Buffy the Tenno

[Darkphoenixlady]

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 1

Buffy gasps as she regains consciousness all of a sudden. Holding down her panic as she's been trained to do, she reaches out to examine her surroundings. Good news, she's not restrained; bad news, she's in a padded box. Worse news, someone's taken her amp.

Closing her eyes, she concentrates on her body, feeling how it moves and her senses. She's lying on her back, which means gravity. She's not wearing her Tenno armour; someone has put her in some flimsy fabric clothing. Knocking on the walls and surfaces of the box reveals a slight difference in sound from the top, as well as an organic rather than metal sound. Taking a deep breath, she realises that the warm feeling isn't the temperature, it's the air.

"Void damn it, I need to chance it."

Carefully pulling on the void, she pulls it around her and slips through the barrier between the world and the void. A flex of her will sends her hurtling skywards, and she releases the void reflexively when she sees the moon floating in the night sky.

"Oof" Buffy is pulled out of her shock by the ground as she lands on ground, hard. As she lays there, she stares at the moon, "When did they fix Lua?"



After a moment, she starts to make out the sounds of screaming, and some brrr'ing noise that seems like it should be familiar. Cautiously, she gets to her feet and looks around. As she looks behind her, she freezes as she spots a headstone with a written epitaph on it. What causes her pause is that the language looks familiar, as if it was something she dreamt about many years ago. Another scream breaks her attention, and she turns towards it before heading out in an economical jog.

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By the time Buffy gets to the nearby civilian outpost, the screams have stopped, and the brrr'ing sounds have moved off elsewhere. Cautiously, she moves along the road made from some sort of black stone. As she does, she looks at the strange dwellings, as they're illuminated by the scattered fires. Their walls so thin they wouldn't provide any protection against even light weapons, let alone the standard weapons used by the Grineer. Even so, something tugs on her memory, like déjà vu. As she comes across the first ground vehicle, that feeling intensifies, even as she reaches out to one of the unbroken viewing panels and snaps it between a couple of fingers, the clear material shattering into small cubes. Brushing her fingers off, she frowns as the wound doesn't seem to be healing at the rate she expected. Once she has time in a safe place, she'll need to mediate on the Vazarin school, as she has no warframe or amp.



Slowly, she makes her way down the street, her senses alert. As she's looking around, she bumps into one of the ground vehicles, and an alarm starts blaring. Crouching down, she looks around cautiously just in case the noise attracts any Grineer, or worse. From the nearest dwelling, a human man exits holding a gun, and shouts at her.

"By the Queens!", Buffy exclaims as she holds her hands to her forehead as the words trigger a searing headache. As the man shouts at her again, and fires his gun in the air, she stumbles away from the dwelling as a ringing pain shoots through her head.



A short while later, she's moved away from the residential part of the outpost, to some sort of storage area. The large buildings and wide spaces inviting aerial assault, and she still can't see any signs of a shield protecting the outpost, Orokin or otherwise. As her headache is starting to clear up, her sense of déjà vu is becoming stronger. Off to the right, in a large open space between buildings, she can hear a male talking. Shaking her head to try and clear it of the lingering pain, she makes her way into the space, her presence masked by the light of a large bonfire. By the fire, there is a group of people that could be some sort of new Grineer clone, or maybe infested humans. Either way, they seem to have caught a corpus with a high quality body prosthetic. Around the group are some two wheeled ground vehicles. As she sneaks closer, the leader says something, and four of the group go to the ground vehicles and start them. As they do, the source of the brr'ing sound she was hearing becomes apparent. The leader then takes a small gun and points it to the sky. As he does, Buffy notices the chains wrapped around the arms and legs of the corpus. Before she can do anything to help, he fires, and the ground vehicles accelerate in opposite directions. As the chains go taut, they pull the corpus' arms and legs off, as her body collapses to the floor, and her power fails.

As Buffy stands there in stunned silence, the people notice her in the flashing of the lights mounted on the ground vehicles. As the leader says something, and the members of his group turn to her with body language the easily speaks of violence, Buffy raises her hand and releases her control over her void energies, only for nothing to happen. Realising that she hasn't finished recovering from whatever was done to her before she ended up in the box, she turns and runs from the group. It seems like she's easily about to out pace the once on foot, however, two of the ones on ground vehicles have taken an alternative way through the outpost to reach her. As they make their way down the road, the reason for the black stone becomes clear. Ducking beneath their makeshift weapons, Buffy desperately looks for a way out. Spotting some stacked pallets against a wall, she gathers her void energies, and void jumps through one of the strange people, and then hops over the wall. There, she lands in a cluttered alleyway, that looks like it should be impassable to the ground vehicles she's seen. Hopefully they don't have any air vehicles.

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After a short walk, she runs out of impassable alleyway. There, she cautiously listens to her surroundings for the brr of the ground vehicles engines. Hearing them off to the right, she turns left and almost walks into a group of armed civilians. A tall man, with short dark hair and fair skin carries an axe. Then there's a woman with red hair carrying a crude crossbow, and the last two women are unarmed and look to have bleached their hair. Why would they bleach their hair, why not just… As she takes in their faces, her headache returns full force.

As she shies backwards, cringing inward, the one with the red hair says something and then she says her name, "Buffy. Buffy?" Each word is like a hammer blow to her head.



Desperately, she turns and runs in the opposite direction, taking the first left that looks like it's impassable to ground vehicles. Is this another one of Teshin's memory tests that he's dragged out of the pits of Mercury? No, Teshin's dead. He died buying time for her to get to the Lotus. Skidding to a stop, she looks around at the small courtyard she's run into. Looking up, she sees a roof she should be able to void jump to. Pulling in the void, she releases it to no effect, as a flash of a rickety tower stabs through her mind. Unable to focus enough to use her void training, Buffy instead finds some cover that should hide her from the entrance. There she crouches down and cradles her head.



It's only a few minutes later when the civilians catch up with her again, and they start talking to her again.

Buffy tries to say, "Are you all idiots, get to cover." Instead, it comes out as a pained mumble, as they keep saying her name. She doesn't notice as the conversation abruptly moves away from her to the group of people that she ran from in the first place. However, when they start to fight, it draws her attention, as it's something she knows how to do. As she brings her focus to bear, her headache fades to the background, until, finally, it's light enough for her to act. Smoothly she steps between the man and an enemy with a basic club, raising her arm to block the strike on the wielders wrists as she's been taught. As the attackers grip is loosened by the block, she reaches up and wrenches the club away, before kicking the attacker into a nearby wall. Ducking down, under a whirling chain, she brings the club round behind the chain wielders knee, causing him to crumple to the floor. Before she can take advantage, another attacker lunges at her with a knife, forcing her to dodge backwards, away from his comrade.

Instead of running, the civilians instead join in the attack. Which, in any other situation would be laudable, but right now, with the void damned headache, it's reducing her ability to manage the battle. Bringing her club up between the crossbow wielding woman and a chain wielding attacker puts her out of position, and so she takes a punishing blow to her ribs. Then the damn woman has to shout something followed by her name, which sends a spike of pain through her head once more, and the club falls from her suddenly limp hand.

