Disclaimer:
Me:I don't own Buffy...then again, does anyone anymore? Oh, wow...now I'm really sad *tear* **sob**
Spike: Freak.
Me: Shut up and kiss me....

Out of the Hellmouth...
Chapter One: And Into Heaven.....or Hell

Smoke blew out of Dawn Summers' lips and she took a drag from her cigarette. "I just don't get how you can be a Christian. No offence, by biblical standards, I'm pretty sure you're damned."

"That's the point! You're fully human; you should believe it, and you hate it. I'm not supposed to, and I think it's beautiful," he replied, smiling at her.

"I'm not fully human: I’m a big blob of energy! I'd like to be normal, even if I was just the Slayer's Sister...you?" she asked, taking another drag.

"I've never been the Slayer's sister..."

"You know what I mean."

"I like being abnormal just fine."

"Fine. Then we could be the normal girl and the ex-psychopath, raised-in-a-hell-dimension, child-of-two-vamps, Jesus freak!"

"And thus the list of my wonderful qualities continues to grow," said Connor with a sly smiled before blowing the smoke out of his mouth. Dawn hit him playfully before sinking into the couch in her room, leaving him alone on the bed.

"And there's nothing wrong with my being a Christian," Connor called after her in exasperation.

"Just admit it's because you were raise by a God crazed maniac and I'll let it go!" she replied as she turned around to face him again.

"It's pure coincidence, now leave me alone," he replied with a smirk before flopping back down on her bed, head lolling to one side.

"Never!" she exclaimed, laughing.

"Okay, then at least keep me company..." he invited, lifting himself back up and wagging his eyebrows at her in a psuedo-seductive matter.

"You're a sleaze-ball."

"Please???" he begged in a baby voice.

"I love how adult our relationship is," she said sarcastically before sitting down on the bed next to him, "What happened to being a Christian, anyway?"

"I'm Christian Dawn," he began, placing his head in her lap, "...I'm not a Priest!"

"I'm not ready, Connor!" she said, as she got back up, leaving his head to fall on the matress, "You'd think you'd be a little more cautious, the first and only time you had sex nearly brought about the end of the world!"

"Ancient history," he replied dismissively as he rubbed his head, thankfull they had been on the bed and not the floor, "Ow..."

"Last year is ancient history???"

"OW!"

"You're an idiot...why would I want to lose my virginity to an idiot?"

"Because I love you?"

"Try again."

"Oh, c'mon!"

"No!!!" she exclaimed, sitting back down. After a moment she sighed and turned to him, "Look...would you settle for a PG13 relationship?"

"Huh?" asked Connor. Dawn pulled up her shirt and bra, and then pulled them back down to reveal her grinning face.

" You cock tease!" moaned Connor before pulling her to him playfully and making her giggle and squeal before they started kissing pasionately.

"Hem hem." The teenagers turned to find Spike standing in the doorway.

"Hey Spike..."

"What exactly are you two hormone baskets doing?" he asked in his typical British drawl.

"Talking about Jesus?" Spike raised his eyebrows disbelievingly.

"And smoking and some slight heavy petting," said Dawn finally.

"Make sure you hide boyfriend here good if anyone comes in here. If I get in trouble for knowing about this with someone--"

"And by someone you mean Buffy," said Dawn.

"Right."

"We'll be careful," said Connor.

"Okay, then."
________________________________________

It was about 2 AM when Spike walked in on the two shirtless. After shielding his eyes he said four small words: "Run Junior, Daddy's coming."

"Connor?!?!" bellowed Angel as he came up the stairs.

"Shit!" both teenagers exclaimed at the same time. Dawn pushed Connor into her closet before sitting on her bed casually.

Angel burst through the door to find Dawn alone, reading a magazine: "Hey Angel...what's up?"

"Y'know, it'd be so much better for both of you if you came out now," he said, obviously not talking to Dawn.

"What are you--?" Angel opened the closet to reveal Connor, failing miserably at trying to get his shirt on.

"Oh," said Connor when he finally pulled his shirt, which was inside out and obviously Dawn's, on, "Hey Dad..."

"Get in the car, Connor."

"You drove here? What kind of creature-of-the-night are you?"

"Get in the car, Connor!"

"I'll be in the car..." he said quickly before running down the steps and out the door of the Scoobies' house.

"Dawn," said Angel, turning back to the brunette teen, "listen, I love my son, but--"

"So do I," she replied simply, silencing Angel's lecture.

"Okay then."
________________________________________

"So, what's our problem this week?" asked Buffy as she sat on the couch in Angel's office.

