Buffy needed Spike’s help getting dressed. She was given a beautiful silk-like gown that had many layers underneath. It was low cut but was covered completely with buttons on the back(was the whole back of dress buttons or was there a long line of buttons from waist up) all the way from her waist up to the low-neck line and the lower part had bows Spike had to tie. Buffy figured that was why the maid offered to help her dress but Spike did a fine job of it. When she questioned how he knew how to do this stuff, he only shrugged, “Dru was sick a lot and needed lots of care.” She for once was grateful for Dru so that he was able to help her. She put on her soft leather boots that were covered by the dress and Spike helped her to braid her hair into two braids, which was the way the females wore it in this village. They were tiny braids but she wanted to fit in the best way she could. She had been given two red silk-like ribbons to tie the ends.
Spike was amazed at how beautiful she looked. He was dressed in fine black leather pants and a black leather jacket that covered a white silk-like shirt. There was a little red ribbon given to him as well which he tied into a bow. He felt like he was dressed for a wedding and smiled at Buffy whispering, “Buffy, you look beautiful.” Buffy blushed and whispered in reply, “You don’t look so bad yourself, Spike.” He grinned as the maid entered and said to Spike, “You guys look great, perfect King material. Just follow me and make sure to bow in front of him and have your mate take the right seat and you the left, which is tradition. You are to serve your mate which again is traditional and you are only to speak when spoken to, It’s good that your mate does not understand the language as it is customary for the females not to talk at the table.”
Spike questioned, “Will there be other females?” Helena nodded, “Two others. This is a dinner for the King’s warriors as well as a few of his friends and you two. There will be 16 total at the table.” Spike nodded as he took Buffy’s hand as she leaned down to put down Fuzzball who was in her arms. He had noticed she had often petted Fuzzball when feeling insecure. She smiled at the gesture and wondered what was happening to her. She was actually grateful to Spike for trying to include her especially when she and the others had done everything in their power to exclude him. Well she had been doing better lately when compared to the others. She realized that no matter what happened, she always wanted him to be around even in her world.
Dinner was uneventful. Buffy couldn’t understand a word that was said. Spike had to serve her but he did well. He picked things he knew she would like and she had no complaints surprisingly enough. Spike sat with her, of course, for the play and would carefully and quietly whisper some of the plot so she knew what was going on. Knowing the plot, helped her to be able to imagine what was going on based on the play’s actions. She figured it was like watching an opera, which she had heard was in another language. She actually enjoyed herself and found herself enjoying Spike’s company even more. The play was about a hunter who accidentally had shot a girl who had run away from home. He had helped her to get better and she had fallen in love with him and he with her. He had asked her parents’ permission to marry but they were denied. The play then got a little confusing but it turned out he had fought and won for the right to marry her and they seemed to live happily ever after. Buffy longed for a happily ever after ending in her life for once.
After the play, Spike inquired about Dawn. They were allowed to be taken to see her. Buffy was excited when Spike told her where they were going. She clung to his arm and was overjoyed as they walked down a long staircase. At the bottom of the staircase, the guard knocked on the door and said something neither of them understood and the doors were opened. A new guard took them to a smaller wooden door and it was opened to reveal a comfortable looking room with Dawn sitting in a beautiful dress. She ran over to Spike and Buffy, hugging them both, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea what was going on. One minute I was walking home alone and the next minute I was being taken away by some demons. I couldn’t understand what was being said and they were going to kill me. I could just tell they were going to. They had a huge knife.” Buffy hugged her sister tighter even as Spike stepped back to leave the sisters have their moment. Buffy whispered to Dawn in hopes to comfort her, “They are dead now Dawn, I have you.”
Dawn shook her head as Buffy took a tiny step back still holding on to Dawn’s arms as tears ran down Dawn’s face, “I’m sorry I left Buffy. I never should have walked alone. I know you always tell me not to.” Buffy ran her hand over Dawn’s face whispering softly, “You didn’t mean to be taken.” Dawn sniffled as she admitted, “No I didn’t. They came out of nowhere. One minute I was almost home and the next I wasn’t.” Buffy nodded as Dawn just kept talking now that her story started, it couldn’t be stopped, “I was so scared. They tied me up and held a knife to my throat telling me not to scream and they would make it quick. While the demon did that, the second one made a circle of red salt. I remembered what Willow said about red salt, about it being evil.” Dawn continued to talk letting Buffy run her hand through her hair in hopes of comforting her, “Then they both started to chant. As they chanted the air felt weird.” Spike looked interested, “Weird how?” Dawn shook her head as a slight shiver went through her, “Cold, dark. Then the chanting stopped and the first demon came back with his knife and nicked my throat because I started to cry. When he nicked my throat the world turned white and when I came too I was being led away by these creatures I couldn’t understand and the two demons were dead on the ground.” She glanced at Buffy’s eyes and then at Spike’s, “What will happen to me? I’m only able to pick up a word here and there. Something about being chosen for the King I think and he is taking care of me.”
