Chapter Nine: Discoveries
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Buffy clutched her bag to her side, careful not to jar it too much. The orb she had found the night before was nestled carefully in the bag. She didn't know what it did or what set it off to do unspeakable damage. She entered the Magic Box, the bell ringing overhead.
“Oh, it’s you,” Anya said sullenly, sitting back down at the Scooby research table.
“Sorry to disappoint. Find anything yet?”
“Nope, just page after page of words that continue to dull and bore me.”
“Isn’t it close to closing time?” Buffy asked looking around the empty shop.
“Hey! You’re right. I must go do that now, because it’s my job,” she stated emphatically, but the look on her face was one of gratefulness and relief. She got up and awkwardly hugged her, then went on to begin closing the blinds.
“Buffy? Is that you?” Giles called from the back.
“Yeah, and I brought the glowy thingy,” she answered, meeting Giles halfway as he came out from the back.
“Well, let’s have a see, shall we?”
Buffy pulled the brown shoulder bag around and opened it. Reaching inside, she pulled out the glowing orb. Giles immediately stepped forward, tentatively taking it from her hands.
“It appears to be paranormal in origin,” he murmured.
"Cause with the glowy I didn't get that," Buffy mumbled so Giles couldn't hear. “So what is it?” she asked as the door to the Magic Box opened again, Willow and Tara coming through.
“I’m not quite sure…”
“Not sure of what?” Willow interrupted.
“Buffy found this last night on patrol,” Giles said, handing the orb to Willow.
“Tara?” Willow turned towards the other Wicca and gave her the orb. Tara closed her hands around it, and closed her eyes.
“It’s not evil. I can tell that much. It almost hums with energy, protecting energy,” she whispered.
“And you get that all from touching it?” Giles asked, his curiosity piqued.
Tara immediately opened her eyes, a faint blush staining her cheeks. “I-I-I can sometimes read an object’s aura, or-or at least what little they have of one. Sometimes, things give off vibes. Nikole taught me to tune into them.” Tara handed the orb back to Giles.
Buffy stared at the orb, her brows bunched together in thought. “So, it’s not evil, and it gives off protecting energy vibes, but we still don’t know what it is. Think you guys can make with the research while I go back to the warehouses and see if I can find anything that might give us a clue?”
“I think that would be wise,” Giles answered, already turning away and walking over to the table.
“I’ll be back in a couple hours.”
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It was moments like this when Buffy really wished she’d brought a flashlight with her. The alleyways between the warehouses loomed ominously dark, the few lights hanging off the building gave it an eerie glow instead of a bright reprieve.
She stepped with purpose down the alley, eyes and senses perked for any motion. She saw the sign from the other night and rushed towards it, walking along the fence, looking for anything.
“I don't belong here. I have important instructions. Fascists!”
Buffy walked towards the voice, finding the night guard from last night huddled on the ground, his uniform in shambles, his body rocking steadily.
“Hey, are you alright? Are you hurt?” She stepped forward, reaching out to help him. His head snapped up, his eye held a wild, feral look, halting her hand. As she got closer, the guard shrunk away from her, whimpering. “Look, I’m going to go get help. Just wait here.”
Buffy stood, looking around for the nearest phone. A ways down, she saw the night guard’s office and jogged towards it. After placing the 911 call, she came back towards the man, crouching down next to him.
“What happened?” she asked in what she hoped was a soothing tone but it did nothing to help the man.
“Can’t run. Can’t hide. They find you. Take it all. Pain. All pain. Wiggles. Crawling inside,” he babbled, wrapping his arms around himself. “Brightness. Doesn’t belong here. All wrong. She’ll bleed. She’ll bleed!” he screeched, tugging at his hair.
“Who’ll bleed? Who is she?”
“Doesn’t belong here,” he replied, his eyes wide as if he wasn’t even seeing her at all. “Drip, drop, drip, drop.”