"Besides Dead Boy Junior's violation of Dawnie?" asked Xander in an annoyed voice, earning and smack on the shoulder from Anya.

"Xander! They're in love, just let them be," said Willow, rolling her eyes at her over protective friend.

"No one you're in love with at eighteen is right for you!" exclaimed Xander.

"Hey!" protested Cordelia before realizing he had a point.

"Well, we could talk about the ever so slightly more important threats to existence," began Wesley, "Or we can continue this rousing discussion--"

"Okay; they're all wrong for each other."

"I'm gonna agree with the whelp on this one."
Wesley sighed and rolled his eyes before giving a pointed look to Giles which clearly stated Americans!

Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs not to me.

Out of the Hellmouth...
Chapter Three: And Into another Mess?

Connor sat in his room, slowly taking a drag from his cigerette. "You know I don't like that Connor," said Angel, looming in the doorway.

"Know? It's half the reason why I do it in the first place...The other half being an addictive personality brought on by severe childhood trauma..." he answered casually before putting the cigerette out on his hand only to have it blister over imeadiantly.

"Funny," retorted Angel sarcastically before sitting down next to his son on the bed, "You are away you're grounded."

"How can you ground someone who's legally an adult?"

"Because you live in my house and you don't act like an adult," answered Angel somewhere between angry and amused.

"Compinsation for a lost youth," Connor said simply with a hint of bitterness in his voice before flicking the butt out the window.

Angel walked up next to him and looked down at the street below.

"They'll never know, will they?" asked Connor almost sadly.

"Who?"

"All those people, they'll never know how much danger they're in or how much we risk and loose to keep them out of it," he said, staring at those five stories down.

"No...they probably won't. But that's what makes it worth doing," said Angel, taking Connor by his sholders, "because we're giving them the gift of innocence."

"Innocence is trivial and fleeting."

"You say that because you've never experienced it," said Angel with a sad sigh.

"Exactly!" responded Connor, anger rising, "How am I supposed to protect the innocent when I don't know what innocence is?!?! How am I supposed to be good enough for Dawn? I can't be the fun, normal teenage guy she wants!"

"Dawn isn't normal either, Connor. She's four and eighteen at the same time and a big blob of energy."

"But she wants normal, Dad!"

"What are you talking about?"

"She wants normal! She wants things to be good and decient and not conected to magick for once! And you know what; she diserves it," he said sadly, "Because she is normal now, the key stuff is in the past and she has a chance to be just a College student with a nice boyfriend and a weird sister...but I can't give her that...I'm never going to be normal."

Angel sighed before pulling Connor back to the bed and stroking his hair. "No...you'll never be normal. Neither will Dawn. We're all special, even when we don't want to be. It's a blessing and a curse, but it's our destiny. Nobody can give Dawn a normal life, not even a human, innocent boy. You might not be able to give her a normal life Con...but you can give her a happy one."

"What if I can't?" he asked, desparing, "I can hardly will myself to be happy. I'm only really happy with her."

"And she's happy with you, you don't have to do anything, son. Who you are makes her happy all on its own.

"I hope so...God, I hope so."


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"But how is that even possible?" asked Buffy worriedly as they sat in the conference room, Wesley and Giles debriefing them.

"Well that's what we're trying to figure out, I'm afraid," started Giles, "How the humans and the demons managed to mate is still unknown. All that is known is that the hybrids being produced are able to walk among us in night and daylight...and they're still pure evil."

"Wow...we're fucked."

"Dawn!" exclaimed Buffy.

"No...Little Bit's gotta point," said Spike, "What exactly are these little psuedo demons planing?"

"It's not clear yet. But it can't be good...all that's known is they want something...someone."

"Hey guys," said Connor as he came through the door, "What's up?"

"Not much..." replied Dawn with a sigh, "Just impending doom..."

"So...nothing too out of the ordinary?" asked Connor with a sly smile before sitting next to Dawn.

"Yes, yes: all apocolyptic humor aside, this is actually a problem," said Weasley, obviously aggravated at how much they were getting off topic.

"We know it is sweety," replied Fred in a condescending tone.

"Look Wes, we've got it: big, bad beasties that look like people. Can we get on the whole 'killing them/saving the world' thing?" asked Buffy.

"Right," started Giles, "Well...that's sort of the problem. We're not sure what we can do to defeat them."

"So then, we do the norm: patrol, kill and/or capture, figure out what we can."

"Precisely.


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"A cemetary...how original for us," said Xander sarcastically as he held Anya to him.

"No mocking old school there, Dude," replied Faith, "It's one of the more useful techniques."

