Part II
Part II
Aragorn was still uneasy about Gandalf’s suggested plan. He had never met any of these chosen warriors, and now they were to come to his aid? They could be barbarians for all he knew, though Gandalf seemed quite sure they were not. Aragorn would just have to trust him like he had always done, not question his wise words and decisions.
“So tell me again who they are?” Aragorn inquired none the less. It wasn’t as if the question voiced his doubt; he was just curious to find out more about these supposed ultimate warriors.
Gandalf sighed at his persistence, before remembering Aragorn had every right to his doubts. “They’re a legion of skilled fighters whose physical capabilities far surpass our own. Demons walk freely where they are from, so one can only guess their level of expertise in such matters.” Gandalf would say no more, feeling no need to mention that the majority of the warriors were female. Rupert had confirmed his belief of the existence of numerous slayers, briefing him on training protocol and such. A small army of ten would be sent first, followed by another of five thousand at a later date. To Aragorn, this would seem a pitiful size for an army, but Gandalf knew better. One slayer would have the equivalent strength of one hundred men so, in reality, they would have five hundred-thousand strong men, a number that was most appealing.
“And where exactly are they from?”
Gandalf paused for a moment. “A distant land.” He would say no more.
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Dawn could hardly contain her excitement. Much to Buffy’s chagrin, Dawn was being allowed to travel with them to Middle Earth. She had worked hard to become a fully-fledged Scooby, and it was finally paying off. This was the type of adventure she had been waiting for, the chance to save the world along with her big sister, something she had always dreamed of. Now, she had something to bring to the table, special cherished skills. She had trained along with the slayers to some extent, delved into ancient lore and texts, and had quickly become the commander of six different languages. It was safe to say the she was the smartest four year old ever.
Chuckling at that thought, she moved about the office and continued her search. A smile lit her face as she found the materials she was looking for. Taking the cap off her felt-tip pen, she wrote neatly on the good paper Giles had hidden.
Dear Spike,
I miss you sooo much, but of course you already knew that. Things are really hectic around here lately, mostly because of the upcoming apocalypse. You know the one, right? Well, anyway, you’ll never believe what happened. Really, you won’t. Get this: they’re actually letting me go with them. Isn’t that awesome? I’m totally one of the gang now. Oh stop, I can hear you protesting across an entire ocean. I’ll be fine, trust me. I can totally kick some demon butt now. I even learned how to use a bow and arrow, which is so cool by the way. I am sooo ready for this.
How are things going over there? Is Angel giving you a hard time again, because if he is I’ll come over and beat him up for you. I have no idea what Buffy saw in him. Oh, sorry, was I not supposed to say that name? Or maybe I should, because she really misses you, you know. Oooh! You should come visit us some time. That would make everyone (okay, only me and Buffy) really, really happy. I think everyone around here could use a little happy, what with all the stress. I’m not about to tell her, but Buffy looks like a total mess. Her eyes are all blotchy, she hardly puts any make up on, and now she’s started to give up on eating entirely. It’s making me really scared. I’ve never seen her so miserable in my life, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Whenever I think that she might not make it through whatever she’s going through, I just…. I really need her now, always have, and now it’s like she’s only half there. Like she’s on auto-Buffy. I don’t want auto-Buffy, I want Buffy-Buffy. Spike, she really needs you right now. She told me all about what happened between you two that day and I’m trying to be mad at you, but I kind of understand why you did it. You wanted her to go on living and leave you behind, but now it’s like she’s not even living at all. Please Spike, I’m begging you. We need you back.
Love always,
Dawn
Hurriedly placing the seal of the Watchers’ Council on the envelope, Dawn hid the letter in the pile of other things to be mailed. Seemingly pleased with herself, she exited Giles’ office and quietly shut the door. Her timing was found to be impeccable as Giles himself passed by her on his way there, nodding distractedly in her direction which she supposed was some form of hello. Not that she had expected much from him. He was all Grumpy-Giles in his old age and it was work, work, work all the time. He kept to himself for the most part, and that was alright with Dawn. Sure he was almost like a father to her, but she didn’t really need a father right now. She needed her Buffy and her big brother Spike, two people she didn’t have at the moment. But she just knew, had a feeling in her gut, that she was about to get both of them back.
