Bright Ideas
Xander turned and continued his pacing as he rethought the speech he was about to give Anya.
It covered everything he could think of, from his fear of her demon to simple "long-term commitment" stuff that had helped to ruin their wedding. Once again he looked up at the window he knew was hers.
She hadn't taken any time at all in getting a new residence. It was small, but included the few luxuries for which she was willing to shell out extra cash: the ceiling fan, cable television, and a view of downtown Sunnydale where all the retail shops were.
She wasn't one to go to sleep early, and he had been surprised three hours ago to see her darkened apartment. Not even the glow of the TV to brighten it.
With a final breath, Xander walked up to the entrance of the building, and went in. He opted to take the stairs until he reached the 5th floor. Then the elevator looked much more inviting. By the time he reached Anya's floor, he was too nervous to move.
"Ok, Xander. Either shit or get off the pot," he whispered to himself.
Each step was easier as he rehearsed the words in his head again. He reached her chestnut door and studied the red paint that accented its peephole, and then knocked.
When he heard nothing from the other side of the door, he knocked again, this time with more force. Again, no sounds came from within. If there was one thing he knew about his ex, it was that she was essentially a light sleeper. He turned and looked down the hallway confused.
"Where is she?"
~~`~~
Anya sat on the couch across from Willow. "At least, I think I'm sure."
This roundabout had been going on for hours, literally.
Anya had come over just a few minutes after the shop's regular closing time with an armful of supplies. The now light brunette had been babbling non- stop since her arrival at Willow's doorstep.
"Well, it is up to you." Willow tried to soothe the woman's misgivings. "I mean, you know nothing's perfect either way, but he has good reasons to feel the way he does."
Anya eyed her necklace sitting on the side table, then looked at the floor. It was once again covered in sand, this time pink and light blue, which formed a single circle. The necklace was enclosed in a protection spell to make sure none of the wishes she had granted recently would be taken back, especially those that involved former Vampires and Slayers.
"I know. It's just… I really miss him. And I know that being a demon is not really a Scoobie thing. It might have been okay if Spike hadn't gone all human on us, but essentially, I should be human. I liked my life here. And my friends. Sure, I had friends as a demon, but it's not the same. I mean, one bad feeling and it's vengeance everywhere, you know?"
Willow was sure she had said something in there of relevance. "Yeah."
Anya took a final cleansing breath. "Ok then, I'll do it." She began to scoot forward.
Willow watched Anya to see if she actually would this time.
Anya sat back up. "But, what if I do this and it goes badly? What if Xander decides he-"
"Anya!" The recovered witch was beginning to lose it. "Look. Either it's worth it or not. Of course it could go badly." Tara's face flashed before her for a moment. "But whatever happens, you have to remember that you tried. Sometimes, that's what counts in the end."
Anya looked at Willow, and realized she wasn't talking about her and Xander. She was thinking about Tara. "Ok, I'm going to do it."
This time Anya took her pendant and slid off her chair to sit in the circle formed by the pastel sands. She looked back at Willow. "Should you go, or something?"
"You just follow the spell, then break your talisman. I'll be back here, but I can't help or interrupt you. Okay?"
Anya nodded, and Willow sat at the kitchen table.
The demon held her necklace tightly before laying it carefully on the floor before her, and began.
"Protect the wishes I have granted, either wishes made, or those chanted. The life I have, the soul I keep, D'Hoffryn's gift, I no longer receive."
She picked up a small handful of the blue sand with her right hand, and some of the pink with her left and watched as she buried the charm under the granules that fell from her fists. Then she took the hammer that she had brought from the shop, and smashed the talisman in one hard swing.
Willow watched as a green energy ran out quickly and passed from Anya to the sand and was absorbed in a whoosh that blew Anya‘s hair about lightly as the transfer completed.
The brunette stared down at the scattered pieces of the gem that had been held by the now mangled metal of her power source. It was done. Her head turned back slowly to face Willow, still seated silently at the table. "Is everything the same?"
"Why are you here, Anya?" Willow asked, her face full of confusion as she stared at the once again former vengeance demon..
Anya‘s face fell instantly. "Oh, great. Stupid chant didn't work, and now I'm human." She smiled. "Well, at least I can go see Xander now. On with the copulation!" She smiled at the revelation of her desire.
Willow burst out laughing. It was too priceless to see that Anya would still be looking at the bright side of things. She generally didn't know the difference between a bright side and a dark side, just the plain truth. "Nothing's changed, Anya. I was only kidding."
Anya smiled brightly back at the redhead. "Even better. Now Xander and I will have someone to double date with. I wonder if Spike bowls?"
Willow shook her head. "Anya, I don't want to rain on your parade, but shouldn't you go see…"
"Xander!" Anya yelped when she saw him standing at the open door.