"I know you like Connor, Dawn, but--"

"Love," Dawn interupted her sister as they whispered so the others couldn't hear, "I love Connor."

"Okay...but--"

"Buffy, c'mon, you're dating Spike!" Dawn snapped impatiently, "And Connor's...Demon!"

"Connor's a demon?" asked Buffy, confused, before she saw the slimy green thing behind her. "Oh Shit..."

Suddenly the demons were everywhere and the Scoobies/Fang Gang were fighting at full force. In the midst of the chaos and fighting Buffy managed to see a stake coming towards Spike and did the only thing she could think of, push him out of the way.

Spike stood up, brushed off his coat, and quickly beheaded the demon, "Thanks Love," he said turning around to Buffy.

The blonde slayer lay on the ground, unmoving, the wooden weapon shoved into her stomach, "Buffy?!?"

No answer...blood began to seap into the ground.

Disclaimer: Whedon's God, I'm just having fun.

Out of the Hellmouth...
Chapter Five: And Into Complicated Relationships

Buffy lay quietly in the hospital wing of Wolfram and Hart. Her skin was abnormally pale and her body was still, but she was breathing, none the less. An equally pale hand held her's tightly. "God Slayer," said as light, accented voice softly, "What were you thinking?"

"How is she?" asked Dawn, as she walked into the room. Spike hadn't left Buffy's side since they had brought her in. She had gotten stitches, but she'd lost a lot of blood and hadn't woken up yet.

"Better...I think. They say she'll wake up soon, anyway," Spike replied, his eyes never leaving Buffy for a second.

"Well, that's good," Dawn sat down next to him, "Spike, you can't blame yourself for this. You just can't."

"It should've been me."

"Yeah, maybe it should have. Except then you'd be a pile of dust, Buffy'd be a reck, and everything would be even more screwed up. The way things turned out wasn't bad, so why worry about what could've been."

"Because what could've been was Buffy's death!" exclaimed Spike, his voice losing its calm, "I put her in danger! That's something I promised myself I'd never do again."

"You put her in danger?" asked Dawn incredulously, "Spike...she's Buffy...danger follows her everywhere she goes. She put you in danger: you could've died."

"I'm not the one who matters in this equation..."

"NO!" exclaimed Dawn when she realized what he was thinking, "No, no, no. No, Spike you are not leaving my sister."

"Little Bit--"

"NO! You cannot, will not pull an Angel after everything you two went through to be together. I won't allow it!"

"You won't allow it?" this time it was Spike's turn to ask incredulously.

"That's right! I won't allow it. You are not going to hurt my sister again!"

"You're right I'm not. That's why I'm going," he said simply, standing up.

"But she needs you," Dawn said in a smaller voice, "she diserves you."

"No one diserves me."


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"You're breaking up with me because Spike left?" asked Connor.

"I'm not breaking up with you Baby, I just want to take a break."

"Okay...you're taking a break with me because Spike left?"

"No," said Dawn, trying to figure out how to explain, "Well...sort of. It's just: Buffy and Spike had this huge complicated relationship they had to work so hard for, I still have hope they'll end up together...I know they will. But you and me? We didn't have to work."

"So...you don't want to see eachother because our relationship is going well?"

"It'd have to be going somewhere to be going well, Connor," replied Dawn in an outburst of frustration, at Connor's hurt expression she softened, "I just...need...some time."

"Fine. Take all the time you need. But don't expect me to be waiting when you get back."--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dawn sighed as she sat eating dinner, everything was even more fucked up then usual, if that was even possible. Buffy was pretending like she was okay when her heart was obviously breaking, Dawn was pretty much doing the exact same thing, Spike was "gone" (which really ment he would meet up with Dawn every few days to make sure Buffy was okay) and Willow and Kenedy had broken up as well.

Kenedy had decided she couldn't be with someone who was in love with someone else, whether that someone else was dead or not. Willow was upset, but also understood, she could never really love anyone but Tara. Kenedy had agreed to stay friends with everyone and helped with the occasional partroll and traing the younger slayers, but she had moved out of the Scooby apartment and barely ever came for social calls. It saddened Dawn because Willow seemed happy with her and she had likes Kenedy.

"You okay?" asked a concerned voice, pulling her out of her thoughts. Slowly, Dawn returned to the dinner table, her food barely touched, Andrew looking at her quizically from the seat next to her. She realized they were the only two left at the table after a minute or too.

"Yeah...I just...three break-ups in like...two weeks. The Scooby girls are not of the romantically succesful variety," she answered with a weak smile.