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Spike stared at the envelope from his safe perch on the opposite side of the room. He knew it was from Dawn; it had her scent all over it. He hadn’t realized she knew about him being undead once more, and some of his most redundant worries came out to play. Had she told Buffy? If she had, was Buffy mad at him? Should he go over there and see her?
That thought both scared him and excited him. He wanted to see her, hold her in his arms more than anything in the world, but he was also terrified of becoming part of her life again. There were so many possible reactions to his return: rejection, anger, and that crazy notion of acceptance. She was so unpredictable, and while that was one of the things he loved about her, it could also be a royal pain. But he knew in his heart he couldn’t live without her so long as they both existed. He eagerly reached for the envelope, tearing it open and reading it so fast the first time he had to do it again. He almost teared up as he reached the part about Buffy. Yes, it was decided. He had to go see a man about a lady.
He found Angel exactly where he thought he was: in his office pacing. Spike just stood there for about a minute, daring Angel to actually look up and notice him. He got his wish when Angel turned to go in the opposite direction and happened to look at something other than the floor. He definitely didn’t look too thrilled to see him.
“Hey, Peaches,” Spike drawled, “Something wrong?”
Angel’s irritated expression got turned up a notch. “Something’s going on with the Council, but they won’t let me in on anything. It’s got to be pretty serious considering the way everyone’s buzzing around. Not even Buffy has called me with info.”
Aha. That was it. Angel was upset because Buffy could possibly be in danger and she wasn’t running into his arms. It irked Angel that she could stand on her own two feet without him there to hold her hand like a child, that she could be an ocean away from him and not feel anxious. This just made the smirk on Spike’s face to grow with the knowledge that Buffy could possibly need his help and not the poofter’s.
“Imagine that,” Spike remarked pointedly.
Angel glared at him. “What do you want anyway?”
“I need you to open a portal for me.”
Angel just stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “Why?” he asked slowly.
Spike sighed. “It’s about Buffy.”
It was Angel’s turn to feel smug. “How did I know. What is it this time, Spike?”
Spike reluctantly explained his situation, not wanting to give Angel a reason to sprint off like a bloody knight in shining armor. When he was finished, Angel’s smug look was once again replaced with one of annoyance. Again, Buffy displayed her obvious need for the younger vampire and not an ounce for himself. It upset him more than he was letting on. Buffy was the girl he loved more than anything in the world, the girl he had given up so much to be with. To see his grandchilde take her away from him right under his nose made him more than a little outraged. But there was always that annoying little voice that reminded him about how much he wanted Buffy to be happy, about how he was determined to let her make her own decisions for a change. He was seriously starting to regret that oath, but now was not the time to deprive Buffy of much needed happiness for his own selfish reasons.
“I’ll do it,” Angel said, his voice betraying nothing of what he was feeling. In a last show of defiance, Angel turned and stormed out of his office, leaving an ecstatic Spike in his wake.
Buffy looked at herself in the mirror, examining outfit number bazillion and five. What was one supposed to wear to a medieval dimension? She let out an exaggerated sigh and plopped down on her king sized bed. Choosing outfits used to come so easily, but now all her clothes just seemed to lose appeal. She’d rather just sit around in her pajamas all day and brood in front of the window.
Brooding.
That was one of the things that annoyed her so much about Angel but didn’t seem to matter when she did it herself. Thinking and reflecting had become her number one habit since… It happened. Suddenly the spot on the ceiling looked very interesting.
Avoiding.
Habit number two. She avoided her friends, her family and, most importantly, her problems. Her instincts told her to sweep everything under the rug even though that probably wasn’t the smartest of things to do. It was what she had always done and what she would always do. That much wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.
A knock on the door roused her from her thoughts.
“You almost ready in there?” Dawn’s voice came through the door. “Xander and Willow are here already.”
Buffy glanced at the clock and groaned. She had been in her room getting dressed for three hours and still didn’t have an outfit. She quickly grabbed the closest thing to her and threw it on before running downstairs to greet her friends.
