I don't know how, but I managed to complete this section by Monday night! Scary...
I was going to leave you with a mighty big cliffhanger, but due to many Kittens current state of mind (including mine), I opted to just finish the entire chapter. So no cliffhanger! Cliffhangers are officially over!
So after this, there will be a Part 12, where all the loose ends will be tied up (cuz I know a lot of people are going to be going "huh?" after reading this). And then... there will be Epilogue. Lots and lots of epilogue. I have promises to keep, after all.
So enjoy. Oh, and a word of warning... if there's anything in this update you just don't get (like you think I made a big error - you'll see when you read it), I didn't. I'll explain in Part 12. Just heading off the WTF comments some of you may feel like writing after reading this.
***Wolflord - Why thank you, thank you very much!
***Drakkenfyre - Glad you enjoyed my take on the Seven Dwarves. I just always thought there was something a bit fishy about seven men living with one woman! Although, I do have to say to Snow White, you go girl! And ooo, a roll of money! And here I thought I was going to have to pay you!
***The Rose24 - Um, big with the cliffhangers? Not so much... but sometimes they're just necessary. And, well... a little cliffhanger every once in a while is a good thing, right? Or not.
***Jenpurr - Mean? Moi? Nahhhh... I'm such a tease, I know. And oh looky what I just found! *Pulls out red bra to match thong, complete with tassles*
***mollyig - Dakin and his Dorks! LOL!!! I damn near used that in this update.
***Pixie Gishmock - Yeah, every now and then Anya just gets it, you know? Of course, I personally think she used it as an excuse to kiss Tara... subconsciously, of course!
*catches panties and puts them on her head*
***fidds - Yes, well, nails were the least I could do after leaving you with such a cliffhanger! *bows in response to fidds applause, but falls over as BB is just not coordinated*
***LeatherQueen - Willow's really got that large with the butch thing down, doesn't she? I love it when she gets like that...
***BoredNow99 - Evil and sadistic? Ouchie! No, see, evil and sadistic would have been the cliffhanger I was
going to leave you with in Part 11. Hehe.
***Scout - It's all about kissing and protecting what's yours... err, mine... err, Willow's.
-BB
Title: The Guardian – Part 11
Author: blameburner
Feedback: Sure… Always a plus
Summary: This is just a nice little story about two witches, facing the apocalypse – again - and love.
Spoiler Warning: Up to and including "Normal Again" in Season 6 – but really nothing major.
Disclaimer: Not my characters, but oh how I wish they were! Joss, blah blah, ME, blah blah.
Rating: NC-17 (I've given up any pretense that it's anything less)
Pairings: W/T… duh. Everyone’s will be here at some point.
Notes: I know nothing about magic, except what I learned on BtVS.
I am totally, completely pulling this out of my arse!!! I am making it up, cuz I'm too stupid to know better, and too lazy to research it. I mean absolutely no offense if I get it wrong, which I undoubtedly will. Please forgive me. Okay, disclaimer over.
Angst: Um... yeah, there's angst, I'm sorry. But I promise it will all be okay in the end.Part 11
Dakin and his minions dragged the Scoobies through Sunnydale High and back down into the cave where they had defeated The Guardian earlier that day.
"And once again, we're back at high school," Xander said nervously.
"Shut up," one of his guards said harshly, punching him in the stomach.
"Shutting up now," Xander said, cringing in pain.
Once again they were in a semi-circle facing Dakin.
"What do you want?" Willow said angrily, still straining against her captors.
In a flash Dakin was before her and his hand came down hard across her face, so hard that Willow was knocked down to the ground.
Well that's gonna leave a mark, Willow thought as she shook her head, trying to clear it.
Tara pulled against her guards, trying to reach Willow. The redhead sensed her lover's concern and was afraid Tara would draw attention to herself. As Willow slowly stood up, she shot a reassuring look at Tara and grinned slightly, letting the blonde know she was all right. Tara relaxed visibly, and Willow turned back to face Dakin.