"I can't really speak for Willow, but Spike and Buffy'll end up back together soon enough, the same for you and Connor."

"I agree on the Slayer/Vamp couple, not so much as for at the prophetic pair. Connor was pretty pissed off at me."

"Well. You did kinda fuck up," admitted Andrew with a smile, earning a playfull smack from Dawn, "Well you did!"

"Shut up."


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"Shut up, Connor."

"I'm just saying: you're totally still in love with me!" argued Connor as he sat in his father's office chair, tossing his pocket knife up and down.

"If you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to embed that knife into your stomach!" exclaimed Dawn, not wanting to discuss her feelings for her ex-boyfriend, especially with her ex-boyfriend.

"You will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Good to know my office is being used for such good purposes!" said Angel as the crew walked in, "Get out of my chair Connor."

"I love you too," Connor replied sullenly.

"I love you...now get out of my chair." Connor begrudgingly jumped out of the chair and over Angel's desk with ease.

"So what's the sitch with the human/demon/...things?" asked Dawn, before wishing she hadn't spoken immeadiantly afterward.

"Still a lot of blood, still a lot of searching for their little Vessal thing. Still no clue who the vessel is," stated Xander and sighed and flopped on the couch.

They had recently found out the Hakalea (as the hybrids called themselves) were searching for a Vessal, a human meant to be used as a sort of battery for their machine the were creating. A mixture of technology and magick, the machine, called the LeaHaum, was meant the give them control over every creature. Basically, one more apocolypse to stop, one more seemingly normal person to be told they're consequential to the world's existence.

The Vessal, how ever, was completely elusive. They had found no clue as to who it might be and were at this point shooting blancs. The biggest clue they could find was a prophesy which stated:

When SaqRea are AttaLexan and a hero is lost to the shadow. When rain falls in places unexpected and nalak which can save all from the Hakalea's rath is fi'nav known. So shall the Vessal's purpose go unserved and the world shall know freedom for a while longer. Hakalea DeseRatiq.

Roughly translated from some random deomonic language, ofcourse. So far, they had no clue as to what any of it meant, especially the part they couldn't translate, or what the incantation below it was ment to do.

He' AttaLex SaqRea
Hakalea DeseRatiq L' nalak

Tahea fi'nav SaqRea
Wa'xa Fin' hall' ux

They were cautious, not knowing what it meant, and therefore had yet to say it out loud, for fear of casting the spell it was ment to.

All this going on, and most everyone's mind was on their romantic problems or the romantic problems of their friends.


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Disclaimer: If I owned Buffy, why the hell would I be on this site writing fanfiction? Sometimes you people just Don't think.

Out of the Hellmouth
And Into a Plausible Conclusion

Willow absent-mindedly flipped through the text she was reading telekenetically. The "adults" were all up to their elbows in research trying to find out what the prophecy meant, or better yet; who the Vessel was. So far, their luck had been rather poor. The Hakalea weren't exactly easy to research, being a relatively new find in the supernatural world. And other than the prophecy about them (which they could hardly understand) they weren't really a popular subject.

"Eureka!" exclaimed Xander happily, causing everyone to look up with a glimmer of hope in their eyes, "No wait...never mind."

"Xander," groaned Buffy as she slammed shut another dusty tome, "Please don't shout 'Eureka' unless you're sure. It's extremely agitating."

Xander narrowed his eyes, looking offended, "Don't get all snippy with me because you miss bleach boy. It's not my fault he decided to turn into his grandsire over here," he snapped, gesturing to Angel. At the hurt look on Buffy's face and the angry look on Angels, he wished he hadn't of said that.

"What Xander meant to say, rather than opening his mouth and inserting a shoe store, was that we're all a little on edge, especially due to recent events, and we shouldn't take that out on anyone we care about, because we'll regret it later," said Willow, ever the mediator, "Right Xand?"

"Right," answered Xander as he shoved his face into his book again, not wanting he far stronger best friend to hurt him for his accidental cruelness.

"He didn't deserve you anyway," said Angel, looking up from his own book into Buffy's eyes.

"You really think so?" asked Buffy, slightly forlorn, but also a little giddy from the praise her ex boyfriend was giving her.

"No one deserves you, you're too special," he replied, a grin painted on his face. Suddenly a hand flew to the back Angel's head and the smile melted away.

"Hello! Current love interest, here!" exclaimed Cordelia rather heatedly as she crossed her arms and plopped back into her seat, a glare setting on her face.

"Cordy; it was a purely platonic compliment, would you relax!" replied Angel as he sat up from his desk and wrapped his arms around his sort of girlfriend. The rest of the room rolled their eyes.

