did was save the world from countless demons, endlessly avert the apocalypse. The one that we failed to avert was not created by any demon or anything, but by us. Who's to say that this is the cause, It's nice to think that something that we can go back and fix if Cara never comes if Arthur never comes. If! If! If! If! If!" Cordy yelled until she ran out of breath and took another gasp and began again "Who's to say that, this won't happen again just differently? Who's to say that another human being won't push that button, turn that key? Why save something that'll destroy it's self any way?" Cordy finished her tirade and fell back against the wall in a gasping coughing heap.
"We don’t, but we have to try" Angel said
"I agree with Cordy, Cara comes banging on our door at the last minute, offering us a chance of life, a life that we'll never know. The moment we stop this we'll cease to exist, I was ready to die okay the last few years have been hell but maybe that's the way things are supposed to be!" Faith said
"Either way we still have to stop Glorys, Remember her? Big evil Hellgod" Anya interrupts animatedly flapping her arms
"Are we or aren't we going to change history" the other Spike said
"I say we try we stop this and maybe things will work out maybe they won't, but either way I say we give it our all" Dawn said then paused to look around "We came all this way we might as well do something"
"Okay what are we going to do" Willow said she wasn’t ready to give up just yet
"Time, Time, Time" Tara yelled and struggled to get free from Willow who was holding her still she finally broke free. Tara ran over to the boarded-up windows and clawed at them. Willow ran after her and tried to pull her away. Tara broke free and ran to another part of the wall, whimpering in agitation. The others watch helplessly as Willow grabs Tara around the torso, pinning her arms to her sides as Tara continues whimpering.
"Tara!" Willow cried and then turned to face Buffy "We have to do something!" the older Dawn begins rummaging in her bag taking out a syringe and a small phial, quickly drawing the contents in and moving to willow's side "She, she can't stay this way."
"Time... time... time..." Tara screeches
Both Willows' move to hold her down as Dawn moves in with the syringe.
"What do you know of the beast?" The General suddenly asked
"Strong. Fast. Hellgod." Buffy replied
"From a dimension of unspeakable torment."
"A demon dimension. I know. She ruled with two other hellgods, right?"
Along with the beast they were a triumvirate of suffering and despair. Ruling with equal vengeance. But the beast's power grew beyond even what they could conceive. As did her lust for pain and misery. They looked upon her, what she had become ... and trembled.
"A god afraid?"
Such was her power. They feared she would attempt to seize their dimension for herself, and decided to strike first. A great battle erupted. In the end, they stood victorious over the beast ... barely. She was cast out. Banished to this lower plane of existence, forced to live and eventually die trapped within the body of a mortal ... a newborn male, created as her prison. That is the beast's ...
only weakness.
"Kill the man ... and the god dies."
"Unfortunately, the identity of the human vessel has never been discovered."
"But we know who the man is it's Ben"
"You have seen a glimpse of the true beast. Her power was too great to be completely contained. She's found a way to escape her mortal prison ... for brief periods, before her energies are exhausted and she's forced back ... into her living cell of meat and bone."
"Well it's simple then kill Ben and our problem is solved" the other Spike said
"But Ben why" Buffy asked shocked
"I don’t know why but that's the way things are"
"So okay how would we go about this" Anya said enthusiastically
"Well we need to get Giles to a hospital and it would be handy to get our hands on that hammer, can't remember the name and we got to keep Dawn safe. Ultimately we need to get back to Sunnydale"
"I've got a plan" the other Spike said turning to the older Willow "Willow do you think that you could create another energy barrier,"
"Yeah I should be able to, why?"
"Remember last year when we raided that Canny compound"
"Yeah" Willow said then was puzzled
"Remember how we trapped the Cannies"
"Oh yeah" Willow gasped remembering
"What's Cannies" Dawn asked
"Cannibals" Spike said
"Euew that's disgusting"
"Could you extend the barrier to include those horses, and then create a second barrier so that we can get away"
"I'll need them all together, on one side"
"We'll create a distraction." Suggested Spike
~Part: 7~
Everyone was ready, the plan was that Buffy, Angel and the other Spike were going to go and create a distraction. While the Willow's cast their spell then everybody else was going to make a break for the horses. Well that was the plan.
"You give us a signal when you're done" Buffy instructed Willow as she led the way outside. A hole appeared in the barrier as Buffy comes out of the building followed by Xander and Anya who were holding The General. The knight that is in charge and a few other knights' come forward, They stop at the edge of the barrier and he holds up a hand to stop the knights.