"Is that all you've got?" Willow asked defiantly. After Dakin had seemed so interested in Tara back in front of the Summer's house, Willow was afraid of what Dakin had in mind for her lover.
Willow figured if she could distract Dakin long enough and make him mad enough, Buffy would have a chance to get Tara and the others to safety.
Even if it means I have to die, Willow thought.
Willow didn't want to die. But if it meant Tara would live... her mind went back to the conversation she and Tara had that morning in their room, about the selfishness of self-sacrifice. Wasn't Willow now doing what she had begged Tara not to? If she sacrificed herself, without telling anyone what she was planning or trying to find another way, wouldn't she be guilty of the same thing?
Willow closed her eyes tightly for a moment, trying to shut out the thoughts raging in her mind.
No, this is different, she thought.
I have to save Tara, no matter what.
Then something else flashed through Willow's mind. Had she just heard...
"Willow, stop it. Please baby, stop it!"Willow heard Tara's voice, slightly distant but full of desperation.
"Tara?" Willow called out with her mind.
"Wil? Tara sent back, slightly shocked.
"You can hear me?" "Yeah, I guess I can," Willow responded.
"I don't know how-"Willow's thoughts were interrupted by another blow from Dakin, sending Willow to the ground.
"Ouch," Willow thought before she could stop herself.
"Baby you've got to stop this. Just stay down," Tara pleaded.
Willow shook her head and started to get up.
"Tara, i have to protect you," she thought firmly, though her resolve was weakening at Tara's pleading.
"Willow, I need you. Alive. Don't you dare do this."Willow was silent for a moment as she finished standing up. She looked into Dakin's cold eyes and he lifted an eyebrow, wordlessly challenging Willow to talk back to him again. Willow decided to back off - for now.
Without responding to Tara, Willow addressed Dakin.
"Just please don't hurt her," Willow begged.
"Oh I'm not going to hurt her," Dakin said, smiling. "Not right now, anyway. I'll make her scream soon enough."
Willow cringed at the words, fear for Tara gripping at her heart. No matter what, Willow realized, Dakin was going to kill them all.
"Besides," Dakin said, "this really isn't about her. It's about you."
Willow was genuinely surprised, and waited for Dakin to continue.
"You see, when you had your little run-in with Thomas a few weeks ago, I realized just how powerful you were. I figured that was my best shot at getting what I wanted," Dakin said evilly. "So I let you do the work for me."
Willow was trying to put the pieces together. She figured Thomas must be the follower that got away the night Spike fought the Tremorg Demon. But what exactly did Dakin want? The Guardian dead? But why?
Dakin turned to Giles. "Of course, when your little binding spell failed, I had to step in. Quite inconvenient, actually. Put me at risk. But I had been prepared for any possibility," Dakin said, obviously pleased with himself. "So I cast a spell that momentarily drained The Guardian of his power."
Now Giles finally understood how Buffy had been able to kill him.
"But why wait? If you could drain The Guardian, why not just kill him earlier?" Giles asked.
Dakin smiled. "I couldn't kill him. I needed him to draw in the power from the Convergence, concentrate it. Then when you killed him, the power was released."
"Well that was dumb," Anya said. Xander shot Anya a look that told her to shut up, but she ignored him. "The energy won't do you any good now that it's been released. The balance between good and evil has been restored."
Dakin eyed Anya in amusement. They still didn't get it. That made him laugh.
"Yes, the darkness was released, but the balance is not yet fully restored. It won't be restored until the evil stops pouring in from the convergence," he said happily. "The evil is still here, still largely concentrated in these caves. And now I will use Willow to take that energy into myself."
Willow stared at Dakin blankly. It wasn't possible, was it?
"But that still won't do you any good," Giles said in confusion. "You don't have the power to tear down the dimensional walls."