While she's distracted, the others surround her and start to beat on her as the leader casually heads towards the civilians while talking. Desperately, she reaches through the pain to release a contamination wave that knocks the attackers around her off their feet. Quickly grabbing the club again, she brings it around and slams it into the side of one of the attackers to the loud crack of broken ribs. Smoothly following through with an overhand strike on the opponent behind her, the club crushes straight through his head as though his natural resistance didn't exist. As the surviving followers back up with the sudden turn around, Buffy lunges for the leader, catching him around the head with a quick swing. As the leader crumples to the ground, Buffy knows that she hasn't killed him, as she didn't feel the crunch that indicates something important broke. However, the civilians should be able to take care of him now he's down.

Turning back to the followers, she quickly runs off after them, only to stop as she rounds a corner and spots a rickety tower made from scaffolding poles. As it comes into view, a memory takes her to the floor with pain. She's standing on that tower, speaking to a girl on the verge of womanhood, in the same language the civilians were using. Below them, a void portal opens up between, between… Slamming her fist on the floor, she swears as the memory slips away. That's the second time that tower has appeared in her memories, maybe if she confronts them there, she'll be able to break through the block. The same way she did with Teshin's test in front of the Queens.

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Standing at the top of the tower, Buffy looks at the metal plank that over hangs the smooth stone floor below. Breathing slowly and deeply to stave off the memories, she looks around for places she can void jump to if the whole thing falls down. Once she's sure she can get to safety, she carefully makes her way to the end of the plank and looks down.

There's a flash of memory, and she's watching drops of blood falling to the ground below, before sparking a void portal, which grows halfway between the plank and the ground. Then she runs off the plank and dives into the portal.

Then the memory starts again, a bit earlier, and she standing in front of a girl that looks so familiar. Looking behind her she watches the sun rise, before turning back to the girl. As she turns away again, the girl says, "Buffy, no."

As she steps away, Buffy responds, "Dawnie, I have to."

Then the girl, Dawn?, says "Buffy?" Wait, that's wrong, she didn't say that.

Confused, Buffy turns around to look back at the ladder down, and the girl from the memory steps out from behind one of the supports wearing a red jumper with a sparkly fleur de les on the front. Blinking a couple of times as the incongruity between what Dawn was wearing in the memory, and what she's wearing now, sends her mind reeling.

As Buffy's looking at her, confused, Dawn says her name again followed by some words that feel like they should make sense. Then the girl steps towards her, causing the tower to shake. As it does, the memory comes back again stronger than before, so Buffy turns around to look at what's happening.

While she's lost in the memory, Dawn tries talking to her, but Buffy doesn't understand until she says, "Buffy *** Dawn, **** sister."

[AN: conversation paraphrased from Buffy season 6, episode 2]

Eventually, the memory plays its course, and Buffy is left looking at the skyline, her memories of this life starting to come back. Hesitantly, she says, "Is this Demios?"

Surprised, Dawn reflexively asks, "What?"

Turning around, Buffy looks in Dawn's eyes, "Is this Demios? Have I been swallowed by a Jugulus?"

Dawn reaches out, "No! Buffy, no! You're here, with me. Whatever happened to you, whatever you've been through. It's over now. You're…" Dawn shrieks as the tower lurches with an ominous squeal of metal.

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As the tower stabilises again, there's a touch of hysteria in Dawns voice as she calls out, "We have to get off this tower." However, Buffy is lost in memory again, and turns back to look at the scene below.

Pleading, Dawn calls out, "Buffy, I need you to live! You told me to be strong, and I tried, I really tried. I promise that I'll do better. Just, please come back to me."

As she steps forward, her weight causes the pressure to release on one of the supporting brackets, and it slips off the bolt it was bracing just before it moves into tension. As it falls to the floor below, the whole tower lurches, and Dawn desperately clutches at a support as she slips to her knees. As she screams, Buffy turns around with an unfamiliar look on her face. A couple of quick steps later and she scoops Dawn up in a bridal carry, before turning around and running for the plank again.

Dawn screams as Buffy suicidally jumps off the plank, and then everything goes grey for a moment, before jumping several times. When the world comes back into colour, Dawn is shivering, and her lips and fingertips have turned blue. However, they have landed on one of the nearby factory roofs. As Buffy turns around, Dawn can't help but look back as the tower collapses in on itself. Once the rubble has settled, Buffy steps off the building, and Dawn lets out another shriek as the world momentarily goes grey again.



Once they're back on tera firma, Buffy puts Dawn down. As soon as she's standing again, Dawn turns to Buffy, and blows on her fingers. Buffy says something she doesn't understand, but Dawn doesn't care. All that matters is that her sisters back again. That's when the adrenaline from the tower drains from her, and she starts to cry happy tears.

Reaching out, she tentatively touches Buffy's cheek with her hand, "You're here, you're really here."

Buffy smiles at her, before taking both her hands, and putting them under her armpits. Dawn doesn't care, she's got her sister back, so she just leans into Buffy's chest with a smile.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 2 – part 1

Buffy looks at the dwelling silently while Dawn continues to talk beside her. The language she's using coming back slowly. As she's thinking, Dawn takes her hand and leads her into the house, where she's again hit by a sense of déjà vu. Was this her mothers house? But what about Veldé, wasn't she her mother? If this was her mothers house, then the kitchen diner should be through here.

Like a little duckling, Dawn follows behind Buffy, and turns on the light, "…well, except for the computer stuff, that's Willow's obviously."

Willow, that name seems familiar, and this seems to be the same. Buffy turns back to the hall, and sees the photo on the table. She has to pause as memories assault her, Veldé succumbing to void sickness, at the same time her mother, Joyce, that was her name, Joyce, is telling her about her cancer. Apart from the hairstyle, they could both be twins. Carelessly, Buffy lays the photo on the table before void jumping up the stairs. As she's looking at the room around the room, Dawn comes up behind her.

"Um, yeah, this room was mums, but it's the biggest room in the house so Willow…"

Buffy interrupts, "and Tara."

"Yeah, they sleep here now."

Buffy makes her way around the bed to the other door, that she knows should lead to a corridor. As she opens it, Dawn squeezes in front of her, so Buffy pauses to think. Once she's ordered her thoughts, she carefully enunciates, "So, what else has changed?"

"What? In the house?" Buffy shakes her head, "Oh, um, well Giles left today. It's funny, sort of, that you came back the same day."



Another name slots into place, like a key in a lock, and she remembers training in a library. An older man with glasses and greying hair.

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Buffy comes out of her memories as Dawn dabs a damp flannel on her face. In the mirror behind her, Buffy sees a face she hasn't seen for centuries, ever since they were rescued from the Zariman and she had access to proper hospital facilities. As she raises a hand to touch the mirror, Dawn brushes a wound on her knuckles and Buffy winces. Pulling her hand away, she tries to think back to where she could have got that injury.



While she's thinking, the sound of the front door slamming open brings her instincts to the fore and she spins into a wary crouch. Belatedly, she says, "What was that?"



When a voice floats up the stairs threatening to kill Dawn, Buffy takes her cue from Dawn and relaxes. Though, she follows a little slower, as she has to remember where the stairs are. As she gets to the top of the stairs and starts making her way down them, the person at the bottom trails off.

While she's trying to remember who the man in the leather jacket, and white, spiky hair, is. He notices her knuckles.

"What happened there?"

Buffy lifts her hand to look at her knuckle and try to find the words to explain it when Dawn cheerfully says, "Oh, we're going to fix that."

Spiky, yes, Spiky feels almost right, takes her hands gently, "Coffin, she clawed her way out of a coffin."

Buffy nods to herself, that would make sense, she probably did it before she came back to herself.

