Reset

By PSUBrat

Power

Warren stretched and yawned. The girl next to him whimpered a little and rolled over. He got out of bed, trying not to disturb her sleep, and made his way to the kitchen to make them some breakfast. Today was the day; he could feel it. For the past two weeks, he had felt the power coursing through him, making him stronger, making him powerful. It was all he could do to keep himself from finding Buffy and using that power against her; torturing her. The girl in the bedroom had kept him in control. Finding her was the best thing that ever happened to him. Wait. That would be second best thing. Or maybe it was even third. He couldn't decide because the first best thing hadn't happened yet. But it was going to. Very soon.

He busied himself around the kitchen. The coffee pot was gurgling and the toaster was toasting. He wasn't much of a chef, but eggs, coffee and toast he could do. He smiled to himself as he buttered the toast and thought, "There's nothing in the world that can ruin this day." He looked up from the toast to grab a couple of plates and she was standing there. Her hair was tousled but she looked amazing. "Good morning, beautiful," Warren said with a grin.

"What time is it?" she asked trying to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Time for the Slayer and her friends to die," he said nonchalantly.

"Warren," she said with a sigh, "We've been through this. We can't rush things and we don't want to play our hand before we have to." She looked at him and she could tell that he was getting angry with her again. His eyes were turning red and the toast in his hands had gone up in flames. She quickly grabbed a towel and put the fire out, checking to make sure that he wasn't burning too. His powers were still growing.

"I thought you wanted this as much as I did?" he growled at her.

"I-I do," she stammered, "but we have to do it right. I don't want anything to go wrong because if it does, if she finds out before we can do anything, it could get bad for us. Really, really bad."

He leaned his back on the counter, folded his arms across his chest and stared at her. She looked down at her feet and pulled her robe tighter around herself. She felt like he was looking right into her. Most of the time that was exhilarating but then other times, like the one right now, it was disturbing. Sensing her thoughts, he walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace. She could feel him relax in her arms. "I'm sorry," he started, "I just want to kill the bitch. Now."

"I know you do. So do I, but we have to go over the plan first. So," she said trying to placate him, "why don't we do that now and see what we can do about making her dead sooner?"

Warren pulled back and looked at her. Grinning from ear to ear he said, "That's more like it."

***

Some time later that day, Willow sat deep in thought while waiting for Tara at the student lounge on campus. Despite how wonderful the last three weeks with Tara had been, she was starting to feel guilty about the wish. She also felt guilty about keeping it from her friends. Everyday she felt like she was living a lie. The things she had done before making the wish haunted her memory. She remembered everything. Including how she had killed Warren and tried to hurt her friends. Even worse was that she had done it without any kind of remorse. She shivered a little. Her thoughts then turned to the conversation she'd had with Anya almost two weeks ago at the Magic Box:

"Yes, Willow. I granted your wish. That's what I do. It's my job," Anya had said.

"But, that means that all of this," Willow said gesturing around the store, "isn't real. It's all a lie."

"No. It's all real. Just on a different plane of reality. There are many alternate universes, each one just as real as the next. Either way though, Xander hates me." She had said this with such sadness, that Willow couldn't even look her in the eye.

"I'm sorry Anya. I guess I've messed things up for everyone, even before the wish. I guess I can't wish it back, huh?"

"No. All sales are final," she had said, trying to make a joke of it.

"Oh! I know! We could destroy your center of power! That would take us back and make you human again! Just like before!"

"Willow. Think about what you're saying."

"What?" Slowly the gravity of the situation hit her and she deflated, "Oh. Right…"

"Willow, you made a wish and a good one too. Don't second guess yourself."

Suddenly the sound of glass breaking snapped her out of her thoughts and back to the present. Someone had dropped their Snapple bottle next to her and the crash it made had startled her. She looked around the lounge and checked her watch. "Tara should be here soon," she thought. The student who had dropped the Snapple was cleaning it up now. Willow, sat back in her chair and tried to relax by watching the clean up show but her feeling of guilt wouldn't stop nagging her. She closed her eyes and sighed. "You've gotta snap out of this," she said to herself, "Which world do you want to live in? One where Tara's dead and you went all black magic Willowy or one where you have a second chance to make things right?"

"Willow?" a familiar voice asked from in front of her.

Slowly Willow opened her eyes. Standing in front of her was Amy.

***

Warren stood across the street from Buffy's house, hiding in the afternoon shadows. Buffy's little sister had just gone inside. That meant the only one still missing from the equation was Xander. Warren checked his watch again. Xander's shift was over half an hour ago. He should be there by now.

A few moments later, a car pulled into the driveway. Good. It was Xander. Finally.

Warren's pocket began to vibrate. He took out his cell phone. "Yeah?"

"I've got them," the voice on the other end said.

"Good," he said smiling wickedly.

He pushed the end button on his cell and started to cross the street.