Dakin laughed again. "I don't want to tear them down! I don't even want to open a hole in them! No, you see, once I take in all the evil, I will be the most powerful being in this dimension. I'll rule the world."
Willow thought for a moment that Dakin was really starting to sound like a bad version of Pinky and The Brain.
"But you can't take it all into yourself," Willow said. "You wouldn't survive it. No human body could withstand it." Willow paused for a moment, and then added, "Oh, well then, by all means, go ahead, knock yourself out!"
"I can handle it," Dakin said viciously, "because I'm not human anymore."
Dakin's face morphed to reveal his vampire self, and everyone stared at him in shock.
"That's not possible," Giles said. "If you'd been a demon before, you would have died when all the demon's heads exploded."
"And you'd be insane," Xander added. "Oh wait, you are insane. Scratch that theory."
Dakin nodded towards one of the guards and the guard punched Xander in the face.
"I was human when you killed The Guardian," Dakin said. "But you see, I've been holding a vampire captive outside of town. He turned me."
A severe sense of dread swept through the Scoobies, which was confirmed when Dakin's men dragged a bloodied and severely tortured Spike into the cave.
*************************
"No!" Buffy screamed, staring at Spike with tears in her eyes. If Spike was here, then where was...
Spike raised his head slightly, just enough to look at Buffy with the eye that wasn't swollen shut. "Sorry," was all Spike could manage.
Buffy hadn't wanted to mention Dawn, just in case Spike had managed to hide her in time. For a moment after Spike spoke Buffy thought her sister had been killed, and she felt as though she had just been staked through the heart.
Relief washed over Buffy when she heard her sister shriek "Let me go!" from just outside the cave, which was followed by an unhurt but very pissed off Dawn being dragged into the cave. A tear trickled down Buffy's cheek as she took in the sight of her unharmed sister. But relief quickly turned to rage directed at Spike as she realized Spike had been the one to turn Dakin.
"Why?" she screamed at Spike. "Why did you do it!"
Spike couldn't answer, whether it was because of his injuries or because of the pain he felt at seeing the look on the Slayer's face, he couldn't be sure. So he simply hung his head back down.
"Actually, you really shouldn't be too hard on old Spike here," Dakin said, moving over to pat Spike roughly on the head. Then Dakin grabbed Spike by his short, blond hair and yanked the vampire's head up roughly.
"Spike here has a very high tolerance for torture," Dakin laughed. "Crosses, holy water, breaking each one of his fingers, beatings, fire... Old Spikey just let us have our way with him."
Dakin dropped Spike's head and walked over to Dawn. He ran a finger down Dawn's cheek, and Dawn winced.
"Through it all, Spike refused to turn me. That really pissed me off," Dakin said, turning towards Buffy. "I mean, here I'd gone through all the trouble of selecting Spike specifically for this purpose, and he refused! Can you believe it?"
Buffy's mind was spinning. She didn't understand how Spike had even been able to turn Dakin with the chip in his head, let alone why it had to be Spike that Dakin had chosen. Dakin read the confusion on Buffy's face, and was happy to explain his brilliance to her.
"You see, I learned about Spike when we first arrived in Sunnydale," Dakin explained. "I figured because of the chip in his head, Spike would be easy to capture. I had planned to kidnap him and take him outside of town until the right moment. But after I found out Spike was working with you humans, I was intrigued."
Dakin paced the room for a moment, smiling broadly. He really did have an excellent mind, he decided.
"I decided to investigate, so I had Spike followed," Dakin continued. "When Spike and the witches discovered Thomas and Michael, and Thomas told me about how Willow had faced off against Glorificus, I realized just how powerful your little group was."
Dakin walked over to Dawn again. "I also realized that Spike really was working with you because he wanted to, not because he simply couldn't hurt you. I had thought Spike would turn me willingly, but after the way he protected the witches, I decided that might not be the case. That would have disappointed me, but then I discovered I had an ace in the hole. Her." he said, indicating Dawn.