"I can almost understand Connor and Dawn being distracted by their personal lives, but this is ridiculous!" exclaimed Giles, extremely annoyed at the unprofesionalism, "Angel, you of all people should respect how important this is."

"I do, Giles, but no offense, but I'm more of an action guy than a reading very big dusty books guy," said Angel as he went back to his desk, feeling somewhat like a chided child.

"Well get over it because we need to figure this out, and before we're all under mind control."

"Again," said half the room under their breath before continuing to look through the volume.

***

"So why are we doing this again?" asked Amanda as they trudged through an old, rundown apartment building, toward the basement.

"Because we need to talk to Spike," answered Dawn for the hundredth time, as she began to get annoyed with her best friend. Vi and Molly followed close behind, along with Andrew who seemed to be very freaked out by the rats. Connor was at the back of the looking rather annoyed.

"Why are we assuming that Spike is going to know anything?" asked Connor as they climbed down the stairs, unable to use the broken elevator.

"Because Spike knows demonic languages better than anyone I know," replied Dawn, also for the hundredth time, "And for the record Connor, no one asked you to come, so if you want to leave you're welcome too."

"I'm staying."

"Than quit whining like a five year old," Dawn said, wishing Connor would just leave, as she still mad at him for not understanding her need for a break.

"Am not!"

"Guys!" Andrew, feeling like he was back in the trio and it was Jonathan and Warren in front and behind him, "We're here."

Dawn went up to the basement door and knocked slightly after no answer was giving she knocked louder. Still she got no answer so she banged on the door and eventually yelled, "Spike, if you don't let me in right now I'm gonna kick your ass!"

The door swung open, "You could try."

Dawn rolled her eyes and breezed past him into the basement, the others following close behind.

"We need your help."

***

"Wait a minute, I think I found something!" said Xander excitedly. Much as in the boy who cried wolf; this time, no one looked up, "No, seriously guys: I found something!"

Buffy sighed and decided that it couldn't hurt to ask, "What did you find, Xander?"

Xander smiled at the recognition, "Lookie, lookie!" he said proudly, pointing to a passage in the book he'd been reading.

"Vessels:" Buffy read aloud, causing everyone to look towards her, "Over the years, many beings have been said to be the Vessel, including the vampire which the master of Aurelius to reach the surface," Buffy inwardly shuttered at reliving her first death.

"But the most elusive and confusing is the Vessel of the Hakalea; a demonic army prophesied to bring about an apocalypse of sorts. Little is known about this vessel, but there was a poem found in the late eighteen hundreds abour it, that read:

Great power, but oddly molded. Within great protection enfolded. Younger than what first appears, powerfully sorrowed and assailed with fears. The Vessel stands in company direct with those already sworn to protect. And it's power has already been used for good and evil and was occasionally abused. It's safety is important to all, but the least likely person with protect it from fall."

The entire room was silent for a minute, "Well that was ominous and cryptic," said Fred finally, as she slammed her own book shut.

"So...does anyone understand that at all?" asked Anya, extremely confused.

"I think I did," answered Cordelia, surprising pretty much everyone, "What, I was a higher being and I'm a seer. Don't act so surprised!

"So the Vessel already holds great power, but it isn't whom anyone who didn't know them would expect. They're already heavily protected....they're younger than they seem, and they've had a lot of pain and sadness and their life, how am I doin' far watcher men?"

"Pretty well," said Wesley with a smile.

"I think you might be on to something, Cordelia," agreed Giles, surprising even himself as the words came out of his mouth.

"Okay," began Cordy again, "What else? It's already well protected, but it's power has already been used, for good and bad...and although everyone wants to keep it safe, the person who's actually going to be able to won't be the one we expect. Anything I missed?"

"No, I think you hit the nail on the head there, Chase," answered Faith, mildly impressed.

Buffy ran over the facts in her head, "Oh my God!" she gasped.

"What?"

***

"What? Do you know what the words say?" asked Dawn as she showed Spike the prophecy, pointed to what they weren't able to decode.

"Yeah, Nibblet, I think I do," Spike answered, I shocked look playing on his face, which mildly worried everyone in the basement.

***

"Buffy, what is it?" Willow asked again.

"The Vessel...it's Dawnie."

Disclaimer: Ofcourse I don't own Buffy, are you on crack?

Out of the Hellmouth
And Into Fear and Confusion

"So...what does it mean?" asked Dawn, both impatient at Spike's silence, and worried by it.