Mistaking her nod for agreement, Spiky softly says, "It's ok, I've done it too. Dawn, get some bandages, and iodine."

While Dawn is running off for the supplies, Spiky leads Buffy to a sofa, and sits her down as he kneels in front of her. As he's inspecting the wounds, Buffy asks, "How long has it been?"

Spiky looks up, "187 days yesterday, 188 today. Well, I guess today doesn't count, does it. How about you?"

Buffy blinks at how short a time she's been gone, before looking down at her hands, "Longer." Though the answer doesn't really do a thousand odd years and change justice. She's about to clarify when Dawn comes bouncing back in with a bottle and some bandages. The three of them settle into silence for a while as Spiky dabs at the wounds on her knuckles.

The silence is broken abruptly when the 4 civilians from the street come bundling through the front door. As they crowd around her, Spiky gets up and moves out of the way, before unobtrusively leaving the home. Buffy follows his move out of the room, before focusing on the people in front of her. The red head must be Willow, and that would make the woman standing by her Tara. The man is something ander, but the actual name escapes him. The other woman, there's something odd about her.

Buffy leans her head to one side, "Are you human?"

"…pizza." Willow trails off as the four of them register the question.

The woman throws her hands in the air, "Buffy, you know me. Anya, ex-vengeance demon. You know, the one that was sent after Xander here, and is now engaged to Xander."

As Buffy tries to remember what an engagement is, it becomes apparent that she's taken too long to answer as the four of them start bickering again. She's getting tired of not being able to follow what's been said. That's it, that's a way to resolve this.

"Tired."

Xander looks at her, "What?"

Anya nods understandingly, "She's probably still jetlagged. Well, jetlagged from hell anyway."

Buffy looks at them uncomprehendingly as they again start bickering good naturedly, eventually she repeats herself, "Tired." Before standing up.

As she does, they give her more space, and she can see Dawn standing by the kitchen door. Walking over, she carefully asks Dawn, "Is my room?"

Dawn nods enthusiastically, "Yes, your room is still yours."

Buffy nods, and walks up the stairs slowly, as she tries to remember which door was hers.

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It's nearly an hour later, and Dawn is getting ready for bed.

"Dawn," Dawn shrieks and turns around to see Buffy standing in her doorway, her eyes are glowing white with some sort of energy. The same energy is crackling off of her fingers.

"Um, Buffy, you're scaring me."

Buffy gives her a half smile, "I'm sorry Dawn, I didn't mean to. I wanted to warn you not to come into my room while I'm sleeping. I can only control this energy while I'm awake."

"Buffy, what do you mean?"

Buffy raises her hand and looks at the energy playing across her fingers, "I was gone a long time, and things happened over there. I just… I want you to be safe. Part of that means not being around me when I can't control this energy."

Dawn eyes the energy warily, "I can do that."

Buffy smiles, "Good girl."

As Buffy turns and leaves back to her own bedroom, Dawn sits on the bed and seriously thinks about talking to Willow about what just happened. Then she remembers that she needs to walk past Buffy's room to get to Willow and Tara's room.

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Buffy silently returns to her room, and walks over to the mirror that's framed by numerous photo's. As she's looking at herself again, and noting the evidence that void energies are running uncontrolled through her body, she spots herself sitting on the bed in her capsule suit. Turning her attention from the mirror to the photos, she allows herself to smile as each one sparks a memory. Memories that are coming easier now, with less pain.

While she's looking at them, the people in the photos are all replaced with skeletons wearing the same clothes.

Sharply, her gaze returns to the mirror, "Are you doing this?"

She looks up from the bed and waves, "Hey kiddo, miss me?"

"I asked a question."

She waves her hand in the air, "Not me, but they do owe me." Her smile turns wide, and filled with far too many teeth, "And I will get my payment."

"Don't hurt my sister, or I will find some way to hurt you."

Instead of answering, she just jumps off the bed and disappears, leaving Buffy alone in her room once more. With a sigh, Buffy looks at the wounds on her knuckles, and the play of void energy over her hands. Of course there was a catch with her void energies, if only she'd understood the catch before she tried to change the school she was focusing on. Ah, well, eternalism sucks, and she did what she did.



Turning back to her room, Buffy surveys the furniture, before nodding to herself. After that, it only takes a few short minutes to move the bed into the corner of the room, leaving herself plenty of space to meditate properly between the dresser and the bed. In the centre of the cleared space, she drops into Seiza and begins meditating on the teachings of the Vazarin school. The way of the protectors and healers. As she does, void energies swirl around her, sparking out at the furniture and walls, leaving ghostly impressions that slowly fade. All of Buffy's wounds and abrasions slowly start to heal, until even this body's oldest injuries have been purged. As she finishes her meditation, the void energies reach a crescendo, before finally cresting and settling down into stillness. A peaceful smile takes over Buffy's expression, as she finds herself centred for the first time since she was pulled back here.

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While Buffy is meditating, Willow and Tara are woken violently as the picture above their bed is shattered.

Looking up, Willow sees a figure standing at the end of the bed. Coming to full wakefulness, she exclaims, "Buffy!?"

The figure speaks in Buffy's voice, "Do you know what you did? You're like children. Your hands smell of death. Bitches! Filthy little bitches rattling the bones! Did you cut the throat? Did you pat its head?" It then picks up the crystal ball, and throws it at the picture above their heads, raining more glass down into the bed.

On the edge of panic, Tara says "Oh my God, oh my God."

Relentlessly the figure continues, "You were stained. You still are. I know what you did."

As the initial stages of her flight or fight response pass, Willow rolls out of bed and turns the light on. As soon as she does the figure vanishes, as though it had never been there.

Tara hurries out of the bed, and over to Willow. Together, they both make their way to Buffy's room, where she's still meditating. Sharing a glance with each other, they make their way back to their bedroom.

As Willow closes the door, Tara walks over to the crystal ball and caresses it to reassure herself, "Maybe we just dreamed it."

Absently Willow replies, "Maybe." Then she shakes her head before walking over to Tara's hands, "No, wrong… Wrong brains."

Tara's eyes light up in understanding, "We can't both have dreamed it?"

"Right."

"So, did you understand what it was saying?"

Willow shakes her head, "No, you?"

Tara's about to answer when the pictures on the wall begin to shift and shake, as though something's passing underneath them. Once it's passed out of the room, Willow looks back at Tara, "Right, I'm calling Xander."



As Willow leaves the room Tara turns around and freezes as she sees herself sitting at the vanity, brushing her hair.

"Willow!"

Her doppelganger turns around and puts its finger to its lips, "Uh, huh, let's keep this private, between us."

Tara turns around and heads for the door, "Willow!"

"She can't hear you."

Tara turns back, and in a shaky voice asks, "What do you want?"

The doppelganger tilts its head to one side, "To make a deal. You stole something of mine, so I need it to be replaced."

Tara shakes her head, "No. No! Buffy isn't yours."

"You're right, but she does owe me, and now she can't pay what she owes."

Tara's expression firms up, "I don't know what hell you come from, but I don't make deals with demons."

The doppelganger gives an exaggerated sigh, "Well, I tried. I guess I'll ask Dawn next, or take her back." Standing up, she starts to make her way to the other door.

Stepping forward, Tara raises a hand, "No wait."

Her doppelganger turns around and looks at her expectantly.

Hesitantly, Tara raises her hand, "I'll do it, I'll pay the price."

