Things Unseen

By Gidgetgirl

Chapter Six

Spike had Buffy’s head cradled in his lap, and Wes held a limp Anni, both of them trying to awaken their girls. Willow took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the faint hum of magic in the room. She felt them, all of them, Potentials across the world, fallen into the same unconscious state that had claimed Anni and Buffy.

Jordy took Anni’s hand in his without realizing he was doing it.

Oz looked back and forth between his cousin and Willow, welcoming himself back into the land of the weird. It was hard for him to believe that he had ever been gone.

Anni looked around. The air was crisp and cold. Her breath was visible in the air, and she could hear the sound of her heart beating. Suddenly, she could hear other hearts beating, some frantically, some more slowly.

She saw the outline of two figures standing in the sky, smiling down at her: one male, one female.

A dark cloud hovered above in the sky. It was evil. This she knew.

For the second time in her life, she felt the sensation of being lifted into the air by an ancient power, her hair whipping behind her in a non-existent wind.

She looked down and saw Buffy glowing brightly, her blonde hair highlighted by a pure white light.

Faith stood next to Buffy, intertwined with the blonde girl by the same light that ran through Buffy’s veins.

Behind them stood others, dozens of girls, some barely toddlers, some almost women. Anni heard each of their hearts beating, and as the two people standing in the sky disappeared, she felt the heartbeats converge to a single rhythm.

Then she saw the baby.

While Lindsey tried to revive Faith, Hopie threw what amounted to a very large magical temper tantrum.

“Your neat friend was supposed to protect Bella!” she said, stomping her feet. Angel, Cordelia, and Connor came running into the room.

“What happened?” Angel asked.

Lindsey, staring down at Faith, his hand gently rubbing the back of her neck, didn’t respond.

Hopie turned stormy eyes to her daddy. “Mr. D. promised everything would be okay, but then he let the bad man hurt them and it feels icky and now I gotta go get them back, and I don’t want to go because the bad thing is there.” Hopie whimpered the last part.

“Go where, baby?” Connor asked, his voice soft and gentle.

Hopie rolled her eyes as if the answer should be obvious. “In there,” she replied, gesturing at Faith.

Willow felt Hopie’s presence immediately, and she wanted to call out to the little girl, knowing the danger of entering whatever kind of trance the Potentials were in, but Hopie’s grumpy refusal to listen came through to Willow loud and clear.

Sometimes, there was no reasoning with a four year old.

“Go where?” Cordelia asked, echoing Connor’s question. Her hand went unthinkingly to the ring she wore around her neck. Motherhood had come to her naturally. She wasn’t sure she would be able to say the same thing about marriage.

Hopie closed her eyes and started humming.

When Anni saw Hopie, she smiled. Hopie waved at her and then stuck out her lower lip.

“Nobody invited me,” she said. “But I came anyway.”

Anni tried to speak, but couldn’t. Hopie took a deep breath.

Travers’ eyes opened widely as the test tubes containing blood samples began to explode.

Down the hall, the Potentials awoke with a start.

“What was that?” Chance asked, her voice shaking.

“A slayer dream,” Nicolaa replied softly. “We just had our first slayer dream.”

“But we aren’t slayers,” Joss pointed out reasonably. “Not yet.”

Nic shrugged delicately. “Do you have a better explanation?” she asked Joscelyn calmly. Joss shook her head.

Chance wrapped her arms around her knees. “It was kinda cool,” she said impishly. “Do you think we could do it again?”

From the corner, they heard Colette whimper softly. They had forgotten she was even in the room.

Colette wanted nothing more in life than to be invisible. If they couldn’t see you, they couldn’t hurt you. She mimicked Chance, pulling her knees close to her body.

“Don’t worry, Colette,” Chance said, her little voice wavering only a little. For the Potentials, there was always something, or rather someone, to worry about. Without saying anything else, the tiny blonde Potential stood up, walked over to Colette, and put her arm around the older girl, climbing unabashedly into her lap. Colette, desperate for something to hold onto, clung to the little girl.

Chance’s eyes widened. “Maddy and Kendall,” she said. “Where are they?”

“Well,” Maddy said, standing up and blinking several times, “that kicked ass.” She turned to Kendall. “Don’t you think?”

Kendall rose to her feet. After a moment, she nodded. “I could feel the power,” she said. “It was a lot of power. Did you see the little girl?”