The flashing lights caught Buffy’s attention. She turned to see the ambulance making a beeline for them, stopping just a few feet away and a pair of men stepping out.
“You the one that made the call?” the first one asked.
“Yeah,” she answered, standing up as the two approached.
“You know what’s wrong with him?” the medic asked as they began to take the man’s vitals.
“No. I was out for a walk and I found him like this. All he’s said so far is some babble, I can’t make any sense of it.”
“Guess we’ve got another one,” the man’s partner said with a shake of his head.
“Another one?” Buffy asked confused.
“Yeah, this is the third person we’ve had report. People just find them sitting around muttering about nothing really. Don’t worry though, we’ve got a good psychiatric ward at the hospital. Doctors will figure it out sooner or later.”
Buffy watched as they got the stretcher from the back and strapped the man down. The night guard latched onto her arm as they pushed him by her.
“They’re coming at you. Don’t think you’re above it missy. They come through the family. They get to your family,” he said in a strained voice, his body bucking against the straps.
“My family? What do you mean?” Buffy questioned, walking along side the stretcher while one of the paramedics tried to unlatch the man’s hand.
“Your family. Your family,” he repeated over and over as the paramedics lifted him up and into the back, one climbing in, his partner closing the back doors behind him.
“If you don’t mind, we’d like you to come down to make a statement, just for his file, and probably for the police.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she replied absently, her mind still trying to figure out what the man was talking about. What did all this have to do with her family?
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“So you’re the lucky one this time, huh?” a man commented, walking up to her.
“Lucky one?” Buffy asked, looking up to see a young, blond man. He was dressed in a pair of scrubs and he gave her a friendly smile.
“You found our latest craze of the week, congratulations,” he said jokingly. “My name’s Ben.”
“Buffy,” she said shaking the hand he offered.
“Let’s sit.” Ben gestured towards two chairs that were resting again the wall. “So, you want to tell me what happened?” he asked, clipboard and pen in hand.
“Okay, I was out for a walk and I just found the night guard curled up on the ground. I asked him what was wrong and he made with the crazy. So I called, you guys came, and that’s pretty much it.”
“At any point, was he coherent with you?”
“No, but he wasn’t always like that,” she mused aloud.
“What do you mean?” he questioned, looking up from his scribbling.
“I had seen him the night before, he was just fine then, and then tonight he was just…”
“Crazy?” Ben supplied.
“Well yeah, but I was trying not to be so blunt.”
“So you didn’t see or hear anything that would lead to what did this?”
“No, there was nothing in that alley,” she answered, her eyes expanding for a moment, thinking about the orb. She had learned in her time as a Slayer that there weren’t very many coincidences in Sunnydale.
“Did you think of something?” Ben questioned again.
“No, no, just you know, kind of shocked and scared,” she lied, giving him a small smile.
“That’s normal, it’s not everyday you stumble onto something crazy,” he tried to joke.
Oh, you’d be surprised, she thought to herself, but said out loud, “Is that it is?”
“If you have nothing else to say, then you’re free to go.”
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“Giles!” Buffy called out, half way in the door of the Magic Box.
“Yes Buffy?”
She entered to see the whole gang seated around the table, each with a book in hand.
“You figure out what the glowing ball of shininess is yet?”
“No, why? Did you find anything?” he asked, setting his book down, everyone looking up from their own.
“Remember the guard from last night? Well, let’s just say he’s taken up a permanent residence in the psychiatric ward of Sunnydale Hospital,” she deadpanned.
“Are you saying he’s gone mad?” Giles asked, wondering why his charge refused to say what she meant half the time.
“Yeah,” she confirmed and everyone quickly leaned away from the orb that was sitting on the center of the table. “But it can’t be the orb. Tara said it was for protecting and I had it with me all night, and I'm still all sane right? There has to be something else.”
“So the question is what could have made the guy go from Joe Schmoe to living la vida loca over night?” Xander observed.