"When dead are resurected and a hero is lost to the shadow. When rain falls in places unexpected and magickwhich can save all from the Hakalea's rath is againknown. So shall the Vessal's purpose go unserved and the world shall know freedom for a while longer. Defeat Hakalea," read Spike in a ominous tone as he replaced the previously untranslatable words with their english counter parts.

The group stared at Spike in shock, not quite believing what he had told them, or else not wanting to. It was Connor who finally got his power of voice back, "Are you saying that the spell brings back the dead?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying Junior," answered Spike as he rolled his eyes at Connor.

"That's--" began Amanda in awe.

"That's so wicked!" finished Molly.

Spike and Dawn meanwhile looked at Molly with mild disgust, "'Wicked'?" questioned Spike as he raised his eyebrows, "Sorry to burst your bubble Bit, but resurecting the dead is far from wicked."

"Yeah," agreed Dawn, still reeling from their discovery, "The person you bring back may come back wrong...or may not want to be back at all," she said slightly quieter, thinking of Buffy.

"Nibblet's right; this kind of hocus pocus isn't really to be taken lightly. You five go back to the Scoobies and Angel's little group and you tell them about this, it's not like they've never done somethin' like this before."

Dawn took the paper back from Spike and then gave him a quick hug, "I miss you," she whispered in his ear.

The five teenagers made their way up the stairs, out of the decreped building, and into the sunlight.


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"What do we do?" asked Andrew, confused and afraid, he and Dawn had become friends, and it was very obvious that she was in danger.

"Do we tell her?" asked Fred quietly.

"No," answered Buffy, shaking her head feircely, "No, I won't subject her to that pain."

"Buff," said Xander slowly getting to his feet, "Need I remind you of the disaster that happend the last time we kept information like this from Dawnie?"

"He's right," agreed Willow, "Dawn might be technically four, but she's full grown, Buffy; she's a woman. You can't protect her forever."

Buffy looked to the floor before letting out a deep sigh, "Dosn't keep me from wanting to."


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Two days had passed, Dawn had miraculously convinced the others that the kids had decoded the prophecy alone. There was now alot of debate about whether to use the spell. Buffy was, ofcourse, not found of the idea, but others (including the watchers) had argued fufilling the prophecy is what would keep Dawn safe.

There was also alot of deliberation about Dawn, though she was too stressed to actually notice any of it. Though they agreed the former key needed to be informed, none were sure how to go about doing this. Just like Buffy, none of them really wanted to cause the girl that pain.


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It was two in the morning. After a long day of reserch and training, and night of patrol. Dawn, Andrew, Amanda, Molly, Vi, and Rona were in the middle of a vidfest involving a pint of Rocky Road, alot of popcorn, the Scream trilogy, and stolen beer.

Currently the group was slightly tispy, with the exception of a very drunk Andrew, and watching the second movie.

The had just gotten to the point where the sorority girl was thrown off the balcolny when Molly screamed for the umpteenth time that night. After being pelted with popcorn, the brit began to pout, "Well it's called 'Scream' for a reason, you know!" she argued, rather offended.

This earned for popcorn throwing and an I roll from Rona, "Just quit being such a baby all the time," she said in annoyance before turning back to the movie.


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Upstairs, Willow was pacing her room, every so often looking back to a book sitting on her dresser. "Don't be stupid Willow, you can't just say that spell!" she whispered scoldingly to herself.

But the images of those she loved and lost continuously appeared in her brain. And when she heared the giggling downstairs and thought of Dawn, she knew the prophecy needed to be fufilled.

Slowly she lit a candle and held her hand over the flame as the book instructed, then she began reciting the spell:

"He' AttaLex SaqRea
Hakalea DeseRatiq L' nalak

Tahea fi'nav SaqRea
Wa'xa Fin' hall' ux."

She waited for some flourish, a flash of light and the apperance of another person in the room, something, but nothing came. Willow became extrememly confused and began to wonder if the spell had even worked at all. Resolving to go to bed, Willow decided she would try again in the morning.


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Meanwhile, in a hole that had once been a city, two people miles apart appeared out of nowhere. They were both extremely disoriented and even more afraid. They were also not in seeing distance of eachother and so each felt very much alone which only hightened their fear. They had no idea what had happened and wanted to find the people the cared about, or even a stranger to comfort them.

Back in Los Angelos someone else woke up with these same feelings. All three desperately needed to find their way to another person and all three were thinking the same thing: Is this good or dark magick?

Disclaimer: I own no Buffy, Joss owns ze Buffy, I'm just borowing ze Buffy to Slay ze boredome.