Buffy’s smile widened as she caught sight of Xander and Willow; it always made her marginally happier when they were around. Seeing familiar faces was a great comfort in, for lack of a better phrase, a whole new world. She could hear the singing in her head already.
Willow she hadn’t seen in a very long while. She had been studying with and helping the Coven and rarely left to visit those from the past. Kennedy had tried to go with her, but it didn’t seem to have worked out. Buffy personally thought that the Coven had been so annoyed with her that they kicked her out. That’s what she would have done anyway.
Xander wasn’t one to stray far from home, however. He owned a small house not too far from the Council, and even closer to Buffy. He was never really one to have gone off on his own, and it probably wasn’t within his physical capability to stay too far away from Buffy, for which she was grateful. It was like old times, he would be there for her when she was feeling down, and he always had a sarcastic remark at the ready. Aside from Dawn, he was really the only one keeping her going.
Willow brightened when she saw Buffy and immediately pulled her into her embrace.
“I missed you so much,” Buffy sighed.
“Apparently,” Willow managed to choke out.
After all these years, Buffy still hadn’t mastered how to hug without squishing. “Sorry,” she instantly squeaked out. “I just really missed you.”
“I know,” said Willow, “I missed you too.”
“Hey, where’s my hug?”
Dawn was standing a few feet away, her hands on her hips in a very ‘Buffy’ way.
“I missed you too, Dawnie,” Willow said, giving the younger girl a hug as well. In all of two seconds, Xander had scooped them all into a big group hug, a goofy grin on his face. A plethora of giggles escaped the trio, but came to an abrupt stop when Giles stepped through the threshold.
They all stared at him for good measure before Giles broke the silence. “Hello, all,” he muttered awkwardly. Buffy went over and gave him a hug out of routine. Even if he had turned into a bitter old man, he was still like a father to her.
“Ah, I see some of you have already arrived,” he continued in his let’s-get-down-to-business-tone. “Excellent.”
“Some of?” Dawn inquired. “Who else is coming?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Giles responded. “I phoned roughly twenty people, but I don’t know how many will actually show up.”
Buffy didn’t exactly like the sound of having twenty other people in her house at the same time. They had enough trouble with organized conversations when there were only seven of them, having twenty of them would be Potential-city all over again. She sooo didn’t need that right now.
“I suspect Faith and Wood will be arriving soon,” Giles continued. “Their flight should have landed about an hour ago.”
Buffy was more than a little annoyed by how Giles had set up this entire meeting, which just happened to be at her house. He could have at least filled her in somewhat. Instead he opted for going behind her back and inviting the vast majority of her friends into her own home. It was okay with her that they were coming, but she wasn’t particularly thrilled that Giles had the gall to invite them himself.
Realizing that she was being a bad host, Buffy led everyone into the living room, which had been rearranged for future Scooby meetings. There were a lot more chairs than necessary, but it was still not nearly enough for twenty people. She just hoped people didn’t mind sitting on the floor.
Giles automatically seated himself in the chair at the front of the room, which meant everyone else was facing him.
“So, Giles,” Buffy said, “what’s the what?”
“Well,” he started, taking off his glasses and wiping them in order to assemble his thoughts, “as you all know, I received a distress signal from another dimension through one of my contacts, Gandalf the White. He has called for reinforcements to help them put a stop to a new enemy that has entered their lands, or as they call it, Middle Earth.”
“How serious is it?” asked Xander.
“Quite serious I’m afraid.” Giles placed his glasses back on his head. “According to my research, they have been facing Havnic demons, a species that exists solely to serve their master. They are said to have incredible strength and, unfortunately, a considerable level of intelligence. They tend to attack by way of ambush and don’t usually travel in groups larger than twenty. Unless we can find out who is controlling them, I’m afraid we won’t be able to defeat them. Now is not the time for brute strength.”
That certainly didn’t sound good. If what Giles said were true, they’d have a real hard time defeating them. Buffy had thought this was going to be a quick mission, but now she could see why they were sending in the cavalry. If they waited much longer, Middle Earth would be destroyed.
Buffy jumped when the doorbell rang. It was strange hearing it considering the lack of company they had had lately. Buffy went over and opened the door, only to be attacked in seconds.