He had come here first, hoping he'd missed an announced Scoobie meeting. It was the only reason, short of the shop burning down, that he could figure why Anya wouldn't be at home. On instinct, once he heard the voices inside, he'd just walked in. A habit most of the people in their circle had developed.
"What's going on?" He looked at Willow, then Anya. "Is Willow doing magic?"
The redhead crossed her arms. "I certainly am not, Xander Harris. I resent that implication."
"Well come on, Wills. There's the sand, and the circles. Someone is doing magic." He looked at Anya, and realized she was the one in the circle. "Wait, why are you playing with the mojo?"
"I had to make sure everyone was protected." She looked deeply into his eyes, wondering if he could see the change.
Xander walked inside, shutting the door behind him. He peered at Willow, then headed towards Anya. "Protected? Why?" A thousand bad ideas came into his mind, ones where Anya had, or would do something terrible. She was doing what? Making sure she couldn't inadvertently grant a painful wish?
"It's not like I've been real busy lately, but if I was going to become human again, I didn't want to un-grant the few wishes I've granted. I mean, just negating Buffy's wish could completely throw stuff out of whack."
Xander hadn't quite heard her words, but he did see the few shards of a crystal protruding from a small pile of almost gray sand. On closer inspection, it was obvious that the gray pile had once been some of the blue and pink sand surrounding Anya.
He wasn't sure, but he'd almost bet those shards were…
He pointed at the mysterious remains of something. "Isn't that? Was that your? Are you?" He looked at her again. "Anya?"
She crossed her arms. "And don't you think I did all this just for you, Mister. I like being human, and having people who care about me. And being part of something that helps the world. And did you know I'm the first Vengeance Demon to work with the Slay-."
She was cut off when Xander pulled her to him and kissed her.
He had been ready to take her as she was, demon and all. Maybe that was what he had needed to realize. In the end, Spike had been right. If she wanted to hurt him, she could do a lot more damage just being the woman he loved than she ever could as a demon. That, the man-woman stuff, he could deal with.
He pulled away, and looked into her heavily lidded eyes. "I love you, Anya."
Willow cleared her throat a bit loudly to remind them she was still in the room, if not the fact they were in her living room. They didn't seem to hear her as they went at each other like caged bunnies. "Um, guys."
Anya giggled. "Oh, yeah, Willow." She said eyes still trained on Xander.
Xander looked at the redhead. "Sorry, Wills. It's just that… well, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. But go to your own place or something."
"Alright. Can do," Xander announced as he led Anya to the door. He stopped just before he opened it. "And Wills, whatever you did, thanks."
"Wait." Anya looked back at the scattered sand. "What about the mess?"
Willow grinned and went into the kitchen. She came back out with a Dirt Devil sweeper. "Got it covered."
~~`~~
Dawn smiled when she came into The Magic Box Friday after school. She knew very well why Spike had yawned through half of the class, and why Buffy had been nowhere in sight that morning. Things were finally looking up in the land of Sunnydale.
What she hadn't been expecting was a bubbling, giggling, almost euphoric Anya. The shopkeeper whistled while dusting the shelves.
"I know you like retail, Anya, but aren't you going a bit overboard?" Dawn set her books on the counter and headed for the broom. She was now earning her own money by working at the shop, instead of having to pay the store back for her thievery.
"Oh, Dawnie," Anya almost laughed, "I didn't even hear you come in." She set down her duster and went behind the counter to retrieve a black notebook. "We need to go over last week's order. I saw you ordered 20 of the chicken feet."
The way Anya changed gears gave Dawn the impression that something was being held back from her. Like they were having a Dawn-is-just-a-kid moment. "Yea, I figured 20 would be enough. They don't sell fast."
"True," Anya said, "But the orders are in 'gross' not 'per item'."
"Gross?"
"Yes, there are 50 in a gross. Multiply that by 20 and you have…?"
"I ordered 1000 chicken feet?" Dawn asked wide-eyed.
Anya smiled. "These things happen."
Okay, now Dawn knew something was up. Anya had toned down her ‘I'm the money grubbing, yet sweet shopkeeper’ attitude, but Dawn had made a potentially expensive mistake. And she wasn't being berated by the demon. "What's going on? Why aren't you going ballistic?"
Anya frowned. "What do you mean? You want me to get angry?"
"No, no. I just… wait a minute. Is that a hickey?" Dawn inspected the side of Anya's neck. "Why do you have a hickey?"
Anya's hand flew up to her neck, and looked at the teen innocently. "What's a hickey?"
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Anya. I'm 16. Who gave you the hickey? And does Xander know you're off, doing hickey things?"
"So the whelp finally got his wheels working again, 'eh?" Spike came into the magic shop smiling. "Guess our little chat worked."
"Chat?" Anya didn't know that Xander had talked to Spike much at all since the former Vamp's return. "You two chatted about me?"