"It was clear just how protective Spike was of her," Dakin said, "and I knew I could use that if necessary." Dakin walked back over the Slayer. "So I had your house and that magic store bugged, which is when I found out about your plan to defeat The Guardian, and that Spike would be taking Dawn here out of town. It was perfect."
Dakin smiled again. "Thought I must admit, I really didn't think using her would be necessary. I thought with a little torture, Spike would give it up." Dakin turned to look at the vampire. "I was wrong, though. So I used Dawn as leverage. Far more effective."
Buffy had been silent, just listening and trying to put it all together.
"How?" she asked.
"Simple. I told Spike that I wouldn't hurt Dawn if he vamped me," Dakin said.
Buffy turned to Spike. "And you believed that?" she said incredulously.
Spike raised his head to look at her. "I hoped I could keep her alive... long enough... to gain some kind of advantage... help her escape," Spike said raggedly, each word agonizing. "I didn't know... what turning him... would mean."
Buffy's eyes softened slightly towards the blond vampire. It was obvious he had tried to protect Dawn.
Dakin turned to look curiously at Spike. "I'm curious, though, why a vampire would even care? Why not just turn me when I tortured you? Why protect the girl?"
Spike didn't look at Dakin, but instead kept his gaze locked with Buffy's. "I made a promise," was all Spike said.
Buffy's heart nearly broke. In that moment, she discovered that she had never fully understood the depths of Spike's feelings for her, for Dawn, for all of them. She had never let herself understand, or appreciate Spike.
If we get out of this, Spike and I are going to have a long talk, Buffy thought.
"But how did Spike turn you?" Giles asked. "The chip..."
"Oh, that wasn't so hard. I cast a spell that temporarily blocked the effects of the chip," Dakin said.
"Fine, so you're a vampire and can take in all the evil mojo," Willow said angrily. She had stayed silent, her mind processing all Dakin had said while still trying to work out a way for all of them to escape. "But see, you messed up because I can't help you with your little evil scheme."
Dakin took a step towards Willow, but she didn't back down. "I don't do dark magic anymore," she continued, "and besides that, I'm just a teensy but drained of magical energy right now. Tell you what, you let us go home and get some rest, and I'll come back tomorrow and we'll have a little dark magic party, okay?" Willow would promise anything if it meant they could all get out of there.
Before any of them knew what was happening, Dakin uttered a quick incantation and pressed his hand to the center of Willow's chest. Willow was lifted off the ground and the air glowed red around her.
"No!" Tara screamed, but to no avail.
Willow's head was flung back and her arms hung loosely at her sides as she levitated nearly two feet off the ground, her body filling with dark magic. Finally Dakin dropped his hand and Willow floated back to the ground. Dakin smiled once again.
Willow looked up and Tara gasped. Willow's eyes were completely black, and the air around Willow surged with power.
The redhead was slightly dazed, but she could feel the power flowing through her. She raised her hands in front of her face, and angry red sparks danced off her fingertips. Willow smiled slightly as she watched the energy crackle around her.
Tara was crying now, afraid not only of what such a surge of power would do to Willow's still weakened body, and distraught that Willow had fought off the dark magic of The Guardian only to lose to Dakin. Willow had been through too much. Tara was also afraid of what Willow might do with the dark magic now coursing through her veins in their current situation.
"Willow," Tara said softly. Willow looked up slowly at her lover, and once again the absence of green in Willow's eyes made Tara gasp. But Tara knew she had to be strong if she was going to reach Willow, so she pushed down her pain and fear and focused on her love.
"Willow, I love you," Tara said gently but urgently. "Come back to me. Please."
Willow blinked once, then again, and then shut her eyes tightly and balled her fists. After a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Willow slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Tara. They were green. Tara smiled.
Willow smiled back, and then turned to Dakin. "You're going to have to do better than that," Willow said simply.