The doppelganger gives her an unnaturally wide smile, before holding out its hand, "Shake on it?"

Nervously, Tara holds out her hand, and the doppelganger slams its own hand into hers in a firm grip. As it does, white void energy sparkles down its arm and into Tara, searing through her nerves and bones. Tara can't help it, she screams loudly, and watches helplessly as a portal opens and a shade of herself is sent through into a war-torn world.

As the portal closes, Willow comes rushing in with the house phone glued to her ear. Tara's doppelganger winks at Tara before letting go of her hand.

Hysterically, Willow shouts down the phone, "Xander! it got Tara."

A moment later, both Dawn and Buffy hurry into the bedroom. As they do, Dawn hurries over to Tara, while Buffy stops and stares at the doppelganger.

The doppelganger looks back and waves at Buffy, "Hey kiddo, this one paid my price. That one is still paying her own price. See you around." With that, it fades away.

Both Tara and Buffy both look at Willow, and Tara asks, "Willow, what did it mean you're paying your own price?"

Softly, Buffy looks down at Tara, "She couldn't see or hear him."

Willow looks between the two of them, "What do you mean, what couldn't I see or hear?"

Buffy looks up and, speaking in her native language, answers Willow, "The man in the wall, the one between worlds, he who lives in the void. Or, Wally as we Tenno call him." Continuing in English, she frowns, "More importantly, what is the price that you're paying Willow?"

Willow stumbles and drops the phone, "I'm not… We, I, paid the price when we cast the spell."

Buffy nods, "Well, either way, there's nothing we can do about it now. I'm going to bed, you should too Dawn. You've got an early day later. Tara, don't forget you can talk to me when you're ready. Just remember that meditation will help."

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The next morning, Dawn is rudely woken up by her sister knocking on the door, "Morning Dawn, time to get up."

Dawn cracks her eyes open and looks at the window, "Buffy, it's not even daylight yet, go away."

"No, you've got your exercises to do, and then we're training."

"Huh? What exercises?"

"Dax and Tenno exercises. Now get up, unless you want to be a kubrow breeder when you grow up."

"What was that?"

"Dawn!"

"I'm getting up, I'm getting up."

"I'll meet you in the yard in 10 minutes, don't make me come and find you."



10 minutes later, Dawn cracks open the door to the yard, and watches as Buffy completes a kata of an unusual martial art in the faint light given off by the lantern by the door. Once she finishes, she turns to face Dawn, "Come, kneel, we start our practice by meditating on the school we're practicing with."

Looking around cautiously for any vampires, Dawn makes her way down to the lawn before sitting down in the position she uses to meditate with Tara and Willow.

As she does, Buffy pushes her over backwards, "No, kneel. I am teaching you to fight, and you leave yourself vulnerable like that. Watch me."

Dawn pushes herself back into a sitting position, "What? I don't understand."

Buffy consciously pulls herself out of her frame of mind, "Watch me, we meditate in the, warriors stance. Sorry, I don't know the English for this position. Not vulnerable like this, as stand backwards easy, as is roll forward. Watch."

As Buffy demonstrates, Dawn lets out a soft "Woah, cool." Once she's kneeling uncomfortably, Dawn asks, "Why am I doing this? You're the Slayer."

Buffy shakes her head, "Grineer and Corpus, don't care about Slayers. The infested care even less about non-infested. You're my sister, so also a target to my enemies. As such, you should know how to defend yourself, and kill if necessary."

Dawn looks worried for a moment, and then glosses over the 'and kill' bit, to focus on something much more mundane, "Buffy, why aren't you speaking properly?"

Buffy looks up at the stars that are still visible in the lightening sky, "I had a life Dawn. I'd moved on, and had a second childhood. I've lived a very long time, and this life is a very tiny fragment of that. When I'm training you, or meditating, I'm using what I learnt in this life. Mum was there too… Void damn it, and damn the souls of those that ordered it."

Dawn reaches over when tears start to fall down Buffy's face, "Buffy, it will be ok."

Buffy looks up at Dawn and her eyes flash with void energy, "I know it will Dawn, because I won't lose you the same way I lost mum. For today, as you're a neophyte, we'll just kneel here and talk about the Vazarin school, the philosophy behind it, and what it means. I think I remember something about you being a key, and you were made into my sister to protect you."

Dawn nods slightly as tears start to form in her eyes, "That's true."

"Hey, don't cry. That doesn't stop you being my sister. It just means you may be able to use some of the Tenno adaptions to this school." Buffy's eyes take on a distant cast, as her words come out slow and halting as she's translating on the fly, "I see a cresting wave, wide in the ocean, the Vazarin Way. We were trained to Counter The Enemy and move with an opponent's attacks in order to nullify them. We maintain constant awareness in order to defend against all aggression.

"This school, and especially the Tenno adaptions to it, are all about protecting people. Being the bulwark behind which the vulnerable can hide while they recover. The Tenno adapted aspects of this path begin with Mending Unity, which allows those that are fighting and working with us to learn from each other, and the situation we're in better than we would normally. Once you gain an understanding of the heart of this school, it will show in everything that you do. From there, you can branch out in different directions. Whether as a healer, channelling the void to erase injuries. As a bulwark, increasing the effectiveness of your armour using the void, and further using the void to heal your own wounds as fast as I used to heal. To provide protection to you and your allies. Or finally, to ensnare your enemies, and buy time for your allies to regroup. But first, you need to understand the lessons, and how the movements work together."



Buffy talks for nearly two hours, as Dawn's legs first start to hurt, and then go numb from kneeling in the same position. As the sounds of movement start to come from inside the house, Buffy smoothly rises to her feet, before demonstrating the healing ability of the Vazarin Way, and helping Dawn to her feet.

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It's late morning and Tara is sitting with the others in the yard when Willow brings up what happened last night, "Guys, I think whatever happened might be caused by Buffy?"

Tara looks a little more alert as Xander asks, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was on the phone with you when Tara screamed, and Buffy was meditating."

Tara shakes her head, "No, they were separate things. Anya was being possessed at the same time I screamed, remember."

Xander suddenly looks pensive, "That was bad. Very bad. Very, very, very bad. Bad."

Anya start rubbing Xander's back, "He's all traumatized."

Willow looks between the three of them, "Well, whatever it is, it's not the-the traditional haunting, because it… It's not limited to one specific place, and there's not, you know, a dead person."

Tara shakes her head, "Not anymore."

Anya pipes up, "Oh, I bet it's a hitchhiker."

Xander shakes his head to clear his thoughts before looking up at his fiancé, "A hitchhiker?"

Anya give a small nod, "Um, standard way to travel through dimensions. Some demon thing sees someone moving between worlds and grabs on for the ride."

Willows brows furrow in confusion as she looks at Anya, "You mean, like, some hell beastie rode in with Buffy? Like, we're responsible for this?"

Remembering what her doppelganger said last night, Tara places her hands on the arms of the deckchair she's using, "Assume crash positions."

Anya shrugs, "I think we shouldn't have brought Buffy back. I knew it was gonna end badly. I should've said something."

Xander rolls his eyes as he looks at Willow, "Ok, fine, but what are we going to do. I mean, I'm feeling the need for some vigorous doing, you know?"

Willow looks up, a little hope in her voice, "It's ok. We-We just kill the beastie, and all is good. We're rolling in puppies. Right?"

Xander double takes between Willow and Anya, "Can we do that? Kill it?"



