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Chapter Five


Xander shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, the cold wind pressing harshly against the bits of exposed skin. "Getting anything over there?" He questioned Willow, who was standing next to him, palms up, each emitting a small ball of green light. Wherever she was she wasn't here with him. "I guess not." He muttered. This was getting just plain stupid. Here he was freezing his ass off while Willow was doing whatever she was doing to locate the car. Why he had to come along, he couldn’t say. Willow surely hadn't told him anything when she said she needed him with her. So far he was beginning to think his job was to block some of the cold air.

He was seriously contemplating taking off to look for Dawn on his own when the balls of energy floating on Willow's palms turned red, blood swirling within them. With a sudden crackle of energy they crashed together the force knocking Willow off her feet, sending her flying back five feet, as they streamed out of sight leaving a small red trail in their mist.

"Whoa." Xander was at his best friend's side in an instant. The harsh ground had rendered her momentarily unconscious. He helped lift her head as her eyes fluttered open.

"Did it work?" The words came out meekly, mewings from a kitten.

"Well if it was supposed to go crash boom and then take off? A big ol' yes." He smiled, stretching out a sturdy arm, helping her to her feet.

"Oh good. It worked then." She took a few woozy steps, nearly collapsing, as her knight rushed to prevent her from hitting the ground.

"Were the jello knees an expected part of it or just a pleasant surprise?" He questioned as he looped one of her arms over his shoulder, helping her to walk, supporting her.

"Kinda knew it was coming." Willow admitted, leaning on him as they hobbled down the cracked sidewalk, following the quickly fading trail. "Gotta say it really didn't help soften the punch it packed."

"Next time you might want to give a fellow some warning. I could have caught you, or at least acted as a pillow when we both hit the pavement."

Willow smiled up at him, noticing the mild indignation on his face. "Why did you think I asked you to come? I knew you would be there to pick me up when I fell." Her green eyes locked on to his brown, time rushing backwards, years dissolving, till they were just two friends, before darkness had treaded onto their lives. Back to when they were just Willow and Xander, best friends forever. "You always are. Of course-" She added breaking the magical moment. "If I had known about that pillow offer-" Her voice trailed off as they marched on through the bitter cold night, wounded soldiers returning to war.


******


"This is so cool!" Dawn yelled over the blaring music, a beer in her hand.

"What?" Faith screamed back, her body a slave to the music. Dawn pulled her off the dance floor, to a quieter area near the bar.

"I was saying this is so cool! Buffy never lets me drink."

"I don't mind if you drink." Faith snatched the beer from Dawn's hand and downed half of it in one gulp. "But I do mind if B finds out so try to keep your head on tonight. I don't want to explain to big sis why you have your head in a toilet."

"You mean if I still have a head when Willow is done with me." Dawn sighed, taking a small sip of her drink. Faith was fast becoming the coolest person she knew. The only one who saw her, not Buffy's little sister, not Dawnie, not the key, but her.

Faith let her get her hands dirty, encouraged mistakes. How else was she gonna learn? Faith had a lifetime of mistakes, lessons that taught her more than all the books in the world. It wasn't knowledge you could pass on, that's what parents did, tried to keep you from repeating their mistakes, but the lesson was never the same, it never hit home. Let them make there own mistakes; just catch them when they fell and who knew? Maybe they would surprise you. Maybe they would fly. Faith gave Dawn her wings back after a lifetime of them being clipped.

The club was just another sky to soar in. Faith had got her in with a smile, a wink, and a twenty passed to the bouncer. Two fine looking women, who was he to deny them access? When they had saddled up to the bar Faith had ordered a beer and Dawn had followed her lead. Faith never said a thing about it, merely quirked her eyebrow and then smiled in a self-satisfied sort of way.

"It'll be mine on the chopping block not yours." Faith comforted her; though she was looking elsewhere, at a group of guys who kept checking them out, she nodded her head in greeting. They approached, four, good-looking, straight from an Abercrombie catalog. Dawn's stomach knotted, body tensing, every cell humming.

She forced a smile, trying to reign in her nerves. "Hey." Faith pushed her out of the nest as she started chatting up one of the guys. Fly or fall. "So where are you guys from?" Dawn asked with a small smile.


*****


“Such a bloody waste of money.” Spike mumbled to himself between reading aloud to Buffy who slept peacefully beside him. “Stupid bloody limes. And that little bit cares about nothing but her nose.” He scanned the next page, becoming fully engrossed in the world painted by Louisa May Alcott. His favorite thus far had been timid Beth, which he drew in his mind to be a young Dawn. “And yep there you go. ‘No sooner had the guest paid the usual stale compliments and bowed himself out, than Jenny, under pretense of asking an important question, informed Mr. Davis, the teacher, that Amy March had pickled limes in her desk.’ How did I know it?” He questioned the slumbering blonde beside him. “She’s breaking the rules. And not even doing a good sort at that.”