Dakin looked at her angrily. "Fine, have it your way," he said, his voice full of rage.
He snapped his fingers and Willow heard a sickening crack and then Giles screaming in agony. One of the guards had broken Giles' arm. Before Willow could say anything, another of the guards punched Anya in the face. Another took out a knife and slashed Xander across the abdomen.
Then one of the guards holding Tara raised a knife to her throat. Buffy was struggling to get free of the three goons holding her, but she froze at the sight of the knife pressed against Tara's throat.
"No!" Willow screamed, her eyes fixed on the knife which was a hair's breadth from splitting Tara's skin. She turned back to Dakin, her eyes filled with tears. "Please stop it, I'm begging you."
"You want it to stop," Dakin said happily, knowing he had her. "The only way to save your friends is to do the spell."
Willow didn't even hesitate.
"Done," she said.
******************
"What do I have to do?" Willow asked.
"Willow no," Tara said, unable to scream as the knife was still pressed to her throat.
"Willow you can't," Giles shouted, earning a punch to the face for his trouble.
"Please, Willow, don't do it," Buffy pleaded with her best friend. "You can't-"
"Buffy," Willow interrupted, looking at Buffy. "I have to do what I have to do."
"No Willow!" Buffy said, straining against her captors once again. Dakin snapped his fingers and one of the guards raised a large knife up behind Buffy.
"Wait!" Willow said urgently, and Dakin raised his hand to halt the guard with the knife. "I can calm her down," Willow said, pleading with Dakin not to kill her friend. "Please, let me talk to her?"
Dakin studied Willow for a moment, and then nodded. It just wouldn't do to have Willow distraught over the Slayer's death. There'd be plenty of time to kill the Slayer later, once he had gotten what he wanted. Dakin was nothing if not patient.
Willow walked over to stand almost nose to nose with Buffy. The guards tightened their grip, but Buffy didn't make a move to fight them. She just stared into Willow's eyes, silently willing the redhead to change her mind.
"You've been where I am," Willow said quietly, almost in a whisper. "You know. It's like when Angel lost his soul after sleeping with Faith. Sometimes you just have to go along to get what you want."
Buffy looked deeply into Willow's eyes and nodded, then dropped her head in resignation.
Willow turned and walked back to Dakin. She listened intently as Dakin explained the spell that was required. Willow would gather the evil and funnel it into Dakin, acting as a conduit.
"Willow, you can't do this," Tara begged Willow in her mind.
"What did you tell me this morning? About self-sacrifice? I'd rather die than lose you this way."It broke Willow's heart but she ignored Tara, tuning her out as Dakin finished explaining the gathering spell.
"Of course, you'll probably die," Dakin said to Willow. "That's a lot of energy to have pass through your body. Or it will fry your brain. Even if you do survive intact, you will be completely addicted to the darkness. You will be mine to control."
"Why are you telling me this?" Willow asked.
"Because I know you're smart. You would have figured out the consequences eventually, and I don't want you suddenly distracted by fear in the middle of the spell," Dakin said. "You'd break your concentration."
Willow nodded in acknowledgment. The truth was her mind had already processed all the potential outcomes, and none of them were good for her. Still, she would do what she had to do.
Tara sobbed as she listened to Dakin, and she practically fell to her knees in grief. She was going to lose Willow.
Willow heard her lover sobbing and asked Dakin, "Can I have a minute alone with Tara before we start?"
"No," Dakin said. "Whatever you have to say to her you'll have to say right here."
Dakin looked over Willow's shoulder to Tara, who was glaring back at him. "You better say goodbye to your girlfriend now," Dakin taunted. "You won't get another chance."
Dakin nodded to the guard holding the knife on Tara, and the guard let her go, stepping back only slightly.
Willow turned, noticing the fear and sadness in all of her friend's eyes. She knew they were disappointed in her, but she couldn't help that. She knew what she was doing.