Aragorn was still uneasy about Gandalf’s suggested plan. He had never met any of these chosen warriors, and now they were to come to his aid? They could be barbarians for all he knew, though Gandalf seemed quite sure they were not. Aragorn would just have to trust him like he had always done, not question his wise words and decisions.
“So tell me again who they are?” Aragorn inquired none the less. It wasn’t as if the question voiced his doubt; he was just curious to find out more about these supposed ultimate warriors.
Gandalf sighed at his persistence, before remembering Aragorn had every right to his doubts. “They’re a legion of skilled fighters whose physical capabilities far surpass our own. Demons walk freely where they are from, so one can only guess their level of expertise in such matters.” Gandalf would say no more, feeling no need to mention that the majority of the warriors were female. Rupert had confirmed his belief of the existence of numerous slayers, briefing him on training protocol and such. A small army of ten would be sent first, followed by another of five thousand at a later date. To Aragorn, this would seem a pitiful size for an army, but Gandalf knew better. One slayer would have the equivalent strength of one hundred men so, in reality, they would have five hundred-thousand strong men, a number that was most appealing.
“And where exactly are they from?”
Gandalf paused for a moment. “A distant land.” He would say no more.
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Dawn could hardly contain her excitement. Much to Buffy’s chagrin, Dawn was being allowed to travel with them to Middle Earth. She had worked hard to become a fully-fledged Scooby, and it was finally paying off. This was the type of adventure she had been waiting for, the chance to save the world along with her big sister, something she had always dreamed of. Now, she had something to bring to the table, special cherished skills. She had trained along with the slayers to some extent, delved into ancient lore and texts, and had quickly become the commander of six different languages. It was safe to say the she was the smartest four year old ever.
Chuckling at that thought, she moved about the office and continued her search. A smile lit her face as she found the materials she was looking for. Taking the cap off her felt-tip pen, she wrote neatly on the good paper Giles had hidden.
Dear Spike,
I miss you sooo much, but of course you already knew that. Things are really hectic around here lately, mostly because of the upcoming apocalypse. You know the one, right? Well, anyway, you’ll never believe what happened. Really, you won’t. Get this: they’re actually letting me go with them. Isn’t that awesome? I’m totally one of the gang now. Oh stop, I can hear you protesting across an entire ocean. I’ll be fine, trust me. I can totally kick some demon butt now. I even learned how to use a bow and arrow, which is so cool by the way. I am sooo ready for this.
How are things going over there? Is Angel giving you a hard time again, because if he is I’ll come over and beat him up for you. I have no idea what Buffy saw in him. Oh, sorry, was I not supposed to say that name? Or maybe I should, because she really misses you, you know. Oooh! You should come visit us some time. That would make everyone (okay, only me and Buffy) really, really happy. I think everyone around here could use a little happy, what with all the stress. I’m not about to tell her, but Buffy looks like a total mess. Her eyes are all blotchy, she hardly puts any make up on, and now she’s started to give up on eating entirely. It’s making me really scared. I’ve never seen her so miserable in my life, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Whenever I think that she might not make it through whatever she’s going through, I just…. I really need her now, always have, and now it’s like she’s only half there. Like she’s on auto-Buffy. I don’t want auto-Buffy, I want Buffy-Buffy. Spike, she really needs you right now. She told me all about what happened between you two that day and I’m trying to be mad at you, but I kind of understand why you did it. You wanted her to go on living and leave you behind, but now it’s like she’s not even living at all. Please Spike, I’m begging you. We need you back.
Love always,
Dawn
Hurriedly placing the seal of the Watchers’ Council on the envelope, Dawn hid the letter in the pile of other things to be mailed. Seemingly pleased with herself, she exited Giles’ office and quietly shut the door. Her timing was found to be impeccable as Giles himself passed by her on his way there, nodding distractedly in her direction which she supposed was some form of hello. Not that she had expected much from him. He was all Grumpy-Giles in his old age and it was work, work, work all the time. He kept to himself for the most part, and that was alright with Dawn. Sure he was almost like a father to her, but she didn’t really need a father right now. She needed her Buffy and her big brother Spike, two people she didn’t have at the moment. But she just knew, had a feeling in her gut, that she was about to get both of them back.