Out of the Hellmouth...
Chapter 9: And Into Realizations and Ressurections


"Hey," said Buffy in a rather small voice when Dawn came into the kitchen the next morning. Hanging her head down so that her brown hair was completely covering her face, Dawn headed straight for the aspirin, "Head-ache?"
"Hangover," she replied briskly.

"Lovely."

Dawn downed two the the pain killers and drank from the faucet to wash them down before turning back to her sister and looking her over closely, "Okay; what the hell is going on?" she finally asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Buffy, trying to play innocet but, as usual, not pulling it off verry well.

"You keep on giving me that look, like the one you used to give me when you found out I was the key," she said, calmly but with a trace of fear in her voice, "It's your 'Dawn dosn't know something that could give her a serious case of deadness' look. So fess up."

Buffy sighed and closed her eyes. She knew sooner or later she'd have to tell Dawn, and that Dawn, being intuative and prone to eaves dropping, would know something was wrong. Still, part of her had hoped ignoring the problem would make it all just go away, however, just like usual, it didn't.

"Well...a couple of days ago, when we were researching, we think we figured out who the Vessle is."

"And all signs point to me," said Dawn, guessing what her sister would say and sitting down at the counter. She sighed and looked right into her sister's eyes, looking extremely...tired. The kind of tired Buffy had hoped Dawn would never be "Buffy...I don't know if I can do this again."

"I know Dawnie," cooed Buffy, wrapping an arm around her sister and kissing your forehead, "And if I could make things all better I would, but it's not that simple."

"I know."


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"Escuse me," said a woman, looking increaibly dishevled and bloody, as she walked up to a man in a rode side store, "I don't really have any money with me, but I was wondering if I could have some water."
"Um...sure," said the man, not really knowing what else to say as he rushed to get her some water.

"Do you know the date?" she asked, taking a sip.

"November 20th."

She stayed silent for a minute, as if thinking, "And the year?"

"2003."

The woman seemed to take a sharp intake of breath, as her eyes widened.

"Would you like some money or something."

"That would actually be great," she said with a small, sad, smile, still looking utterly shocked.


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"So Dawn knows?" asked Xander, looking extremely pale as he sat next to Anya in Angel's office. Anya's hand bared down on Xander's just to keep him from randomly jumping to his feet and pacing untill he finally punched something, which is how her husband usually delt with stress.
"Yeah, Dawn knows."

"Is she okay?" asked Fred, ever the maternal and caring despite not having known the girl that long.

"I think so."

"Are you okay, B?" Faith asked, sounding uncharachteristically concerned.

Buffy seemed to ponder this for a moment, and after taking a very long sigh she replied with the only truth she come across in the jumble of thoughts she was having, "I honestly have no idea."

Just then, Andrew ran into the room, eyes wide, looking extremely pale. Everyone stared at him expectantly, and after a few moments he finally regaind his powers of speech, "I think you need to see this."

Everyone followed Andrew into the main hallway and when the all saw what had made him so thoroughly shocked, the Scoobies all had a similar reaction.

"Oh my God..." whispered Buffy.

"Oh my God," said Xander.

"Oh my Goddess!" yelled Willow, and the spell on everyone seemed to break as they turned to look at Willow.

Meanwhile, the red-headed Wicca had bounded down the stairs and reached what all the fuss was about, "Tara?" she whispered, a smile beginning to form on her face.

"Hey..." said Tara, that was all she could say. The truth was she had no idea how three years had passed other than the knowlege that she must have disapeared or died, but it didn't matter, because they were both there. Willow automatically forgot all the pain and the sorrow and the grief induced insanity, and just to prove to herself that it was real she grabbed Tara and pulled her towards her, holding on for dear life.

Within moments everyone who had been friends with Tara were joining in the hug. Tara, slowly wiping away a few days gathered the power to speak: "Guys, this is really sweet...but I kinda prefered the one on one hug for the moment."


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Kendey was attacking the punching bag in the Wolfram & Hart gym, litterally attacking it. Faith seriously wondered how long it was going to hold up, "Ken!" she yelled to her fellow slayer, "Calm the hell down!"
"I loved her Goddamnit! What the fuck was I? I replacement?" she screamed as she continued to beat down the bag.

"Well...yeah," said Faith truthfully, causing Kenedy to stop her onslaught and look to her friend in disbelief, "You were dating a girl who's lover had just died. Did you really expect not to be rebound girl?"

"No...I expected to," she answered, finally calming down and walking over to Faith's side, "I just hoped it would turn into something more. But it never got a chance to 'cause first she dumped me, and now--"

"Glinda the Good Witch is back," finished Faith, "And your hurtin', but you can't possibly be that upset that a good, sweet person, who was thought to be lost is suddenly back! If you really love Red you'd be happy she has her girl back."