Along with everyone else, Tara's head swivels around to look at Buffy when she asks, "We killing something?"

Something in her expression gives her pause, but Willow sits up, and with a cheerful voice says, "Buffy! You're not supposed to be up."

A slight crease of Buffy's eyes shows the amusement she's feeling at that statement, but before she can answer, Tara asks, "H-How are you feeling? Are you ok?"

Buffy makes a wry smile before asking, "So what are we killing?"

Anya takes the bait, and moves the conversation past the uncomfortable question, "A demon, you brought back from hell with you."

Buffy runs through all the things that could have followed her from the origin system, and only has time to say "Oh."

Before we can say anything, Willow fills the silence with, "It's not like she's making it sound. A little haunting-type stuff. Boo-scary. Everything's normal."

Tara, thinking that Buffy has enough on her plate already, adds, "You shouldn't worry about it."

Buffy looks around the four of them, before saying in an upbeat voice, "Sure, let me know if there's anything I can do to help."



Tara, nods, "We will. And Buffy, it's good to have you back."

Xander puts on a smile, "Yeah, all we need to do is kill this thing, and then we still have you back."

After everyone else joins in with their own platitudes, Buffy turns back to the house, before looking over her shoulder, "Well, let's get to work."

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Not for the first time that day, Buffy looks up from a book she's struggling through, and tries to guess what these virtual strangers want. She knows they were her friends, and that they've been together for a few years. But there's been so much between then and now. She's not sure that they want the blood soaked soldier that's been trapped in the body of a teenager for the last 900 years, with the brain development that implies. She's seen the glances that Dawn's been giving her since their session this morning. But she's lost her mother twice, and she'll be damned before she loses her sister too.



She's looked around, and everything is so primitive here. It's even worse than a New Loka compound, the extremists that believe everyone should live without technology. Does she even have the Implants that she earned before Ballas took over after Margulis was executed, and wiped all of their memories. Then again, it's peaceful here. She can see it in their faces, and how the buildings aren't fortified. Hurriedly, she closes the book as a spark of void energy jumps between her finger and thumb, leaving a brown spot on the page she was holding. Looking up, she looks around and wonders if any of them could actually help her find the materials she'd need to cobble together a basic amp to regulate her void abilities. As she does, she realises that the only people who could are either dead, or Giles, who isn't in this country anymore.

"I miss Giles."

Everyone looks up at her, and she winces. Fortunately, Willow smiles at her, "It's ok, he's coming back. I phoned him earlier."



Another spark arcs between her fingers, and she quickly hides them behind her back, "I'm er. I'm going out on patrol."

Immediately, most of her, friends? Stand up and walk towards her, Xander being the one to voice there concern, "We can join you, if you want. You don't need to go alone."

Buffy doesn't look back, she just says, "No, I need to go patrolling."

Dawn calls out something behind her, but Buffy concentrating too much on holding the void energies, that are overflowing her ability to manage, to hear.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 2 – part 2

Once Buffy's outside, she lets her feet guide her on an old route she used to follow on her patrol. Most of her focus is on a moving meditation, trying to control the void energies, and prevent them from exploding uncontrollably while she's in a civilian area. Eventually, she makes her way into one of the many graveyards on the outskirts of Sunnydale, this one bordered by trees and the woods behind it.



It doesn't take long for some acceptable targets to find her. A group of vampires spread out to surround her, one of them clearly covered in grave dirt, so a newly risen.

"Well, lookie what we have here. A little girl coming to pay her respects."

Buffy looks each of them in the eyes, and smiles as they shuffle when they see them glowing with power, "If I was you, I'd look for an easier target tonight."

The one covered in grave dirt steps forward belligerently, "Why would we do that, when everything we need is right here."

Buffy shrugs, "Well, I warned you."



As the new vampire leaps at her, she raises her left hand, palm out, and just, lets go. A crackling beam of white void energy shoots out and punches straight through the vampires chest, and Buffy turns her arm so that the beam starts cutting through the other vampires that are surrounding her. As the last one explodes into dust, she points her hand to the heavens and waits until her void reserves have emptied, and the beam shuts off on its own.



Now that she's drained, Buffy curses, under her breath, at the lack of control Tenno have with the void beam. Along with her lack of amp. Especially, the one that she spent so long putting together. Idly, she wonders if the Lotus made it through the portal without her. As she does, she rubs her chest where Ballas stabbed her, just before she herself fell into the same portal. Funnily enough, that's the last thing she remembers before waking up in the coffin.

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As she's wandering the graveyard, lost in thought, she comes across a group of mausoleums that look familiar. Looking around, she spots one that triggers her déjà vu, and she's sure she's been inside it before. After weaving her way through the graves between her and the entrance, she experimentally pushes the door, only for it stay shut. Rapping on it with the back of her knuckles, she considers how solid it seems to be. As she knows that she can't, couldn't, void jump through the bulkheads that the Corpus and Grineer used. With a shrug, she lets the void envelop her in its embrace, becoming very much invisible to those outside the void. Leaping forward, she pushes herself through the void, and makes it most of the way through the door before she's pushed back out again.



Ah well, it was worth a try. Probably means that it will successfully dissipate a void blast or two if she needs to vent. Founders only know, the local vampires wouldn't protect any bystanders. Taking a step back, she starts to really look at the entrance, as people would have wanted to get inside at one point. It doesn't take her long to find a slightly lighter section of stone, where a concealed catch sits. Pulling the catch down, the door swings open with a good shove. Beyond the door is a set of stairs leading down into the darkness. At the bottom, there is the faintest glimmer of light spilling from under a door. With a small smile, she makes her way down the stairs, and the door closes on its own behind her. At the bottom of the stairs, she makes her way through the door and stops in front of a coffee table. As she's looking at the coffee table, trying to remember just why it's so familiar, something enters her space.

From behind her, Spikey's voice calls out, "You should be careful, you never know what kind of villains got a knife at your back."

Buffy turns around with a dark chuckle, "Hey Spikey. You couldn't kill me even if you had me tied up."

"Are you so sure of that?" Spike rushes forward faster than a human would be able to react, covering the intervening space in the blink of an eye. As he gets within arms reach of Buffy, he slams into an invisible shield.

Buffy nods as she lifts her left hand, "Yes, you're dead."

"Christ Buffy, what happened to you?"

Buffy looks down, "You've hurt your hand."

Spike looks down too, "Hmm, you're right."

Buffy smiles and activates Squad regeneration. After a few seconds, Spikey's hand starts to heal rapidly, "I don't know where to start."



Spike paces away from Buffy, unsure of what to say. When he reaches one of the stone risers around the crypt, he turns back, "You can sit down, I've got furniture."

Buffy looks down at the black sofa, before sitting down while shaking her head, "You know, I think I've sat down more in the last day than I have in the last three centuries."

She watches as Spike sighs and walks over, before perching on the corner of a wooden table, cabinet, stand, something. That's when she notices the large box with grey glass on the front. Similar to the one at home, and she looks at it curiously.

Spike looks down at where she's looking, "Oh, do you like my TV, it was a bargain, I even have satellite."

"Is that what it is? What does it do?"

"Buffy, are you ok?"

Buffy's eyes snap up to Spikes, "What do you think? I had a life Spikey, I was making a difference. Granted, I'd just been stabbed through the heart, and then floated into a void portal. But still, I probably wasn't dead, maybe I was. Who knows. But they pulled me out of the void back here. Here to another life."