Spike frowned, “I’m going to get you out of here Nibblet in another twelve days. In twelve days, there’s a ceremony where I can fight to win the rights to you instead of having you become the King’s. I’ll win because that’s what I do.” Dawn nodded and wiped her tears as she gave them another hug. Spike whispered, “You be strong half pint and in twelve days we will be back in Sunnyhell where you can worry about your tests rather than this world.” Dawn looked quietly down at her hands before glancing back at the two people in front of her, “How are they treating you?” Spike smiled, “Just fine Nibblet.” Dawn glanced at Buffy who nodded in agreement, “Yea. They are treating us ok. They have us in a room. We are guests until the big deal. Are you ok? Did they hurt you?” Dawn shook her head, “No. I’m not hurt.” All three people nodded and Dawn tried to look brave as the guard motioned for them to leave. Buffy looked sadly at Spike who offered, “I’ll see if we can visit her again in a few days. This time was breaking the normal rules but perhaps in a few days we can break them again.” Buffy nodded and was so tempted to beat everyone up just to get to Dawn but realized there were just too many guards for her to win and they were dependent on the King for survival. As much as she hated it, she let the guard lead her to the maid and watched as Spike seemed to flirt with the maid again. She was annoyed and wanted Spike to pay attention to her instead of Helena. She felt alone in this world and missed Sunnydale and her friends and worried about her sister a lot.
From behind a closed door, a face with two blue eyes appeared and watched the duo as they returned to their room. A slight frown marred her face before she disappeared.
Buffy sighed as she got ready for bed. She quickly, without looking at Spike, got dressed for bed undoing the braids in her hair. She didn’t like feeling jealous. It was a sort of new feeling for her, especially one towards Spike. She wondered what it meant when you felt jealous of someone. Surely that wasn’t a good sign. Spike walked into the bathroom leaving her alone. She was so tired of feeling alone and having no one to talk to. She crawled into bed and hugged her pillow tight as she let the tears fall. She was scared for Dawn. She didn’t like having to depend on Spike. She was an independent person but now she was lost and lonely.
Buffy snuck out of the room and went to the guard and realized, he couldn’t understand her so she couldn’t even beg to see Dawn. She wanted to scream but the guard just sat and stared at her. She felt Spike’s hand on her shoulder as he swung her around. He saw the pain in her eyes and said something to the guard while handing him something. The guard nodded and stepped aside. Once inside, Spike handed something else to the guard and he also stepped aside. Buffy frowned but she wanted to see her sister too much, to really worry about details. She raced to the door where Dawn was and knocked on it. Dawn opened it and threw her arms around Buffy who was opening crying. Dawn only whispered, “Buffy.”
Spike stepped back allowing the two of them time. He knew their time was greatly limited and that his promise and signed paper by the King would only buy them about five minutes of visitation rights every few days but he figured five minutes was better than nothing. She would never realize what he had to agree to get that. He sighed thinking about the agreement but said nothing as Dawn whispered to Buffy, “You’ll get me out of here right? I won’t have to stay here forever. I know this is a nice room and I always fussed about the fact you had a bigger room than me back home but I’ll take the smaller room if I can get out of here. It’s just so lonely and boring and the food isn’t the same and I miss everyone. What I wouldn’t give to be just a normal student for a while and just be your sister.” Buffy run her hand through her hair whispering, “I’ll get you out of here. Spike has to go through a test thing and he’ll win and we will be able to take you home and you will be safe.”
Dawn and Buffy both looked at Spike who nodded and Dawn smiled through her tears, “Yeah he’ll take good care of us. He always took good care of me when you were gone. He’s a great guy.” Buffy nodded listening to the words her sister was saying. She gave Dawn a kiss on the forehead as she heard the guards coming. She whispered to Dawn, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I miss you and soon we will be together again.” Spike took Buffy’s arm pulling her slightly away from Dawn. Buffy looked up at him with tear stricken eyes and nodded as she turned to Dawn and waved as the guards shut the door. Buffy walked along side Spike in silence until they reached their room. She sat on the bed letting more tears fall and Spike watched helplessly before he finally crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her. He was really surprised when she didn’t pull away and instead just let him hold her while she cried. He could only imagine how hard this would be for her. He knew how he would feel if it was Buffy instead of Dawn in that room. Even with it being Dawn he was scared for the Nibblet. She let out a deep sigh and wiped her eyes whispering, “You’ll make sure we can leave in twelve days right?” Spike nodded and kissed the top of her head, “Of course.” He lay back on the bed pulling her with him and together they fell asleep with Spike holding her tight as though to protect her from the world.