Chapter 33: Something Curious
It had been a couple of weeks since Giles, Willow, Tara had arrived back in Sunnydale with Dana. Everyone had been keeping an eye on the young woman, who seemed to be doing well. She was excelling in her training, but she showed no aggression outside of the training room. Buffy had even taken her out on patrol on a couple of nights, and though the girl had gotten a little roughed up, she’d never freaked out or anything that anybody had expected she would do. However, her dreams continued to torture her, bringing back memories that seemed to pain her, emotionally and physically. Sometimes she would talk about those flashes. Other times she would opt to stay silent. But for the moment, she didn’t seem to pose a threat.
“So what do you want? Big party or quiet get together?” Willow asked, as she and Buffy walked through the cemetery. It was still daylight, but not for much longer, and Buffy expected that Spike would catch up to them shortly after sunset.
“I dunno,” Buffy said with a shrug.
“C’mon, Buffy. It’s your twenty first birthday. We can conjure you up something…” Buffy shot her a glance. “No! Not conjure. Um, bad phrasing. I just meant, as a group, we can come up with something really big. I expect the same on my big 2-1,” she teased.
“I dunno,Wil. I kinda just feel like staying in. You know how crazy my birthdays can get. I’d be happy if all of my friends could be in one room without any snide remarks for one night.”
“Yeah, that’s a tough one,” Willow admitted. “But, hey, did you notice yesterday? Spike said he was hungry, and Xander didn’t say anything? I mean, you could tell he wanted to, but he didn’t.”
“True. He’s trying. So is Giles. I mean, Giles had to share his bathroom with Spike for a while, and I know he hated every minute of it. But at least he’s being…kinda civil.” Buffy yawned.
“Didn’t sleep much last night?” Buffy couldn’t hide her smile. “Oh…yeah, I know what you mean. Since Tara visited me in England and we worked things out…we’ve been kinda…”
“Get a room-y?”
“Yeah,” Willow said with a slight blush.
“It’s ok, Wil. I get it. Believe me, I do.” She yawned again. “Plus, I’ve been helping Giles with Dana.”
“She doesn’t really seem like the psycho murderess type, does she?”
“No, not really,” Buffy frowned.
“Now Faith? There’s a girl who can wear her true colors on her sleeve, huh?” Buffy nodded a little but said nothing. Willow decided to change the subject. “So you haven’t had any more problems ‘cause of the claim?”
“Nope. The claim site is pretty much healed over, and it doesn’t burn anymore. I’ve gotten a little light-headed, and sometimes I have a little headache, but nothing like before. I think that’s the worst of it. I hope, anyway.”
“What’s it like? Being bonded to somebody?”
“I dunno, really. It’s kind’ve like a mystical marriage, if you think about it. Since Spike can’t exactly get married legally, this is the next best thing. He tried to make me brunch the other day. Can you picture it? A vampire making pancakes and fresh-squeezed orange juice?” The girls giggled together like old times.
“And you thought being the Slayer meant you’d never get married,” Willow said with a grin.
“Yeah. Well, I’m pretty happy. I never thought it’d be Spike I’d be this happy with, but I’m…very happy.” She shook her head, stuffing her hands in her pockets as the continued their patrol, making mental notes of all of the fresh graves. So far? Three. “Before Angel went to L.A., he told me I deserved to be with someone who could take me into the light.”
“Yeah?” Willow wondered. Buffy nodded.
“I thought he was right, at first. I guess that’s why I had so much trouble after what Parker did to me. And then I met Riley, and for a while, I thought I’d finally found what I was looking for. That lasted about two seconds, and I knew that as much as we had in common, he wasn’t the guy I was supposed to be with.”
“How’d you know?”
“Well, the fact that he was letting vampires drink from him behind my back was sort’ve a big neon sign in my face, but even before that. He wasn’t the one I wanted to talk to about my mom when she was sick. I think Spike actually saw more emotion out of me than I let Riley see.”
“You and Spike have had a connection for a long time.”
“Yeah. I think the minute I met him, well, first, all I wanted to do was shove a stake through his heart, but I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. I knew he was gonna be around for a long time.”
“Aren’t you glad you didn’t dust him?” Willow chuckled.
“Oh yeah. I’ve definitely seen a side of him that nobody else has.”