"Willow don't," Giles said, "You can't do this. You're being selfish! You're acting like a child!" Giles was trying anything he could to get through to Willow.
Willow heard Giles' words and they nearly tore her apart, but she ignored him and walked over to Tara.
Tara was still sobbing, shaking her head and begging Willow not to do it. Willow stepped up in front of the blonde and reached out her hand to Tara's face.
Tara yanked her head back, away from Willow's touch. It nearly killed her to do it, but she would try anything to reach Willow, even making Willow feel guilty.
"If you do this, Willow Rosenberg, I will never forgive you," Tara said coldly.
Willow's eyes filled with tears, and all Tara wanted to do was take the words back and tell Willow she loved her. But Tara pressed on.
"If you're going to do this, then don't touch me. Don't you dare think you have any right," Tara said. She could see that her words cut Willow deeply, but Tara maintained her resolve face.
"Well, well. Looks like you're not going to get your goodbye kiss after all, Willow," Dakin said snidely.
Hearing Dakin's words, Willow's expression hardened. Tara wasn't sure what was going through Willow's mind, but she didn't have time to think about it as Willow reached out and grabbed Tara's face, pulling her into a deep, demanding kiss.
Tara started to resist, to pull away, but with the first press of Willow's lips against hers, she was lost. She clutched Willow's waist like her life depended on it, pulling the redhead tighter against her as Willow poured her heart and soul into the kiss.
Willow ran her hands into Tara's hair and pressed her tongue deeper into Tara's mouth. The blonde took it in willingly, opening her mouth and breathing Willow in.
Tara ran her hands around Willow's back and dug her fingers into her lover's back, not wanting to let go. Never wanting to let go.
After a long moment, Willow pulled back and broke the kiss. Still holding Tara's head she looked deeply into Tara's eyes.
"I'm sorry, baby," she said, her voice thick with emotion. Then she turned her back and walked away, following Dakin into the next room, Tara's sobs echoing throughout the cavern.
******************
Willow and Dakin had been gone for what seemed like forever, but in reality had only been a few minutes.
At one point Xander had tried to say something to Buffy, but the guards quickly shut him up.
Giles was cradling his broken arm, thankful to see Anya had finally come to after being punched by the guard. Anya's eye was swollen, but otherwise she seemed okay.
Giles looked at Xander, who was wincing, but the blood seemed to have stopped flowing from the cut to his stomach.
Giles was more concerned about Buffy. She was still standing there staring straight ahead. She looked completely defeated, and Giles knew that if they had any hope of getting out of there alive, they would need Buffy.
The Watcher glanced over at Dawn, who was looking at Spike. The guards had finally dropped the vampire to the ground, where he appeared to have passed out. Giles wanted to be angry with Spike, to blame him for what was happening right now to all of them, but he couldn't. Spike had done what he had in order to protect Dawn, and Giles knew it. Giles admitted to himself that he might just have been wrong about Spike.
The Watcher's train of thought was broken by a thud, and he looked over to see Tara had collapsed. He strained in his captors arms to go over to Tara, but the guards tightened their grip.
One of Tara's guards leaned down to feel for a pulse, which he apparently found because he visibly breathed a sigh of relief. The guard stood up again, just leaving Tara lying on the ground.
******************
Willow began the spell. She could feel the darkness surging through her as she fed it into Dakin.
For his part, Dakin stood about three feet from Willow, his head thrown back in rapture.
Willow was sweating with exertion as she focused on gathering the evil and funneling it through herself and into Dakin. The power of it was overwhelming.
"That's it," Dakin said, his mouth hanging open in ecstasy. "It's incredible. The power."
Willow ignored him, concentrating on doing what she had to do. After a few minutes, Dakin frowned.
"It's not enough. This isn't all of it," he said. He turned an angry glare to Willow. "You're holding back!"
"I just didn't want to overwhelm you," Willow said apologetically.