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Spike stared at the envelope from his safe perch on the opposite side of the room. He knew it was from Dawn; it had her scent all over it. He hadn’t realized she knew about him being undead once more, and some of his most redundant worries came out to play. Had she told Buffy? If she had, was Buffy mad at him? Should he go over there and see her?
That thought both scared him and excited him. He wanted to see her, hold her in his arms more than anything in the world, but he was also terrified of becoming part of her life again. There were so many possible reactions to his return: rejection, anger, and that crazy notion of acceptance. She was so unpredictable, and while that was one of the things he loved about her, it could also be a royal pain. But he knew in his heart he couldn’t live without her so long as they both existed. He eagerly reached for the envelope, tearing it open and reading it so fast the first time he had to do it again. He almost teared up as he reached the part about Buffy. Yes, it was decided. He had to go see a man about a lady.
He found Angel exactly where he thought he was: in his office pacing. Spike just stood there for about a minute, daring Angel to actually look up and notice him. He got his wish when Angel turned to go in the opposite direction and happened to look at something other than the floor. He definitely didn’t look too thrilled to see him.
“Hey, Peaches,” Spike drawled, “Something wrong?”
Angel’s irritated expression got turned up a notch. “Something’s going on with the Council, but they won’t let me in on anything. It’s got to be pretty serious considering the way everyone’s buzzing around. Not even Buffy has called me with info.”
Aha. That was it. Angel was upset because Buffy could possibly be in danger and she wasn’t running into his arms. It irked Angel that she could stand on her own two feet without him there to hold her hand like a child, that she could be an ocean away from him and not feel anxious. This just made the smirk on Spike’s face to grow with the knowledge that Buffy could possibly need his help and not the poofter’s.
“Imagine that,” Spike remarked pointedly.
Angel glared at him. “What do you want anyway?”
“I need you to open a portal for me.”
Angel just stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “Why?” he asked slowly.
Spike sighed. “It’s about Buffy.”
It was Angel’s turn to feel smug. “How did I know. What is it this time, Spike?”
Spike reluctantly explained his situation, not wanting to give Angel a reason to sprint off like a bloody knight in shining armor. When he was finished, Angel’s smug look was once again replaced with one of annoyance. Again, Buffy displayed her obvious need for the younger vampire and not an ounce for himself. It upset him more than he was letting on. Buffy was the girl he loved more than anything in the world, the girl he had given up so much to be with. To see his grandchilde take her away from him right under his nose made him more than a little outraged. But there was always that annoying little voice that reminded him about how much he wanted Buffy to be happy, about how he was determined to let her make her own decisions for a change. He was seriously starting to regret that oath, but now was not the time to deprive Buffy of much needed happiness for his own selfish reasons.
“I’ll do it,” Angel said, his voice betraying nothing of what he was feeling. In a last show of defiance, Angel turned and stormed out of his office, leaving an ecstatic Spike in his wake.
Buffy looked at herself in the mirror, examining outfit number bazillion and five. What was one supposed to wear to a medieval dimension? She let out an exaggerated sigh and plopped down on her king sized bed. Choosing outfits used to come so easily, but now all her clothes just seemed to lose appeal. She’d rather just sit around in her pajamas all day and brood in front of the window.
Brooding.
That was one of the things that annoyed her so much about Angel but didn’t seem to matter when she did it herself. Thinking and reflecting had become her number one habit since… It happened. Suddenly the spot on the ceiling looked very interesting.
Avoiding.
Habit number two. She avoided her friends, her family and, most importantly, her problems. Her instincts told her to sweep everything under the rug even though that probably wasn’t the smartest of things to do. It was what she had always done and what she would always do. That much wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.
A knock on the door roused her from her thoughts.
“You almost ready in there?” Dawn’s voice came through the door. “Xander and Willow are here already.”
Buffy glanced at the clock and groaned. She had been in her room getting dressed for three hours and still didn’t have an outfit. She quickly grabbed the closest thing to her and threw it on before running downstairs to greet her friends.