“I’ll bet,” her friend teased. Buffy rolled her eyes, but her smile was all truth-telling. But before she could say anything, her cell phone rang. Furrowing her brows, she answered.
“Hello?”
“Buffy, it’s Xander. You need to get to Dana’s right away.”
“I’ll be right there,” Buffy said briskly before hanging up.
“Big trouble?” Willow wondered.
“Maybe. It’s Dana. Let’s go.” Willow nodded and followed her friend out of the cemetery.
***
“What happened?” Buffy asked quietly, as she and Giles stepped out into the hall.
“I was driving her home from our training session, and she went into some sort of…of trance. She started to become very unstable, and by the time I got her back here, she was spouting off things that I can only assume are memories. It was as if she didn’t know where she was. She was so consumed within the memories.”
“Is…is she ok?”
“She is now, but these flashes of memory are coming faster now, and it’s making her very unstable. I’m afraid if this continues, she might revert back to…”
“To the state she was in when the Council took her?”
“Yes, precisely.”
“So what do we do?”
“I know a spell,” he started, “but it could go either one of two ways.”
“Let me guess. Good or horribly bad.”
“Well…yes.”
“What does it do?”
“It’s sort of along the lines of how a hypnotherapist might dig up hidden memories for their patients.”
“Oh,” Buffy said quietly. “So, you mean, just give her all those memories of why she was put in prison, yadda yadda yadda?” Giles nodded. “So it would…what? Give her peace of mind or make her Psycho Slayer?”
“It’s quite possible. But the memories are becoming more physically harmful to her. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, clutching at her head as if she had a terrible migraine.” Buffy frowned.
“You don’t think this has anything to do with what was happening to me, do you?”
“I don’t believe there’s a connection, but we know so little…”
“Ok,” Buffy said with a nod. “Looks like it’s gonna be intense no matter what. You should get ready. Looks like we’re about to find out what really happened to put her in that place. Let’s just hope it wasn’t what I think it was.”
“Right. I’ll get started.” He headed off, and Buffy went off to make a phone call, letting Spike know he’d be patrolling alone tonight.
***
“What’ll this do again?” Willow wondered, as Giles brought the new Slayer into a trance. She’d spent the past hour explaining her broken memories, trying to piece them all together. Trying to remember had gotten her even more agitated, so Giles had decided to resort to this.
“It’ll piece together the darkened parts of her memories. She’ll be able to tell us exactly what happened.”
“This wouldn’t happen to be laced with a truth spell, would it?” Xander asked.
“Yes. Thanks for that, by the way, Willow.”
“Just doing my part,” the redhead nodded.
“Wait a minute. Is this really a good idea? I mean, if she remembers everything, what if she…you know…goes crazy? Can she hear me?” Giles shook his at Xander.
“That’s what the weapons are for, right sweetie?” Anya asked, looking up at Xander. She held a crossbow in her hands.
“The rate at which her memory is returning is quite remarkable. It’s highly likely that it will completely return within days, and until then, the agitation is also likely to increase. I think the safest thing to do for everyone would be to do this spell.”
“And she’ll remember everything when she wakes up?” She was suddenly wondering if this was such a good idea.
“In theory.”
“There you go again,” Buffy muttered. But, his reasoning was the most logical. “Alright. Do it. But if she so much as reaches for a weapon when she wakes up, she’s on the first flight back to Travers and the Council. Got it?”
“I agree,” Giles replied. “The last thing Sunnydale needs is a rogue vampire Slayer.”
“Again,” Xander offered, thinking about Faith. Anya patted his arm. Giles cleared his throat.
“Shall we get started?”
***
Her voice quivered as if she were there; as if it were happening to her all over again. “They’re pulling me down the hall. There are three of them. They’re dragging me. My feet are bleeding. I can’t…I’m dizzy.” She gripped the arms of the chair.
“You’re safe, Dana. Please, try to focus,” Giles breathed, as everybody leaned in, waiting for more.
“He has a needle. He sticks it in my arm, and everything goes black. I can’t see. But they’re pulling me. They’re clawing at me. I can’t…I don’t know where I am.” Tears fell from beneath her closed eyelids. “They’re hitting me. Throwing me to the ground. I try to fight, but I can’t see them. Then everything’s quiet. I’m sleeping.”