Spike raises his hands, "Hey, it wasn't me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're back, and I'm not going to let them try to undo that. But the first I knew about you coming back was when you came down the stairs."

Buffy forces herself to relax, "I know, but my memories are still coming back. Even if I did remember everything, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of my life. Void damn it, I'm over 1,000 years old, and I've been awake for nearly 600 of that. How's 20 year old Buffy summers supposed to compare to that? Depths of Demios, I don't even remember your names. I've been calling you Spikey because that's what your hair looked like last night. On top of that, I don't have any of my equipment, so void energies keep building up dangerously inside me."

As Buffy starts to cry, Spike perches on the sofa next to her, and awkwardly pats Buffy's back, "Hey, my name's Spike, so you were pretty close. It was picked because I used to use railway spikes to stake out my victims."

Buffy starts to laugh hysterically, "Oh, Spikey, you have no idea. You're like a saint next to me. I've slaughtered thousands upon thousands. Innocents? When I had to. Both during the war, and after I woke up. Where I lived, life was between a rock and a hard place, and the Tenno. We fought to keep it there, while the other two factions warred with each other, and wiped out any other factions that looked like they might be getting big enough to challenge them. Assassination, espionage, spying, slaughter, recovery, kidnapping, you name it, I've done it all in the name of keeping the peace. Then what happens? The remnants of the old war team up and try to take over the solar system."

Spike grabs his knife, "I could kill you, if you wanted. Send you back."

Buffy shakes her head, "It wouldn't work. I've died, so many times. Each time, we just get back up again. There's only one Tenno that was awake, and has ever died. And I killed him."

"So, what, you're a monster now?"

Buffy gives a low chuckle, "No, I'm not a monster. I've seen true monsters. We killed, because the alternative was worse. They didn't just kill, they experimented on their own people. They twisted people, and combined them in ways that broke them. Then they sent them to die against us. It's just, how do I fit in here? Where do I even start?"

"Hey, don't look at me. I don't exactly live in paradise here either."

"I know, but you also didn't expect me to behave in a certain way."



The two of them sit there in silence for a while. Eventually, Spike fills the silence with, "Hey, Willow's getting powerful, isn't she."

Buffy shrugs, "Honestly, I don't know. What does powerful mean? The Grineer Queens, well Queen now, control an entire race from their asteroid citadel, and are still alive because they take over the bodies of young humans."

"I guess. But you're mortal now."

Buffy laughs, "I'm not going to bet on that until I die and don't get up again."



After another long moment, Buffy sighs, "I should probably go, as I need to meditate and get a bit of sleep, before training Dawn in the morning."

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Tara's hugging Dawn, trying to reassure here that they have no plans to end the spell they used to bring Buffy back from the dead. Behind her, Willow is still reading the entry on Thermogenesis, and how certain spells can create a demon. Suddenly, Anya speaks up, "Hey, Willow, why are you smiling. It's inappropriate."

Tara turns around and lets go of Dawn so that she can concentrate on Willow's explanation, "No, no, it's good. The effect, it's temporary. It will dissipate on its own."

Xander looks at Willow, an interested gleam in his eyes, "So, what? We just have to wait it out?"

Willow nods excitedly, "Yes, exactly. When the energy of the spell dissipates, so will it. The only way it could possibly survive is if it killed the subject of the spell?"

"So, what? It kills Buffy, and bang, it's got its own body?"

"Yes."

Tara opens her mouth to say something, as what happened in their bedroom last night makes it feel like Willow's wrong. However, at that moment, Xander's eyes go white and, in a growly voice, he says, "Thanks for the tip." Before he collapses.

Suddenly, there's a who lot of activity, and what she was going to say goes out the window as Xander and Anya are hurriedly looking for their car keys.



A few minutes later, it's just her and Willow left in the shop, so Tara ventures, "Willow, I'm not sure that's…"

Willow takes her hand and leads her into the back room, "Come on Tara, we need to start a spell to enable Buffy to fight it. Otherwise it's going to kill her."

"Willow, I don't think…" Tara trails off, as she falls back into following Willow's lead.



Less than a minute later, the two of them are sat, cross legged, facing each other and holding hands. Closing her eyes, Tara easily sinks into the trance they use for casting spells together. As she reaches for the magic in the world around her, another energy wells up from inside. Frantically, she tries to fight that power, and draw on the pure magic of the world around her. Even as she does, the words of her family creep into her mind, and the trickle of magic she was managing slows to a halt as her fears of becoming a demon latch on, and she takes this new energy as proof they were right. Suddenly, Willow snatches her hands away, and Tara looks up instinctively as Willows eyes go black just before her head snaps back and she says one word, "Solid".



As Willow collapses, Tara shoves her worries back into her subconscious so that she can look after Willow.

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Buffy opens the door to her home and looks around. The whole place feels empty, as though everyone else is out. Subconsciously, she relaxes, as centuries of living alone on her Orbiter have taught her that solitude is safety. As she makes her way up to her room, her fingers absently trail along the banister, and take in the texture of the varnished wood. A simple luxury that only the upper echelons of the Corpus could have afforded, let alone had back home. The best that anyone else could have had, is a hologram overlaying a metal banister, assuming they could even afford somewhere with so much space. As she reaches the top of the stairs, she looks into the bathroom and plays with the taps for a few minutes. Another simple luxury that is almost non-existent in space-based habitats.



Walking into her bedroom, Buffy takes the time to really look at what's there. As, as much as it's her room, it is very much the room of a stranger. Slowly, she makes her way to the mirror that's almost covered in photos, wedged in both sides of the frame. There, she takes a better look at her face. A face that's a couple of years older than she remembers. Though her height hasn't changed. Reverently, she takes a photo from one side that has Veldé hugging both Dawn, and herself. Now, in the solitude of the house, she allows herself to cry for the mother she lost twice. The second time, when she had to kill her herself, after she went mad from void sickness.



As the first tear lands on the photo, Buffy tenses as something enters the area of her Mending Unity. Carefully putting the photo down, Buffy turns around to face the door, her hearing straining to hear the sound of one of the doors or windows open. She's caught off guard when a ghostly white shape charges at her, knocking her back slightly as is passes by her.

As she recovers from the blow, she manifests a Guardian Shell, the same invisible shield that she used in front of Spike earlier.

A voice whispers, "You don't belong here."

The incorrigibility of the statement catches her off guard, and the apparition reappears, and passes through her shield as though it didn't exist, knocking her back into the hall, and against the door post into the bathroom.

As she makes her way back into her bedroom, the thing calls out, "Did they tell you, you belong here?"

Buffy can't help it, she starts to laugh, "I don't belong here, and neither do you. However, only one of us is going to be leaving, and it's not me. Now, lets see if you're immune to the void, or just able to bypass my shield."

As it's currently invisible, Buffy scans the room for the threat, her right hand held ready with a glow of void energy surrounding it. As her head moves, so does the shield, always protecting her from dangers she's looking at.

As soon as the apparition reappears, she launches a Void snare, and dodges to one side in case it doesn't work. She watches dispassionately, as the white spectre is dragged into the vortex, before it disappears, and reappears behind her. As it envelops her, she muses, "So, you can be affected when you attack me, but you're not quite here. Depths of Demios, that's annoying."

As the spectre hits her around the face, Buffy blinks as she lands on the floor before starting to laugh, "You can't even hurt me can you. Oh, you can knock me around, but you're no stronger than a civilian. Well, lets find out how smart you are."