Buffy’s smile widened as she caught sight of Xander and Willow; it always made her marginally happier when they were around. Seeing familiar faces was a great comfort in, for lack of a better phrase, a whole new world. She could hear the singing in her head already.
Willow she hadn’t seen in a very long while. She had been studying with and helping the Coven and rarely left to visit those from the past. Kennedy had tried to go with her, but it didn’t seem to have worked out. Buffy personally thought that the Coven had been so annoyed with her that they kicked her out. That’s what she would have done anyway.
Xander wasn’t one to stray far from home, however. He owned a small house not too far from the Council, and even closer to Buffy. He was never really one to have gone off on his own, and it probably wasn’t within his physical capability to stay too far away from Buffy, for which she was grateful. It was like old times, he would be there for her when she was feeling down, and he always had a sarcastic remark at the ready. Aside from Dawn, he was really the only one keeping her going.
Willow brightened when she saw Buffy and immediately pulled her into her embrace.
“I missed you so much,” Buffy sighed.
“Apparently,” Willow managed to choke out.
After all these years, Buffy still hadn’t mastered how to hug without squishing. “Sorry,” she instantly squeaked out. “I just really missed you.”
“I know,” said Willow, “I missed you too.”
“Hey, where’s my hug?”
Dawn was standing a few feet away, her hands on her hips in a very ‘Buffy’ way.
“I missed you too, Dawnie,” Willow said, giving the younger girl a hug as well. In all of two seconds, Xander had scooped them all into a big group hug, a goofy grin on his face. A plethora of giggles escaped the trio, but came to an abrupt stop when Giles stepped through the threshold.
They all stared at him for good measure before Giles broke the silence. “Hello, all,” he muttered awkwardly. Buffy went over and gave him a hug out of routine. Even if he had turned into a bitter old man, he was still like a father to her.
“Ah, I see some of you have already arrived,” he continued in his let’s-get-down-to-business-tone. “Excellent.”
“Some of?” Dawn inquired. “Who else is coming?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Giles responded. “I phoned roughly twenty people, but I don’t know how many will actually show up.”
Buffy didn’t exactly like the sound of having twenty other people in her house at the same time. They had enough trouble with organized conversations when there were only seven of them, having twenty of them would be Potential-city all over again. She sooo didn’t need that right now.
“I suspect Faith and Wood will be arriving soon,” Giles continued. “Their flight should have landed about an hour ago.”
Buffy was more than a little annoyed by how Giles had set up this entire meeting, which just happened to be at her house. He could have at least filled her in somewhat. Instead he opted for going behind her back and inviting the vast majority of her friends into her own home. It was okay with her that they were coming, but she wasn’t particularly thrilled that Giles had the gall to invite them himself.
Realizing that she was being a bad host, Buffy led everyone into the living room, which had been rearranged for future Scooby meetings. There were a lot more chairs than necessary, but it was still not nearly enough for twenty people. She just hoped people didn’t mind sitting on the floor.
Giles automatically seated himself in the chair at the front of the room, which meant everyone else was facing him.
“So, Giles,” Buffy said, “what’s the what?”
“Well,” he started, taking off his glasses and wiping them in order to assemble his thoughts, “as you all know, I received a distress signal from another dimension through one of my contacts, Gandalf the White. He has called for reinforcements to help them put a stop to a new enemy that has entered their lands, or as they call it, Middle Earth.”
“How serious is it?” asked Xander.
“Quite serious I’m afraid.” Giles placed his glasses back on his head. “According to my research, they have been facing Havnic demons, a species that exists solely to serve their master. They are said to have incredible strength and, unfortunately, a considerable level of intelligence. They tend to attack by way of ambush and don’t usually travel in groups larger than twenty. Unless we can find out who is controlling them, I’m afraid we won’t be able to defeat them. Now is not the time for brute strength.”
That certainly didn’t sound good. If what Giles said were true, they’d have a real hard time defeating them. Buffy had thought this was going to be a quick mission, but now she could see why they were sending in the cavalry. If they waited much longer, Middle Earth would be destroyed.
Buffy jumped when the doorbell rang. It was strange hearing it considering the lack of company they had had lately. Buffy went over and opened the door, only to be attacked in seconds.