“What happens when you wake up, Dana?”
“They’re dead. They’re all dead, and I’m holding the weapon. But I don’t remember. I can’t…they tried to hurt me.”
Buffy felt her stomach twist into knots at the sound of the story.
“What do you hear?”
“Nothing. I can barely see. It’s blurry, but I start to run. The door’s open, and I run. And it’s raining. It’s cold, and someone stops me. But they don’t understand me when I try to talk to them. They run away from me. Afraid. I can hear myself, and I don’t make sense. I can barely run. My legs are stiff, and it hurts.”
“Where do you go?”
“I don’t…I just fall. I’m sleeping again.”
“And when you wake?” Dana hesitated. Her eyes moved back and forth rapidly beneath her lids as if she were dreaming.
“It’s dark. It’s cold. My hands and feet are cuffed. The people…I can’t understand them. They’re angry.”
“And when do you leave?”
“I don’t. A man comes and visits me. He gives me shots to try and make me better. But he doesn’t. It only gets worse. They look like animals. Savage animals. I try to escape, and I…” Her voice caught in her throat.
“You killed the guards.”
“They were holding me down. They were dragging me. I fought them. I didn’t know I was so strong.” Buffy felt a chill run up her spine. “Please. I can’t…” Dana was whimpering now. “Make it stop. They’re bleeding. I’m hurting them. They’re…they’re so still.”
Everyone in the room stood staring at one another, uncertain of what to say or if they should even move.
“Dana,” Giles breathed, “is there anything else you remember?”
“Mr. Travers. He comes to visit me. He takes me away, and then…I’m strapped to a table. They’re putting needles in me. I can understand them again. They’re going to make me better. They’re telling me I’m Chosen.” She was trembling now. “They tell me the past doesn’t matter.” Giles stood up, clearing his throat. “Dana, when I snap my fingers, you’re going to wake up and remember everything.”
Buffy’s hands tightened around her weapon, while everyone else grasped something to protect themselves with just in case Dana’s triggered memories were to cause her to make any sudden violent movements.
Giles snapped his fingers, and Dana’s eyes fluttered open. They were red from the tears, which were still falling. She began to breath heavily, and she gripped the chair arms tighter.
“Dana?” She looked around at everyone, seeing all of their faces filled with doubt and a little fear.
“I remember,” she breathed. “I killed them. I killed them. I…” She lurched forward out of the chair, falling on her hands and knees. She heaved, but nothing came up.
“Give her some room,” Tara suggested softly. Everyone in the room took a couple steps back.
“They drugged me,” she whispered. “They were going to kill me, and they drugged me. I killed them. I can’t remember doing it, but I did it. I know I did.”
“Sounded like self-defense to me,” Willow offered. Everyone cast a glance at her before turning back to Dana.
“I killed the guards. I…I was afraid.” She shook her head. “Why did I…”
“The drug they gave you. It…it must have triggered hallucinations,” Giles thought aloud. “Of course they wouldn’t have run blood tests on you when they brought you in, and whatever it was they administered to you at the prison…” He was silent for a moment.
“Finish, please?” Xander asked, jaw agape.
“It’s possible that the combination of the drugs altered her consciousness on some level…played tricks on the mind. It’s a theory.”
“A theory? It doesn’t make up for what I did!” Dana exclaimed.
“You were protecting yourself,” Buffy interjected. “Number one on the things-to-do list for Slayers? Don’t die. You survived.”
“Yeah. But it doesn’t change anything,” Dana breathed. “It doesn’t change what I am. I’m a murderer.”
***
“What’s going on, pet?” Spike wondered, as Buffy slipped outside to fill him in on the news.
“Dana remembers everything,” she pointed out. “You know those weird fits she’s been having the past couple of weeks? The ones after her dreams?”
“Yeah…”
“I guess it got really bad tonight, and Giles did a spell…kind of a truth spell, but it helped unlock some memories for her. Well, now she remembers what happened.”
“What was it?” he wondered, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
“She was attacked by, I’m guessing, three men. They shot her up with something, and she blacked out. When she woke up, she was standing over them, and they were dead. The doctors in the prison shot her up with something else, and Giles has a theory that maybe the drugs mixing together played a part in her going all…wild, rabid, coma girl.”