Dakin scowled. "I can handle it. Now give it to me!"
"Are you sure?" Willow asked.
Dakin would have killed her where she stood if he didn't need her to complete the spell.
"Give it to me!" he shouted furiously.
Willow smiled. "As you wish."
********************
A loud scream pierced the cave where the Scoobies were being held. It was full of rage, and it was clearly male.
It was quickly followed by another scream, but this one filled the Scoobies with fear. It was Willow's scream, and it was filled with pain.
The guards all started snickering, knowing that that kind of scream could only mean one thing. The Scoobies knew it too. Willow was either dead, or she had gone insane.
Giles hung his head and felt tears stinging his eyes. He was just glad Tara had passed out and hadn't heard the scream.
Xander just stared at the short tunnel leading into the room where Willow was. Anya wept silently. Dawn was also crying, and Buffy looked as though she was catatonic.
The guards looked expectantly towards the tunnel, waiting for Dakin to appear. Instead, Willow stumbled into the room, her eyes black. She was giggling as though she were high, and even though Giles was relieved to see Willow alive, he almost wished she were dead. She now belonged to Dakin.
Willow's entrance seemed to snap Buffy out of her catatonia, and she looked at Willow.
"Wil? Are you okay?" Buffy asked.
"Sure, fine. Never been better," Willow said, grinning wildly. "I've finally seen the light."
As soon as the words left Willow's mouth, a bright flash filled the room, blinding everyone. Everyone, that is, except Willow, Buffy, and Tara - who was now on her feet.
The guards were all screaming and clutching at their eyes. Buffy felt the guards who had been holding her let go, and she jerked her arms apart, breaking the chain holding her manacled wrists together. With her arms free, she turned on her guards, taking them out swiftly.
Willow ran to Tara's side, and together they took down the closest guards.
By now everyone was recovering, and the guards started to move in on Tara and Willow. Just as one of the guards reached Willow, Xander knocked him to the ground with a flying tackle.
Giles clutched his broken arm to his stomach and punched anything in sight with his good arm. Anya was helping Giles, and Buffy grabbed a sword and ran into the next room.
Dawn had managed to recover from her shock, and from the blinding light flash, and started to run over to see if she could help Willow and Tara. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind by one of the guards.
"You're dead!" he shouted at her, reaching to his belt to pull out a knife.
"Not bloody likely," said Spike, turning the man away from Dawn and punching him, knocking him to the ground.
"Spike!" Dawn said, rushing to hug the vampire.
"S'okay, niblet, I've got you," he said, hugging Dawn back and the pushing her behind him. "Just stay behind me," he said before making his way towards Giles and Anya.
"But how did you...?" Dawn asked even as she did as Spike said.
"Guess that spell they did on me hasn't worn off yet," Spike said, punching out another guard.
There were only about nine guards left now, as the Scoobies had taken out about a dozen. Somehow they had managed to group together, and they were facing down the remaining guards, who were advancing slowly.
"Ahem," Buffy cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. She was leaning against the wall near the tunnel, her sword resting on her shoulder.
The remaining guards took one look at the Slayer and took off running out the other tunnel, leaving the battered but not broken Scoobies the only ones standing.
"Oh good, I thought we'wre gonna hafta fight s'more," Willow mumbled cheerfully before passing out.
"Wil!" Tara shouted, dropping down beside her girlfriend.
Buffy dropped the sword and walked up to Willow, bending down to lift her best friend in her arms. "I got her, Tare," Buffy said. "How about we take her home?"
Tara nodded, and Buffy walked out of the cave with the Scoobies close behind.
"And remember... if you hurt her I will beat you to death with a shovel. A vague disclaimer's nobody's friend. Have fun!"
by ExtraFlameyWT » Sat May 25, 2002 10:13 pm 
at: 5/25/02 9:36:37 pm
at: 5/26/02 3:52:39 pm