“Exactly. The only thing I can think of is that it had to be some kind of magic. I mean, how else do you explain the guard going all Mad Hatter overnight?”
“You know, there is a spell to see spells,” Anya offered. “French sorcerer, oh what’s his name…”
“Cloutier?” Giles suggested.
“Yes! So cute in his little knickers, but he had a spell that demons hated called ‘tirer la couture’.”
“Rotate many foodstuffs?” Buffy asked puzzled.
“Pull back the curtain,” Willow corrected her.
“Like I said, it’s a spell to see spells. Well, more of a trance to see spells. You should try it.”
“What do you mean by ‘see’ spells?”
“All spells leave a trace signature, they’re just not visible to the human eye. The trance brings your mind to a state of perception and thus allows you to see the spell,” Anya explained with a smile, happy to be able to supply information and be useful.
“So I’ll go home and get all trancey and then head back to the alley and see what I can find,” Buffy stated, nodding her head.
“Buffy, this is not something that can just be done,” Giles noted. “The Sorcerer Cloutier was legendary. His skills achieving higher states of consciousness were--”
“Better than mine?” she interrupted and then turned to Willow with a pout. “I knew he was going to say that.” She then turned back to Giles with determination. “Giles, we’ve been training, I’ve been practicing the concentration skills. I know I can do this.”
The two stared at each other before Giles relented with a sigh. “Very well then. I’ll gather the ingredients.”
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Buffy sat, and sat some more, focusing herself on her mediation, emptying herself of all worldly things until it was just her. The incenses swirled around her, soothing her. Her breathing was deep and slow, her heart slowing down. She was conscious of every intake of breath, of every heartbeat.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat, flowing into nothingness, until something clicked inside of her. She immediately opened her eyes. The incenses had died away, burned down to nothing. Her vision almost thrummed with every beat of her heart. She stood and glanced around. Everything was as it always was, except her odd eye vision, and her hearing almost seemed muffled.
Buffy opened her door and ventured downstairs. She nearly didn’t notice it, but when she did, it puzzled her even more. She stared confused at the family pictures over the mantle, particularly at the ones that contained Dawn. She watched with horror as her sister began to fade in and out until she completely disappeared, leaving the picture unblemished, like that was the way it was suppose to be.
Shaking her head, she turned and ran up the stairs, straight into Dawn’s room. She turned in a slow circle as the fluffy room of her sister was replaced with the darkened remains of a storage room filled with boxes. A sob caught in her throat and she turned to see Dawn enter the room.
“Who said you could come in my room?” Dawn demanded as she herself faded in and out.
“What? Who are you?”
“I’m your sister you pea brain,” Dawn retorted. “Now get out of my room.”
Buffy didn’t know what to think or believe. She rushed past Dawn and headed back downstairs. The ringing of the phone had her almost jumping out of her skin. She made short work of getting to the phone and picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Buffy? Oh good, I’m glad I caught you. Nikole’s shown up and shed a little light on our orb,” Giles said on the other end.
“So what do you got?” she asked as she strained to concentrate on Giles’ voice.
“It’s called the Dagon Sphere. It goes back many centuries,” he said, and there was the sound of ruffling pages of a book.
“What’s it do?”
“Like Tara said, it’s a protective device, used to ward off primordial evil. The reference in the book states that it was created to repeal ‘That Which Cannot Be Named’.”
“Which is probably…” she trailed off, prompting Giles to fill the gap.
“I presume it’s the hellgod, Glorificus. Unless there’s something else, it’s our best bet and Nikole seems intent that it’s correct.”
“I’m still going back the factory. Someone planted that doohickey there and they’ve got the answers.”
“Buffy, do be careful. But before you go, did the trance work? Were you able to elevate yourself?”
Buffy looked up to see the pictures of her family continue to flicker and she shut her eyes. “Giles, the things is…” she stopped as she felt Dawn step up behind her.
“Yes?”