"I know, you're right: Which is an odd condition for you to be in. When did you get smart or wise?"

"Hey Bitch, you lookin' for a concussion," Faith snapped back, slapping the top of Kenedy's head.

"Okay, that's the disposition I was looking for," Kenedy grinned before heading back to the punching bag, "I have a little tension left to deal with..."

"As long as you're stickin' with the punching bag and not anything a little more lively, I'm cool. Later Brat."


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"Well...say something..." said Willow nervously. She had just told Tara everything: how she died, how Willow reacted, Warren's death, Xander saving her, the battle with the first: everything. Tara was sitting there on Willow's bed completely speechless and Willow was very frightened by what her reaction might be.
"You dated someone else?" Tara finally asked, causing Willow to burst out laughing before sitting next to her newly re-found soulmate on the bed and threw her arms around her.

"You're perfect."

"You've spent so much time greiving you've forgotten all my major personality flaws," said Tara with a small smirk before returning the hug and breathing in Willow.

"Well, you're tendency to be a know-it-all is already coming back to me," said Willow before gently kissing Tara and pulling her on the bed, "But smart girls are sexy."

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"I can't believe Glinda's back," said Spike as he inhaled the smoke out of his ever present ciggarette. He and Dawn sat on the creeking matress in his basement residence. She tolled him all that had happened in the past few days as she did rutinely when she visited and then they just sat there for moment.

"Yeah. It's super weird. It's almost as if it never happend, you know? No shooting, no super-crazed Will, no dead Warren. I feel like it's two years ago. I'm not really sure I feel about that."

"Damn. Guess that means I don't have a soul anymore," said Spike with his trademark smirk as he took a drag from theciggarette which always seemed to be in his hand.

"Yep. Looks like you'll just have to start killing people again."

"I'm sure that'll go over real well..."

"Well...it'll make Angel and Xander really happy," she said with a smile. The laughed for a minute before falling into silence again.

"Any chance I can bum a cancer-stick?" Dawn asked, "Or will you go all protective vampire/bigbrothery on me?"

"It's not good for you Nibblet, you aren't dead."

"Oh yeah, and I'm sure the secound-hand I've accumilated from you over the years has been great for my lungs! Give me a damn ciggarette, Spike." With mild hesidency Spike handed her a ciggarette.

"Light." The lighter flipped open and the flame momentarily brightened the dark room. "So are there no cripts in Los Angelus? Because your old place was so very much cooler than this dump."

"Hey! I like this dump!" Dawn rose her eyebrows disbelievingly before taking another drag. "I do!" Spike exclaimed again.

"You want to know what one of the first things Tara said to me was yesterday?" said Dawn, getting up from the bed and pacing room, suddenly looking more than slightly miffed, " 'Spike and Buffy finally got together and then he was stupid enough to leave?'"

Spike scoffed and became oddly interested in his feet, "Blonde always was smarter than she let on."

"She was the only one besides me back in Sunnydale that ever liked you," Dawn responded, taking another drag and rolling her eyes.

"Like I said: smart."


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"Are you sure that it's Dawn?" asked Tara as she sat in Willow's room, reading the research they've done over the Vessal so far, "I mean, I know it seems like it's her, but it just seems...wrong somehow."
Willow sank down on to the bed, looking over Tara's shoulder at the book that was layed out infront of her, "You know, I actually thought the same thing. But there really isn't any other explanation."

"She really can't catch a break, can she?"

Willow laughed as she pushed a strand of hair out of Tara's face, "You're adorable. You've been alive again for two days and you're more concerned about Dawn than yourself."

"I'm alive; what's there to be concerned about?" asked Tara as she closed the book and focussed on her girlfriend, "I'm more concerend about you."

Willow frowned slighty, "I thought you said you didn't care about my post-shooting flip out."

"I just want to know if you're okay."

The frown immeadiatly reverted back to a smile, "You're back: how could I possibly not be okay?" The two shared a small lovely kiss before lying back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. There was a comfortable silence, as if no words really needed to be spoken, and after a moment Willow intwined her fingers with Tara's.

"So...who's gonna track down Spike and tell him what a complete moron he's being?" asked Tara, breaking the silence.

"You do realize you've killed the mood, correct?" asked Willow as she grinned at Tara's determinedness.

"There'll be time for moods later Will! Buffy and Spike are good for eachother! This is almost as unescusable as when Xander and Anya didn't go through with their first wedding!"

"Okay, okay. What's your plan?"