"Not you specifically… mostly women in general," Spike half lied. "Just how, demon or not, there is no such thing as a safe woman. The entire species is dangerous." He gave the two women an evil grin. "'Course, we wouldn't want it any other way."
Spike walked towards the counter and stopped a few feet from Anya. "So, you went an' did it, did ya'?"
"Huh?" Anya looked at him not understanding his meaning.
Dawn looked at Anya, not wanting to know exactly what she did with Xander. "I really don't want the details."
Spike smiled at Dawn's reluctance to hear the dirty particulars of the reunited couple's sex life.
"Got to love these Slayer senses. Not quite the same as a Vampire's, but detecting a demon is still easy. If you're lookin', that is." He glanced at Dawn. "Perfect opportunity for you to see if yours is up and runnin' yet. Try to sense any demons."
"Well, duh, Spike. Right there," she motioned at Anya. "Not a challenge."
"Oh, I'm not a demon," Anya said simply.
"What!?" Dawn took a few steps back. "You mean, you… you smashed the…"
Anya nodded. "And Xander was going to take me back even if I didn't. But I think I did the right thing," she said with finality.
The phone rang, interrupting the discussion. Anya hopped over to it and answered. "Thank you for calling The Magic Box. How can I help you?"
There was a pause. "You will?" Another pause. "How long?" And then an even longer pause. "Well, sure. Okay." There was a lull as she looked at the clock on the wall. "An hour? Okay. Bye."
Anya hung up the phone as Spike and Dawn watched, wondering what was going on. She then picked it up again, and dialed.
"What's going on, Anya?" Spike asked.
Anya waved her hand at him, trying to get him to be quiet. "Yes, can I speak to Xander Harris, please?" A few minutes passed and Anya quickly explained that Buffy had called an emergency Scoobie meeting.
"She's working tonight," both Spike and Dawn said.
Anya talked to Xander, and asked him to come by as soon as he could, then she called Willow.
~~`~~
Buffy paced in the basement office designated as Zeta's headquarters as the men went through their exercises that included basic stretching and calisthenics. She had already spoken to Detective Griggs about her idea. He gave her the go ahead, but considering his age, decided he could not join her.
Getting past the entrance to the Master's lair tomorrow night was still weighing heavily on her mind. She had only come up with one alternative to certain death: enlisting the services of the men she had been training.
When the officers began their cool down stretches she stepped up to the front of the room.
She eyed the men as they lined up. She was about to ask them to accept a few things. Things even they could not have predicted. This team of officers saw sights other residents and policemen ignored on a daily basis. She hoped that would be enough for them to accept what she was about to expose them to.
"For the last two weeks, you have all done and seen things that very few people have. You have all helped a little to save lives that would have been taken otherwise." She looked over their faces. Almost everyone here was older than her by more than a few years. Some she recognized as upperclassmen from when she was at Sunnydale High School that first year.
"Tonight, I'd like to take you all on a field trip. But not the kind you get as a reward. The kind you have earned." She sighed inwardly. "Everyone, suit up in street clothes and meet me outside in 10."
The men looked around at each other. It was far from sundown. Leaving now made no sense, but they had been told that she was in charge.
One by one they left the room to go and change, mumbling under their breath.
Buffy gathered up her things and headed out the door. She still needed to find Jason. Luckily, she ran into him as he turned to go up the stairs.
"Buffy, hey, I just saw everyone leaving early to change. Is something up?"
"Actually, yes. Wanna help?"
Jason glanced at her again. Something big was up. She had the look he'd gotten to know over the summer as her 'patrol' look. "Vampires?"
"Some really bad ones."
"What do you need?"
"Just go to the magic shop and tell Anya I asked you to help."
Jason nodded. "You got it."
~~`~~
Dawn and Spike were busy in the training room. They had the mats on the floor, but cleared the gear used for sparring and training out of the way. Just as Spike set the dummy in the corner, Jason walked in. "Anything I can do?"
The two Slayers looked up.
"Oh, hey, Jason," Dawn greeted him, "What are you doing back here?"
"Um, Buffy said something big was happening, and asked me to come here." He eyed the blonde man standing with a dummy. He seemed none too pleased with the officer's appearance.
Jason looked around the room and saw a gymnast's horse. He headed towards it and began to scoot it off to the side.
Dawn gave Spike a quizzical look. Spike shrugged, then went to the other side of the horse, helping Jason. "So, how much do you know, mate?"
"Buffy's a Slayer. She kills Vampires and other demons, which seem to frequent Sunnydale a lot."
"D'say that's the long an' short of it," Spike agreed as they pushed the horse against the wall.
Willow walked in and looked around the seemingly empty training room. "Hey, guys."
"Willow!" Dawn smiled as she helped Willow with her load of books and notes.
"Thanks, Dawn. I had most of the stuff at home. Where is Buffy?"