"Speak." The knight said
"One of my friends was hurt when you attacked us." Buffy said
"And ten of my men are dead. Honorable men." He said and drew his sword "Shall we balance the scale?"
"Will you let someone come and help him or not?" Buffy asked again
"Give quarter to an agent of the beast? What madness would move me to such action?"
"I'm done asking." Buffy snapped and grabbed The General. All the knights' draw their swords and moved in closer every one of them prepared to fight for their General.
***
The Willows sat down and joined hands and began to chant their eyes turning black as they did so "Hear my plea" Willow chanted
"Do my will" Willow replied as the air became oppressive with the magic being created.
Wesley supporting Cordy readied himself to make a run for it. Dawn helped Giles to his feet who was barely conscious and could not stand. "Spike could you help me" Dawn asked and Spike moved to take Giles from her. Dawn had done her best to make sure that Giles was comfortable but she doubted that moving him was wise.
The younger Dawn was standing next to Tara trying to convince her to stand up. The older Dawn went over to Faith to guide her.
The Willows let out breath as the spell was completed "Done" Willow sighed standing and held out her hand to help her older self-up. She moved over to help Tara up as the older Willow went out the door and yelled "BUFFY"
Buffy shoved the General into the Knight and turned and ran for the horses, suddenly it hit her that she had no idea how to ride a horse. The rest of the group was spilling out of the building running for the horses
There was an almighty roar as the knights realized that they had been tricked. The few that had not been trapped began to charge at them. The other Spike launched into battle, followed by Angel and Buffy who was screaming at Dawn to get on a horse.
The older Willow leapt on to horse helping Willow and Tara on. Spike lifted Giles onto a horse and helped the older Dawn and Faith to mount. Anya climbed on to a horse and yanked Xander up. Wesley helped Cordy onto a third horse then mounted also. Spike swept Dawn up and climbed on horse with her.
Buffy took one last look as they all galloped off and returned to the fight. Spike had just finished off his third knight and was beginning to feel much better. He hadn't fed is so long. The last time was when they had raided the Cannies last year and even then it had been tainted with radiation. He attacked the next knight with renewed fervor. Angel on the other hand was not fairing as well he was human and had been weakened by the trials of the last few years.
Buffy punched the knight she was fighting and he went reeling back into the knight behind him. She did not see the one behind her until it was to late and he hit her over the head with his morning star and she slumped to the ground. Spike was on him in an instant as wrestled him from his horse. He leapt on dragging Buffy on also and yelled for Angel to get on.
~Part: 8~ (Hospital receptionists POV)
If it had been any other town a group of people riding horseback into town in the hours before Dawn who would have thought it strange, but this was Sunnydale after all. The six horses drew up outside the hospital and their riders scrambled off. I had been the receptionist for Sunnydale district hospital emergency department for eighteen months, apparently the longest time that a receptionist had ever lasted, the last one died due to unknown throat lacerations, we seem to get a lot of that in this town. So this group come poring in I recognized some of them. They've been in and out ever since I started with one injury or another. I keep thinking that they should just have their own drawer.
I recognize the girl as the one whose mother died a few weeks ago now she's back with a horrific head wound. "Do something" the man carrying her insists and the guy I can't work out whether he's her Father or her Uncle, But it wouldn't surprise me if he was something else, He has a wound to his stomach. A dark haired girl, who looks like a grown up version of the little sister starts shouting out rapid fire, medical terms at the ER doctors as they wheel them both into the trauma rooms.
The rest of the group moves over to sit down in chairs. The whole group looks ragged and tired, half of them look like nothing more than animated skeletons. "May I help you" I inquired
The older of the red haired twins asked me if there is any food, I offered to go get something from the machine for them.
"I don’t have any money"
"It's on me" I said walking over to the vending machine, I then turned and asked "Tea or Coffee"
They all look bewildered until, the older red headed twin asks for coffee.
Half an hour later the snack machine is out of food and I'm all out of quarters. The dark haired girl comes out of the trauma room looking forlorn.
The whole group gathers around her "They're taking them up to surgery, Giles has a good chance of pulling through, the spear missed all the internal organs so there'll be no permanent damage."
"Buffy" the sister asks
The girl takes a deep breath "She's alive, But her skulls been crushed on one side, putting pressure on her brain. They're going to try and relieve the pressure. But there'll most probably be brain damage if she pull's through the surgery"
"But she's Buffy"
"I Don’t think even Buffy can pull this one off" she said and began to cry, one of the blond haired twins tries to comfort her "I cant loose her, not again" she sobs
~Part: 9~ (I have taken Ben's surname to be Glover)
Giles had pulled through the surgery he was insisting that he go and see Buffy but she was still in the OR.