“That makes no bloody sense,” Spike said, shaking his head. “I’m sure it’s true, if Sherlock came up with it, but…now what?”
“I don’t know. She’s beating herself up now. It’s like she’s just gotten her soul back or something. She’s taking it pretty hard.”
“But she didn’t go crazy and try to kill everyone inside? That’s a plus, right, Slayer?”
“Yeah. That’s a big plus,” she agreed with a nod. “Now, I guess we just help her out, keep training her. She’s saying she wants to go back to England, but Giles doesn’t trust the Council to help her, you know?”
“Don’t blame him. A bunch of limey, sodding…”
“Spike.”
“Sorry, they’re pro-dust when it comes to vampires, luv.”
“Yeah,” Buffy said with a half-smile. “But you’re sleeping with a pro-duster. But then again, I make an exception for you.” She gave him a little wink, but she heard Willow call for her and sighed. “How was patrol?”
“Only one clawing his way out tonight.” She shrugged.
“Ought to be heading home.” He paused, smiling a little at the way it sounded for him to call her house ‘home.’ “Though Dawn’s going to ask me to help her with her history homework. She says I have no bloody excuse, because I’ve lived through most of what they’re covering. Think she’d buy it if I told her I slept through most of it?”
“I don’t think so. But tell her I said she can’t use you as a reference. If she wants answers, she’s going to have to find them the old fashioned way.”
“Right. Your sister is a Summers. She knows how to get what she wants. Mind you, you’re much more convincing.” He leaned in, kissing her deeply for only a few moments before he pulled away. “I’ll wait up.”
“I’ll be home as soon as I can.” She squeezed his arm through his leather duster, and she pulled him in for one more kiss before sending him off toward home.
***
“Maybe we should have waited to do the spell,” Willow suggested as they all sat around in Dana’s living room. Dana had long since passed out on her bed from exhaustion, but nobody was quite ready to make a move to leave yet. Somebody needed to stay with her through the night and make sure she was alright, and while the obvious choice was Buffy, Tara and Willow had offered, since they’d spent more time with her recently. Buffy had given Willow a couple of weapons for a just-in-case scenario.
“No, it was the right time,” Giles said with an assuring nod. “The memories were taking a physical and emotional toll on her. If she’d continued to get those memories back in fragments, it might have driven her mad.”
“What if it already did?” Anya suggested. “She could be a very good actress.” Giles shook his head.
“No. No, I saw her before. She’s not acting.”
“Truth spell, remember?” Willow asked.
“Well, no offense Wil, but your spells haven’t always worked in the past,” Xander pointed out, immediately regretting it after the hurt look appeared on Willow’s face.
“Hey!”
“I said ‘no offense.’”
“I don’t think we’re gonna figure anything else out right now, guys. Let’s just call it a night and see what happens in the morning.”
“Buffy’s right. Let’s all get some rest. Tomorrow is another day, after all. Perhaps Dana will be feeling in better spirits.”
“Or she’ll try to murder Willow and Tara in their sleep.” Both witches shot her disbelieving glances. “What? I was just pointing out a possibility.”
“Come on, Sweetie. Let’s get you home,” Xander suggested, ushering her toward the door.
“I’m gone too. Wil? Call if you guys need anything.”
“Alright. We’ll be fine though,” she assured Buffy. Buffy nodded and made for the door, and Giles followed her out. As they were walking out to the street, Giles placed his hand on Buffy’s shoulder.
“And how are you feeling?”
“Me? I’m ok. Just a little tired. I’ll be fresh as a daisy tomorrow and ready for research.” Giles raised an eyebrow. “Ok. Well, I’ll be ready to train while everybody else researches.”
“I thought so,” Giles said with an amused smirk. “Good night, Buffy.”
“Night,” she called, stuffing her hands in her pockets and heading toward Revello Drive to snuggle up with Spike for what she was sure would be a very long, very pleasant night.
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Chapter End Notes:
Thanks again for the feedback! Please keep it coming! If this chapter felt at all forced to you, it's probably because I had a heck of a time writing it. I'm eager to get on with the rest of the story, and I wanted to get this part out of the way. Lots more to come soon!