“No, it didn’t work. I’ll come back to the Magic Box after I recon.”
She hung up the phone without waiting for him to say anything. She gave a little jump as Dawn spoke.
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing,” she snapped. “I’m going out.”
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Buffy stepped up to the chain linked fence and fisted her hands around the lock the secured the gate together. With a tug, she broke the lock and it clattered to the ground. She made her way to the side of the building and entered through the door. She stuck close to the walls before seeing the gaping hole where what she suppose a door use to be, and what was left of the door on the floor, its metal indented in as if someone kicked it with all their force.
Keeping quiet, she crept forward, seeing the man strapped to a chair in the room. Forgetting all pretenses, she rushed forward, kneeling in front of the monk. His face was cut up and bruised, a sheen of sweat on his face as he fought to stay awake.
“You’re the one that left the orb. I got it,” she said as she untied him. Her mind raced over what Nikole had told her and she thought that maybe this was one of the monks. He would definitely have answers. As she undid the last tie, she felt someone at her back. She turned just in time to grab them by the throat.
Seeing that it was the hellgod, Buffy tightened her grip. Not prepared for the hellgod’s attack, she took the full force of Glory’s backhand slap, flying through the air, reminiscent of their first meeting. Buffy bit into the cement wall, leaving a nice Buffy shaped imprint before sliding to the floor.
Buffy slowly stood again. She had to get out of here with the monk. She needed answers more than she needed to kick the skanky ass of the hellgod.
“Glory, I guess you aren’t true to your word. You said you’d give me time and now you’re breaking the rules,” she said as she inched sideways, putting herself in closer range with to the monk.
“Oh no deary, that’s my holy man, you leave him alone,” Glory commanded coming forward.
Buffy had no choice but to try to slow the god down a bit before trying to take off with the monk. She dipped and swerved, shying away from the worst of Glory’s attacks while trying to get her own punches in. Finally seeing an opening, Buffy put all her force into her roundhouse kick, knocking the god back into the cement wall. Buffy quickly turned and grabbed the monk, clutching him to her she ran toward the window, turning her body as they fell.
She let out a pained grunt as her back slammed into the ground. Getting up, she began to drag the monk away from the warehouse. She reflexively flinched as the building let out a groan, dust floating out from the window.
“Stop, please,” the monk croaked out, his eyes closing.
“No, we have to keep going,” Buffy replied as she stumbled along with him, making it to the fence before he collapsed again.
“Please, my journey is done, I think.”
“Oh no, don’t get all philosophical on me. We’re going,” she commanded as she tried to get him up again but the monk stopped her.
“No…you have to…the Key. You must protect the Key. Many more will die if you don’t keep it safe,” he rasped out, each word chipping away at the strength in him.
“Alright, we can keep the Key safe, but ways away from here.”
“It’s a portal… It opens the door,” he continued on, his dark gaze locked onto hers, willing her to understand.
“Yeah, I know, but what about the Dagon’s Sphere? Is that the Key?”
“No. For many centuries it had no form. My brethren, its only keepers. Then the abomination found us. We had to hide it, molded it flesh, made it human, and sent it to you.”
Buffy’s breath caught in her throat as it all sunk in. The flickering pictures…
“Dawn,” she whispered.
“We knew the Slayer would protect it,” he answered, his skin color fading before her eyes.
“My memories…”
“We built them. All of them.”
“Well then un-build them!” she exclaimed. “This is my life you’re messing with. I didn’t ask for this! I don’t even know…what is she?”
“Human…and helpless. She’s innocent in all this. She needs you,” the monk whispered, his voice beginning to fade away. “She doesn’t know.” The monk’s eyes began to flutter, his skin now the color of ash.
“Does anyone else know?” Buffy asked quickly. If she had to protect the Key, she had to know if anyone else knew.
The monk’s eyes snapped open again, inhaling deeply. “The vampire witch,” he answered with his last breath and was gone.
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tbc…