"She should be here any minute," Jason offered. "The other officers had to change out of uniform."
"So we wait?" Willow asked.
"Not for long," Buffy said as she entered, followed by 15 plain-clothed officers. She turned and watched them file past her. "Ok, guys, just find a spot and sit. Get comfy because there's a lot to cover."
Buffy joined her friends and the borrowed detective. "Is Xander coming?"
"Yeah. He has to shut down the site for the day." Spike eyed the door. "Said he'd get here by 5 or so."
"That's not too long." Buffy saw that the men were seated on the mats; then she turned to Jason.
"Not to be a pain, but you may want to join them." She motioned towards the men.
Jason looked at her confused, but went and sat on the couch, which everyone else had ignored.
"What about Anya?" Dawn asked.
"She'll want to run the shop." Buffy looked out into the empty store. Anya was busy dusting another shelf while she hummed. "What's up with her anyway?"
Xander chose that moment to come into The Magic Box. Anya put her feather duster down and smiled at him. A second passed before they were having a serious make out session next to a statue of a Coscan fertility goddess.
"Oh," Buffy squeaked, "What happened?"
"Did I mention I saw Xander last night?" Spike asked, then shook his head. "Probably not."
"Anya's human again," Willow said. "I think she's changed or something. She even protected your wish, Buffy."
"My wi-. Oh, yeah." She smiled at Spike. "That was nice of her."
"Right thoughtful." He returned her sentiment with a nod.
The murmurs grew in the open area of the training room, reminding the Slayers and their friends of the reason for the gathering. "You all ready for this?" Buffy asked.
"Hold on," Xander said as he came through the door with Anya. "Don't start without us."
"What about the shop, Anya?" Willow asked.
"I thought we should close early for impending apocalypse meetings. New policy." She grinned at the shocked Scoobies.
"Ok, then, time to spill, and beg," Buffy said as she and the group walked up to the front of the seated officers.
She cleared her throat before she began the introductions. "Ok, guys. First off, I'd like you all to meet my friends. This," she pulled at Xander's arm, bringing him forward, "Is Xander. He's been fighting with me for almost 7 years. He's an expert on several demons, and has a lot of knowledge concerning military tactics." She smiled at the man she'd grown to love like family.
He smiled nervously and waved at the group of officers, then took a step back.
"This is Willow." Buffy laced an arm through her best friend's. "She's a hacker. She can crack a code faster than you can say 'Jiminy Cricket', and she can tell you anything and everything about spell casting you'd ever want to know. She's also my best friend. She and Xander have both been fighting with me since I moved here."
Willow smiled at all of the men, and noticed more than a few whispering with each other. She saw Jason sitting on the couch, and smiled at him directly, knowing he must be already bored.
Buffy continued with Anya. "This is the shopkeeper of The Magic Box. She is also an ex-vengeance demon. She is more than a thousand years old, and anything we can't find in a book about a demon, she usually knows by heart."
Anya smiled at the group as well, then thanked Buffy for the compliment.
Buffy tried to decide who should be next, Dawn or Spike. After some thought, she motioned for both of them to stand with her. "I know a lot of you have wondered why I'm stronger than I look." Another round of murmuring echoed off the walls.
"Well, it's like this. I'm a Slayer, born with the power to sense demons, especially Vampires, and gifted with extra strength and ability to kill them." The murmuring quieted down. "This is Spike, a former Vampire." Wide eyes and dropped jaws were the responses she received. "He was." She looked at him not really sure how to explain.
Spike took his cue from her. "I was tested, and given back my human life, with a catch. Now I have the strength and gifts of a Slayer."
"Hold on a second," Jason stood up from his seat. "You mean he was a vampire, and now he's one of the good guys?"
"Yeah," Buffy nodded.
"Well, why don't any other Vampires go get tested?"
Spike looked at him plaintively. "One: they'd have to want to. Most don't have the inclination. Two: in all the time man has walked the earth, only two Vampires have passed the tests."
"Oh," Jason sat back down, "Sorry, go on."
Buffy scanned the room, hoping not to be interrupted again. She looked at Dawn. "This is my sister, Dawn." Now that she had to, she wasn't sure how to explain her Key / Slayer sister.
"Although it's not really how this stuff normally works, she is also a Slayer, and very important. Not just to me, or my friends, but to stopping an apocalypse that is scheduled to happen tomorrow night."
"Excuse me, ma'am. Did you just say, 'apocalypse'?" A muscular brunette officer asked.
Ok, maybe Dawn wasn't hard to explain. But the apocalypse thing? That might be tricky.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
As promised, an update. :D
Chapter End Notes:
Yes, it is getting close to the grand finale. I have this and Book 3 of Akosha set to end at the same time. The good news is I have another story set up to start when these are over. Next update will be on tuesday or earlier.