With that realisation, Buffy slowly makes her way out of her room, and down the stairs. Taking extra care not to allow herself to be thrown about, so that the house doesn't suffer. Her own void enhanced regeneration and toughness more than a match for the attacks levied against her.

As she's halfway down the stairs, Dawn, Xander, and Anya, all bundle through the front door together. Buffy looks up cheerfully, "Oh hey guys, I'm just heading out…"

Buffy frowns as the three of them look at her with a combination of confusion and alarm, a frown that deepens when Xander says, "Buffy! We here to help you. Watch out!"

"Why me? Get out of the way!" Putting action to words, Buffy dodges under a blow that would have sent her sprawling down the stairs, and void jumps out of the house. Turning back, she shouts, "Over here!"



There's a sense of grim satisfaction, as the spectre rises up out of the ground in front of her. Just as she's about to manoeuvre around it, so she has a clear shot down the street, the spectre coalesces into a physical, white, humanoid. Not willing to look a gift kubrow in the mouth, she swiftly dodges to one side before raising her left hand and letting go of the void. A beam of crackling white void energy shoots down the street for around 20 yards, before it loses cohesion, and scatters into nothing. The spectre providing only momentary resistance to the beams progress.



[AN: By default, the operator has 100 health, and they are pretty much a baseline human in the warframe universe. The void beam, on the other hand, does 2,000 points of void damage per second. That means that it takes 1/20th of a second (or 0.05 seconds) to kill an unarmoured human. Without being overloaded on void energy, an operator has 100 energy to start with. The beam can be sustained for around 10 seconds before the operator's void energy is exhausted.]



As the beam peters out after a few seconds, Xander clears his throat, "Um, Buffy? Remind me never to piss you off."

Buffy chuckles as she walks past him, patting him on the shoulder a couple of times, "No worry, you civilian, attacks for enemies only."

Xander looks at Anya and Dawn as Buffy closes the front door, "I don't know if that's supposed to be reassuring, or worrying?"

Dawn looks back at the street, "Reassuring, I think."

At the same time, Anya says, "Worrying, definitely worrying."

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The next morning sets the routine for the next few weeks, with Buffy waking Dawn at around 5 in the morning in order to learn the Vazarin way, with 30 minutes of meditation at the start and the end of the lessons. She is unrelenting in the schedule, even when Dawn has stayed up late the previous night.



Tara continues to do magic with Willow, even though it's getting harder and harder to not draw on this new energy inside her. Not that Willow seems to notice, as her ability at witchcraft continues to grow.



One day, just after winter has broken, and the trees are starting to show the new growth of spring, Buffy looks up from a book she's struggling to read.

"Dawn, should you be in school?"

Dawn looks up with a slightly guilty expression, "Uh, maybe?"

Buffy smiles wryly, "I think I'm supposed to say something like, 'Those who fail to learn History, are doomed to repeat it in Summer School.'"

Dawn looks down, "But I prefer learning from you."

Buffy puts her book down before walking over and kneeling beside Dawn. Taking her hands in her own, Buffy looks her in the eyes and says, "Dawn, I'm not going to stop teaching you. But I can't teach you the things you need to know here. I can teach you to write in Orokin or Corpus script, I can teach you the language of the Origin system. I can even teach you math, sciences, and philosophy. But I can't teach you about what you need to know in this world. Demios' heart, I can barely remember most of it, and reading is still like trying to translate ancient Greek." Dawn giggles at the comparison, "Dawn, I'm serious. I'm a warrior, Jupiter's moons I can't even go shopping without an escort, as I've punched out how many people now, because they bumped into me unexpectedly?"

Dawn giggles again, "Six, if you only include Xander once. But, Buffy, you're so much better at teaching these things than they are at school."

"Dawn, I'm not going to stop teaching you. I'm not going away again. But, Dawn, school isn't just about what you learn in class, it's also about what you learn from each other. Willow, Tara, Xander, and maybe even Anya, have all learnt those lessons already. Even I learnt those lessons. But they're not things you can learn from books, or even people like us. As we don't remember the lessons, we just live with the results. Out of that will come your own friendships and social circles. And that is probably the most important thing to learn in life."

Dawn nods glumly, "Ok Buffy."

Buffy smiles brightly, "Great, then you can start again tomorrow. Now, can you help me with this book? I've been trying to read it for the last two weeks."

Dawn laughs as she reaches over the table, and pulls the book towards her. As she opens it, she laughs even louder, "Buffy, this book is written in Spanish."

Buffy looks confused, "Really? But it's using the same letters."

Dawn looks up at her, "Really?"

Buffy nods and starts drawing out some alphabets, "Really. This is Orokin script, this is Corpus script, and this is Grineer scratch."

Dawn looks at the last one, "Wait, why did you call that one scratch?"

"The Grineer don't usually keep written records, instead everything is given orally. Their scientists use either Orokin or Corpus when they want to record stuff. So, Grineer scratch is used by the grunts to indicate important information on walls."

"What? And everyone uses one of those three languages?"

Buffy shrugs, "Two really, as the Orokin are more or less extinct. Pretty much everyone uses Corpus, even the Steel Meridian, they're Grineer that have broken their built in loyalty to the Queens."

"Why?"

"Universal communications. The Corpus control the market on computers and media, so the only language people are exposed to is the Corpus one."

Dawn shakes her head at the idea there's only one language.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 3

Buffy stalks down the stairs, seeking the sound of that infernal dripping that's been interrupting her meditations for the last couple of days. Each incessant drip reminding her of traversing the Grineer tunnels on Neptune, or Earth. Finally, she finds the accursed thing, and stares at it while she tries to remember if she's ever worked with plumbing before.

While she's doing that, Dawn comes down the stairs, and calls out, "Do you want to call a plumber?"

Buffy spins around at the sudden noise and brings her left arm up, before slipping over in a puddle of water, "Dawn! Don't do that, I almost killed you."

Dawn looks confused, "What did I do?"

"You snuck up on me. Now, what did you want?"

"Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to call a plumber?"



Buffy looks down at her hands, as they start to shake, "Um, what's a plumber?"

"They're people who know all about plumbing, and come in to fix problems that people are having with their plumbing?"

"Come in, you mean, into the house?"

Dawn nods, "Uh huh."

Buffy shakes her head violently, "No, no way. How many times have I almost killed Xander because I wasn't expecting him?"

Dawn smiles at Buffy, "Oh, only three times." Before adding, "This week." Under her breath.

"Exactly, I can't, I just can't. I need an amp." As Buffy starts to hyperventilate, Dawn hurries upstairs.



A couple of minutes later, Tara comes down, and carefully walks towards Buffy from the front, before crouching down and slowly pulling her into a hug, "It's ok, Willow's phoning Xander, and he'll call the plumber. You can take Dawn to the park and get some ice cream while the plumbers here."

Buffy shakes her head, "No, no, I can do this."

"Are you sure?"

Buffy nods, "I'll-I'll wait in the kitchen while Xander shows him the basement."

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Buffy watches the door to the basement pensively, Xander's been down there a long time, and there's been a lot of banging, "Hey, um, Willow?"

Willow looks up, "Yes Buffy?"

"Do you think Xander's ok? I mean, they've been down there a long time, and he's just a civilian."

"Oh, Buffy, he's fine. They're probably just taking a long time so they know what the problem is."

"Oh, ok."