A soft rapping on the door snapped him back to attention. He moved off the bed at lightening quick speed and deposited himself in the old lounger before clearing his voice and saying, “Come in.”

She entered shyly, hesitantly, looking as if she was a child abandoned, awash in a sea of unfamiliarity despite this was now her home. Spike tilted his head slightly to the side as she entered, attempting to puzzle this intruder out. She had long red hair that curled up into tangles and waves, she had let it down tonight, forsaking her trademark ponytail. She wasn't beautiful, her green eyes were too large, her body too boyish, with no hips and no breasts to entice men. She wore a large flannel shirt that devoured her petite form, giving her the appearance of a young girl playing dress-up in her father's clothes. Yet for all of her childish appearance there was something about her that was dangerous, powerful.

"Let me guess? Another slayer right?" Spike sighed heavily. "So your little girly mates running a game. See who can be the big brave girl and see the new vamp. Well here I am, baby. Now run along, will ya?"

The teasing wasn't sharp, yet it made her flinch. Her body seemed to retreat inward amongst the fold of cloth. "No." She shook her head, a bit nervously but held her ground. "I came to check on Buffy. I thought you might have wanted a break and I didn't want her to be alone."

Spike smiled. She was a timid one all right, a fawn in a world of dangerous huntsmen. He felt sorry for the poor lamb; she wasn't going to make it. "Nice offer but I'm fine." He waited for her to go but if she heard the dismissive tone in his voice she ignored it. She stood over Buffy tucking the coverlets tighter around her. "Umm... So what's the good word? Find Nibblet yet?" She gave him a queer look to which he amended, "Dawn."

She shook her head mournfully. "No. But they are all out looking it shouldn't be long now."

She seemed to posses a confidence in the Scoobies, which he had never witnessed before. If they said it was going to be all right, she believed in them, she trusted in them. Which only secured the thought more firmly in Spike's mind that she wasn't going to be among their ranks for long. He felt a twinge of sorrow at her future passing but mostly he hoped Buffy wasn't attached to this one. She seemed like a girl one could easily get attached to. "So why aren't you out there? Or at least downstairs coordinating and stuff? Hanging with the other slayers?"

"They aren't helping." It was softly spoken but the force her words contained made the room seem to cool, Buffy shivered. Then it passed. And Spike was sure his mind was playing tricks on him, no way this tiny child could chill the room with her mere utterance. "The 'original army' is already out looking. Well except Kennedy. She is home base. Very important. But the 'new wave'? They just sit there and gossip. I don't like them."

"And you shouldn't if that's all those poncy buggers do." His indignation got a small smile from Amber, maybe the thought of a vamp so worked up over training habits of slayers just struck her as funny. Whatever the reason the mood seemed to lighten. "Why don't you run down stairs and give Will's gal a hand. Looks to me like she could use one, what with all those no accounts sittin' around braidin' hair and what have you."

"I guess I better. I just came to check on Buffy in the first place. It was a really bad day for her."

"So I've heard."

Amber smiled sadly at the remark. She moved to the door, her hand wrapping around the knob before she paused. She cocked her head slightly, as if listening to music no one could hear but her. When she turned back around Spike saw her green eyes flashing with worry as they searched the empty ceiling. He wanted to ask her what she was looking for but he never got the chance. "Take care of her okay?" She requested politely before she disappeared down the stairs much like Alice in the rabbit hole.

Spike retook up residence on the bed occupied by Buffy. "Strange bird." He muttered to himself before picking up the book once more, intent on seeing what happened now that Amy had been caught with the limes.


*****


The red trail had long since faded and yet Xander could tell they were getting closer. There was a pull, and energy directing him through the cold night. Where it would lead he didn't know, but he doubted he could resist the pull even if it led him to the mouth of Hell itself, which in Cleveland happened to be under a giant sculpture that looked like a stamp with the word ‘FREE’ carved into. Weird place, Cleveland was.

The sound of slapping water became louder as they walked. Willow seemed to grow stronger the closer they got. They moved without speaking, hypnotized, the goal was clear, the path was set. Over a small chain-link fence with no trouble, nothing could stand in their way.

The magic was denser, a warm wetness trickling down their backs, urging them forward. Their pace increased, following the music of the crashing water, keeping time with it. Faster, quicker, the slippery dock posed no threat, they didn’t even notice, they saw nothing; just felt the pull, like the moon of the tides. They were puppets in a much stronger game, their marionette strings tied to their hearts.

There it was. A swirling red mist, it smelled of blood, of the end of innocence, and of power. And it called them. Willow stopped at the edge, her eyes filling with tears, as if she finally saw where she stood. But Xander didn’t; he continued to walk until he fell with a sickening crash into the freezing waters of Lake Erie.


TBC





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