Xander and Anya had been sent back to the shop to find The Dagon Sphere and retrieve the Hammer. It had been decided that Dawn should stay with them at the hospital hiding in plain sight. Plus they were effectively trapped in the hospital until sunset anyway.
She sat on a horrible plastic chair in the small waiting room out side the OR. Waiting, waiting for what she wasn't sure. She looked around the room Willow was siting across from her absently stroking Tara's hair as she slept with her head in Willow's lap.
Faith was curled up asleep in the corner next to Wesley who was scribbling in his notebook. Angel had gone with Cordy when the doctors had insisted that they take a look at her after her collapse.
Spike got up again and resumed his pacing. "Will you sit down" the other Spike snapped at him but Spike just glared at him. The other Spike was effectively trapped in his seat he had Willow asleep on one shoulder and the older Dawn on the other he had his arms around them both.
Dawn looked up at her older self sleeping peacefully on Spike's shoulder, "what did she mean by she couldn't loose Buffy again" she asked the other Spike.
Her question halted Spikes pacing and he took the seat next to her "Yeah what did she mean"
"Originally Buffy gave her life to close the dimensions,"
"Oh!"
"She did that for me" Dawn gasped
"Who looked after me, I mean" she paused and then looked down at her hands trying not to cry again
"Giles did for a while but he left, so then I took over"
"Why did Giles leave"
"I don’t know, He just said that he couldn't stay in Sunnydale any more, To many memory's I suppose. Anyway I promised Buffy that I'd look after you"
"Yeah! spoilt you rotten" Willow mumbled sleepily
"Did not" Dawn responded petulantly, she had been pretending to sleep
"When did you loose your chip" Willow asked from across the small room
"The day the world ended" the older Spike replied,
"Makes sense, the day I get this chip out is the day I can't use it"
"How"
"Massive EMP, screwed anything with a circuit"
"So the only way to get this thing out is to stand next to an A-bomb"
"A few miles away if you wish to survive, though survival is highly over rated" The older Willow added
"Miss Summers" a doctor asked walking slowly into the room. Dawn got to her feet quickly followed by her older self.
"How is she" Dawn inquired
"We managed to repair the damaged to her skull and elevate some of the pressure on her brain, we really wont know anything until the swelling goes down. At the moment she's comatose and she has a tube down her throat to help her breath. If she pull's through the next twenty-four hours she's in with a chance"
"May we see her"
"Only for a few minuets"
The older Dawn hung back as Dawn went in with Spike and Willow "Tell me doctor to doctor, what's her prognosis"
"Honestly not good, It's a miracle that she's even still alive, If she pulls through and comes out of the coma, you're looking at partial if not total paralysis and definite brain damage. As I say we'll be keeping a close eye on her for the next twenty-four hours"
"Thank you" Dawn said and went in.
***
"When are we getting out of here" Cordy asked restlessly grabbing at the IV in her arm
"Soon just let the doctors take a look at you" Angel insisted taking her hand before she can grab at the IV
"I'm dying what is there to look at, there only going to ask awkward questions. Like how I got radiation sickness in the middle of Sunnydale"
"Just stay there while I go and try and find out what's going on"
"Yeah find out how Buffy is" Cordy muttered under her breath
"Yes I want to see how she is doing"
"Go then" Cordy snapped turning away
"Cordy, don’t be like that"
"Like what," she responded defensively
"Don't worry I'm not going to fall head over heals for her again, It's you I'm head over heals with, Okay!" Angel said taking her into his arms, "I'd just like to see how she is, She is the only active slayer at the moment"
"Yeah and I take it that breaking Faith out is not an option" Cordy said as she pushed her self out of his arms.
***
"Doctor" Angel asked as he stopped a man in scrubs, and looked at his name tag "Glover"
"Yes" he replied
"I was wondering if you could find out how, my friend Buffy Summers is doing she's having an operation"
"Buffy's here"
"Yes there was an accident, How do you know Buffy"
"I helped with her mother" he replied sadly
"Oh!"