***

Xander let himself in. Buffy and Dawn were waiting for him in the living room. Dawn was watching TV and absently twirling a strand of hair around her finger while Buffy sat in the chair with a look of consternation on her face. Dawn greeted him with a small smile and went back to her show. Buffy just sat there, looking lost in thought. Something was up. She had called at the site earlier, and asked if he could come by for a Scooby meeting as soon as he could. He had told her he couldn't get to her place until after his shift was over. She had sounded fine with that. Now, being here in front of her, he could tell that something was bothering her.

"Hey," she said distracted with her thoughts, "thanks for coming. Willow and Tara should be here soon."

"Buff," Xander said after taking a seat on the couch, "I know something is bothering you. Is your spidey sense tingling?"

She'd had this feeling of dread all day. At first she had thought that it was just her not wanting to go to work, but the feeling had stayed with her all day, intensifying. Something was definitely off. "I don't know what's wrong…just something inside of me saying to be alert."

"Danger Will Robinson, Danger," joked Xander. Buffy hadn't even smiled at that one and Dawn wasn't paying attention. "Okay. Me shut up now."

"Dawn," Buffy said looking at her sister, "I want you to get your stuff. I'm going to drop you off at Clem's."

"Don't you mean Spike's?" Dawn stated emphatically, enough so that even Xander winced.

Buffy sighed. She didn't want to fight with Dawn again. That's all they seemed to do since that day in the crypt where she had blurted out her secret. They fought about everything again. It was like taking two giant steps back in their relationship. Yes, Dawn had been understanding and supportive about Buffy's pain, but she also held her responsible for the 'Spike beatings', and for him leaving town.

"Dawn," Xander said harshly, putting his arm around the young girl, "I know you like Spike, but Spike has done some…pretty awful things. Especially, to your sister…That whole bad Vampire thing he has going on..."

"Spike is not bad!" Dawn shouted, as she leapt off the couch. Before Xander could say any more, she blurted out, "I know what he did to Buffy!"

Xander's eyes widened and he looked sharply over at Buffy. She nodded to him and turned her head. He looked back over at Dawn who was standing there daring him with her body language, to say anything more about Spike.

Before things could get out of hand, there was a knock at the door.

***

Warren had just crossed the street and was making his way to the Summers' home when he saw a familiar face hurriedly walk up the sidewalk to the house. He slipped behind a tree to watch. A look of rage crossed his face. She wasn't supposed to be here. Not now. She wasn't part of the plan! "Calm down," he said to himself, "you might be able to work this to your advantage."

He fished his cell phone out of his pocket again. After punching in the right numbers, he pressed send and waited for his accomplice to answer. "Come on. Come on," he shouted into the phone, "Pick up!!!"

"Hello?"

"It's me. We've got another one for dinner. Set another place at the table."

He snapped his cell shut. His eyes followed the girl as she knocked on the door. Yeah, he was sure he could modify his original plans. No problem.

***

"Anya? What are you doing here?" Dawn asked as she opened the door.

"Is Buffy here?" Anya was nervous about talking to Buffy, and it showed. She was biting the side of her lip and looking extremely anxious. The fact that Xander's car was in the driveway wasn't helping, but this was something she needed to do. She had to.

Dawn glanced over at Buffy who was standing now. Buffy nodded at Dawn to let the demon in. "Uhm. Yeah. She's in the living room."

Anya walked into the living room and felt Xander's eyes on her. "Be strong," she kept telling herself, "You're here to warn them. All of them."

Xander sat on the couch staring at Anya with disgust. Buffy folded her arms across her chest and waited for an explanation.

"Buffy, I know you'd rather I wasn't here, but I had to come…to warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

Xander spoke before Anya could say another word. "Tact, Anya. Remember we used to talk about that and how you had none of it," he said hurtfully.

Anya looked down at her feet still biting the side of her lip.

"Xander," Buffy said admonishingly, "let her speak."

She was grateful that Buffy had told him to stop. This was hard enough as it was. "Buffy. I'm sorry. I know what I did with Spike was wrong. But that's not why I'm here."

"Why are you here An? To throw it in my face some more that we can't be together? To show off your demonly ways? What?" Xander demanded.

"Xander, I'm not here to talk to you. You've made it perfectly clear that we have nothing to talk about." Looking at Buffy, she continued, "Something bad is about to happen. I can feel it."

"I can feel it too," Buffy almost whispered.

"It's very strong and very powerful; and it's directed at you and at everyone you love." Anya's eyes glanced at Xander making sure he knew that she was including him in this warning. "It's against the rules, me coming here, but I couldn't just do nothing and see you all hurt. I couldn't stand it if…"

As Xander started to say something, there was an explosion, knocking them all to the ground. The door flew off its hinges and the front of the house disappeared in an avalanche of wood and cement. The four of them scrambled to get up, wondering what had just happened. A figure in the front yard caught their attention.

"Whoops. I guess I don't know my own strength," Warren said laughing.

Buffy flew at him hoping to catch him off guard. He raised his hand up and she found herself unable to move. She was frozen; powerless.

Horror crept over the other Scoobies as they realized they were powerless against him as well. Warren turned to look at them. He mumbled something to himself and clapped his hands together.

Everyone disappeared.

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