Maddy nodded. “And there was a blonde chic who looked a little bit like Chance only a lot older and another girl with darker hair next to her.”

“Slayers,” Kendall said, sure of it. “Buffy and Faith.”

Neither of the girls mentioned Anni. They hadn’t seen her.

Buffy woke in Spike’s arms abruptly. “Slayer dream,” she said, noticing that everyone was looking at her. “A dark cloud. Lots of girls. It sort of felt like Colorado.”

Oz looked at her, just barely cocking one eyebrow. “Colorado?” he asked, a little skeptical.

“In a cryptic, non-snowy kinda way,” Buffy replied defensively. She concentrated on remembering the rest of the dream. “Hopie was there at the end.”

Willow opened her eyes and looked toward Wes. He was holding a still unconscious Anni. “I don’t understand,” she said. “Why didn’t she wake up?” Willow could feel that all of the other Potentials had woken up. Why was Anni still asleep?

Wes looked down at his sister, worry clearly written across his face.

“Damn you, Anni,” he said. “Wake up.”

Anni felt the others leaving, but she couldn’t make herself go. She looked at the baby.

“He’s scared,” Hopie said sadly. “So scared, Bella. We’ll help him. Our neat friends can help.” Hopie was willing to give Mr. D. another shot.

“He’s so small,” Anni whispered, her voice echoing through the non-space.

“He’s not supposed to be here,” Hopie said. “They took him.”

“Why?” Anni asked, not knowing why she expected a four year old to have the answer.

“I think they wanted to know if he was like you guys,” Hopie said. “Come on, Bella, time to go bye bye now.”

Anni’s eyes opened finally, and she blushed when she realized she was in her brother’s arms in the middle of the Bronze. Jordy, blushing himself, dropped her hand when he realized how close he was to her, with her brother standing right there.

“Are you okay?” Wes asked. Anni nodded.

“He’s scared,” she said, her voice hoarse.

“Who?” Buffy asked.

“The baby,” Anni replied.

Buffy wrinkled her forehead in thought. “I never saw a baby,” she said. “I saw girls, dozens of girls, but I didn’t see a baby.” Buffy thought a moment longer. “And I didn’t see you.”

Lindsey let out a long held breath when Faith woke up. A few moments later, Hopie opened her eyes.

“Am I the only one who’s lost here?” Cordelia asked.

Connor and Angel didn’t reply.

“What?” Cordelia said a bit crossly. “You guys can play tea party, but you can’t admit you don’t have a clue what’s going on?”

Connor and Angel mumbled replies.

“Weird dream,” Faith said. “Something’s up. Hopie, baby, why were you there?” The Champion, as always, had her mind on her charge.

“To make sure it let you go,” the little girl replied, bending down to tie her shoe.

“The dark mist,” Faith guessed. Hopie nodded, biting her bottom lip as she slowly tried to tie her shoe.

“Don’t forget,” Connor told her helpfully. “Bunny ears.”

The others looked at him. “It helps her remember how,” Connor said, shrugging.

Faith crouched down to Hopie’s level. “Do you know what’s going on?” she asked.

Hopie shrugged. “The baby is sad,” she said.

“Aren’t you a little young to be cryptic?” Angel asked.

Lindsey, realizing something, interrupted. “I don’t think she’s being cryptic,” he said. “She’s talking about Lilah’s baby.”

Everyone stared at him, shocked.

He explained, as best he could. Hopie, bored, started talking into thin air.

“Adults are boring,” she commented, still trying to tie her shoe. “And this is hard.” The adults, fully engrossed in the conversation, didn’t even notice as something, or someone, invisible tied Hopie’s shoe for her.

“Thanks,” Hopie said.

Lindsey finished his explanation.

“Who would have stolen a baby like that?” Faith asked, her hand unconsciously going to her stomach. Cordelia’s did the same.

The question went unanswered.

Lilah Morgan had the answer, and she wasn’t happy with what she had learned. The partner she was talking to gave her a look of false pity.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but the partners don’t feel the potential gain of one child balances the potential loss of our truce with the Watcher’s Council. You may, of course, have the rest of the day off should you so choose.”

Lilah gritted her teeth. Those British bastards, she thought.

Trying to maintain her dignity, she stuffed her belongings in her brief case and headed, almost unknowingly, toward the Hyperion Hotel.

Continue