"So what's your relation to Buffy"
"Old friend"
"I'll go and see what I can find out for you" he said "better than that I'll take you to the OR my self"
"I can't I've got to stay my wife is over there" He said nodding in the direction of the room
"I'll go and find out for you personally and be straight back"
"Oh and could you see what's going on we'd really like to get out of here"
"Sure"
***
The doors to the elevator close and Doctor Benjamin Glover punches the button that will take him to the surgical floor. He looks at his reflection in the wall of elevator, pales and rubs his forehead with his hand "No, No, Not now, No, No, No, No," he yells pounding the wall where his reflection is
"Yes" Glorys yells slapping the wall then looks disdainfully down at the scrubs that are to big for her "This really does nothing for my figure" she said as the doors open with a ping
~Part: 10~
Title: Apocalyptic Reflections
Author: VampieGirl
E-Mail: VampieGirl_1745@yahoo.com
Distribution: Anywhere and everywhere Just keep me attached
Content: Major Angst fest
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Spiral, The Gift
Summary: After the apocalypse the surviving members of the Slayerettes are given a chance at life
Disclaimer: All surviving members of the Slayerettes do not belong to me Robert Swindles "Brother In The Land" belongs to Puffin Books.
Authors notes: Time line wise it’s set way in the future. Warning major angst ahead and I mean it not for the easily depressed. I wrote this story after I read Robert Swindles "Brother In The Land". I strongly recommend that you read his book.
Feed back: Yes! Yes! Feed me
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Part 10
"Well what do you know" Glorys said as she left the elevator and looks around.
She moved down towards The ICU doors and looked in she sees Dawn crying in the arms of an older version of her self, the older version looked up straight at her and tenses.
Glorys marched forward as the older Dawn began to move backwards taking her younger self with her she turned and then began to run. But before Glorys can follow the Spikes came out of the waiting room.
"What you're multiplying" she said puzzled looking at the two
"Na just calling in the reinforcements" one Spike said and they both launched at Glorys but she back handed one and he went flying into the other they both go flying through the ICU Doors.
The nurse hurriedly jabbed at the emergency button alerting security. The nurse moved to stand in Glorys's way trying to protect her patients. Glorys just picked the nurse up throwing her aside sending her colliding into an empty bed.
Glorys steps over the two fallen vampires and strode forward to grab Dawn she stopped and looked at them the elder protecting the younger
"Nobody said that there were two keys"
Behind her in the doorway both Willow stand chanting something in Latin, Glorys found her self-unable to move. This give the Spikes enough time to get up and rush at her again.
Glorys managed to break free of the spell holding her and slam them back into the wall. The Willow's continue chanting blocking her exit as the Spikes continue to rush at her and get thrown back. Dawn pushes her younger self under Buffy's bed; she flings her self across the bed to protect Buffy as a scalp flies at them.
Objects fly around the room. The Willows hurl them at Glorys and she diverts them. "This is getting boring" Glorys snaps as She diverts an IV stand, sending it flying deep into the wall.
As Glorys advances on Dawn protecting Buffy. "Never mind I only need one" said as she picked up the bed and fliped it to reveal a cowering Dawn. She bends down scooping her up Glorys has to dodge another barrage of flying equipment.
Spike launches at Glorys trying to wrestle Dawn from her but only gets thrown back again. She punches a hole through the wall and leap's out. Spike moves to fallow but she has already run off into the night.
***
The Willow's stop their chanting and the room goes quiet save for the beeping of the monitors. The nurse crawls out from under her desk and begins to check the injured patients.
Dawn was crouched on the floor next to Buffy desperately trying to reconnect the Respirator to the tube and stop the erratic beeping of the machine.
Willow dashes over to her Spike and began to magically heal his wounds. Wesley and faith come in to see what all the commotion was and stand stunned looking at the wrecked ICU.
"Dawn" Faith calls blindly scanning the room
Dawn doesn't respond she is to busy trying to resuscitate Buffy. The security Guards arrive along with a group of doctors that swarm in. Pulling them out of the room to leave the doctors to work on the injured. Dawn refuses to leave Buffy's side yelling at the doctors and guards that she's a Doctor and should be aloud to help her sister. The other Spike grabs her and drag's her out of the room.
"Dawn! Dawn listen to me" Spike insists holding her in front of him, "We can still fix this"
"Why, Buffy's still dead"
"We still have to do this or the world will end tonight"
"Okay" Dawn sniffed stealing her self "Okay lets do this, Wesley go get Angel and Cordy and we'll all go to the magic shop and see if Anya and Xander have made any progress. Willow can you see if we can get Giles out of here without them knowing he's missing"
"Uh Glamour I can do that" the younger Willow said