Ten minutes later, Buffy stands up from the counter, "Right that's it, I'm going to check on them. And if that plumber has hurt a hair on Xander's head, I'll…"

Willow quickly takes hold of her left arm, "No, Buffy, they're fine. Listen, they're coming up the stairs now."

As Willow says that, Buffy can hear Xander's voice on the stairs to the basement. A moment later, he comes through the door, followed by a middle-aged man with a serious expression.

Xander smiles, "It's ok, the leaks fixed."

The plumber grunts and shakes his head, "It's only a temporary fix Miss. I've turned your stop cock down, so you might have pressure issues upstairs. But the pipes are rotting. You're going to need a full copper refit, otherwise, next time it will be more than just a drip."

Buffy nods, "How much coprun will I need to get that done?"

The plumber looks surprised, so Dawn pipes up, "She means how much will it cost."

The plumber nods, "It'll be $60 today, and the young man there has an estimate for the rest of the work."

Buffy's eyes brighten, "Oh, I've got that. Um, wait right there."



Buffy carefully walks out of the kitchen, without losing sight of the plumber, and then flees upstairs to get her purse. It then takes her a couple of minutes to double check that she's got three 20's, as she's still confusing English numbers with those of the Origin system. Then she's back, and places the money on the table, before moving towards Dawn, while keeping the table between her and the plumber.

"There you go, $60, I counted it."

The plumber picks up the money with a nod, "It's a good thing you didn't try to fix it yourself, as that drip was caused by the pressure in the rest of the system. You'd have probably burst the other pipes."



Once Xander's shown the plumber out, Buffy looks at the estimate with Xander, "2,000 credits, that's not too bad. We should get that done before it will cost more. I remember that mum left us some wealth so that we could survive until I… I… I did something."

Hesitantly, Willow says, "Um, Buffy, you can't actually afford to do that."

Buffy looks up sharply, "What do you mean we can't afford that?"

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Buffy looks up from the note pad that she's been using to keep track of all the bills that have accrued since she died. The picture they paint is a bleak one.

"So, Willow, this is everything right?"

Willow doesn't seem to notice Buffy's tone of voice, "Uh, huh, yeah, you see, what with all the hospital bills, and everything. The, erm, money that your mother left you, is kinda running out."

"Willow, this was Dawn's house while I was dead, don't you care about that? What if the money ran out and the taxmen came? What would Dawn have done then? How would she live without an arm or a leg."

"What?"

"Reclamation Willow. If you can't pay your debts, they come and take it out of your body. Hell, I met a sweet kid, and they reclaimed his whole body for debts his parents owned when they died. I can't remember his original name, but once I cleared his debt Eudico managed to scrounge up some parts, but they couldn't get any arms, so after that he was called Legz. You live here, why couldn't you have, I don't know, done some spells for people, or used your computer skills for different jobs?"

Willow looks taken aback, "But, that's barbaric. They're not allowed to do that here."

Buffy wipes her face with her hands, "You're right, this is a different world. I'll-I'll see how much money we have left, then maybe I'll see if there are any assassination bounties."

Anya looks up from the desk, where she's doing her own sums, "Oh, good plan."

Xander raises his hands, "No, no, bad idea. They'd arrest you and then you'd be put in jail and you'd never see Dawn again."

Buffy adds, "Espionage? Sabotage?"

When Xander shakes his head at each option, Buffy sags, before her eyes brighten again. Quickly, she gets up and grabs a world atlas from the shelf. Stabbing her finger down on a place in the middle east she says, "I know, we could take a shuttle here, and find a couple of Auron seams. That would solve the problem."

Anya shakes her head, "Great idea, but you can't afford the plane ticket."

Buffy slams her hand on the table, which makes an ominous cracking sound, "Void damn it."

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After Buffy's picked Dawn up from school, the two of them make their way to the bank. While she's waiting in line, Buffy mutters, "They're all civilians, they're all civilians. They're not going to attack you. Stay calm."



All of her muttering comes to naught, as, while the cashier is checking the account balance, there's a scream from behind them, and a tinkle of glass. Spinning around, the two of them see a grey skinned demon that looks a bit like a humanoid shark, with gill like markings on his cheeks. As she watches, it throws off two security guards, before tossing a customer through the glass of a cubical office. Buffy puts on a smile and confidently walks over to the demon.

"Hey, I know it's frustrating in here, but you just need to be patient."

As it turns towards her, it growls, so she puts on her best smile, "Hey, if you're a civilian, then deposits are that queue, withdrawals are that queue. Otherwise, Slaying is this queue."

When it sends her flying through a window with an uppercut, she smiles as she rolls to her feet and activates Guardian Shield, covering both herself and Dawn, "Oh, good, you're not a civilian. That means I get to kick your arse."



Launching back into the fight, she exchanges blows with the demon, while trying to manoeuvre into a position that she can safely shoot it. While her shield protects her, from being hit, she can't say the same about having bodies thrown at her. As she dodges out of the way of another customer, she hears Dawn shriek. Quickly looking over at her, she's relieved to see that the debris hit the shield and not Dawn. That moments inattention is enough for the demon to get in, under her guard, and lift her up around her hips.



As Buffy's trying to get some leverage to break the Demons hold, one of the security guards fires a gun at the demon, which seems to have no effect.

"Put the lady down."

Buffy goes flying as the Demon throws her at the security guard, taking them both to the floor. Picking up the gun, Buffy quickly evaluates it before throwing it to one side, "These things never help, try a shotgun or a rifle next time."



Scrambling to her feet, she races after the demon, who's heading for the entrance. As she does, she gets a face full of customer. Once she gets past the civilian, the Demon has disappeared, and she sighs, before making her way over to Dawn to ensure she's unharmed.

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After the Magic Box has closed, Tara gently takes a book on demons from Dawn while Anya and Xander are discussing something about their engagement, "No Dawn, leave the books alone."

Dawn pouts, "But I want to help."

"Dawn, you're not old enough."

"I am so old enough to help with research. Don't you think I'm mature enough?"

Tara shakes her head as she takes the books back to the table, "Dawn, I think you're very mature for your age, but you're still only 15."

Dawn puts her hands on her hips, "Yes, teen, as in teenager. You know, if you don't let me look at the pictures, I'm gonna learn everything I know about demons on the street."

Knowing a losing argument when she hears one, Tara just nods and hands Dawn a book, "Knock yourself out."

Dawn takes the book, "Thank you."



Opening the book to a random page, Dawn looks at the picture for a moment, "Um, that's a weird place for a horn…" As her brain catches up with her eyes, she closes the book, "That's not a horn."

Tara's about to say something when Xander interrupts, "Look, I still don't get it. I mean, what kind of a demon would rob a bank?"

While he's speaking, Dawn opens the book randomly again, only to stop and stare at a picture of the demon that attacked the bank.

Anya shakes her head, "The kind that wants money."

"What do you even call that?"

Dawn blinks as she processes Xander's question, lifting the book, she turns it around, "What, you mean this? It's got an apostrophe. I think it's M'Fashnik."



As the four of them are discussing the pronunciation of the name, Buffy and Willow walk in from the back door. When she notices them, Dawn holds up the book and smiles as she says, "This your guy?"

Buffy smiles, "You do research now? Great job."

Tara frowns, "Don't-Don't you think she's a little young?"

Buffy looks surprised, "Why? She's 15. She's older than I was the first time I had to kill someone." Then mumbles, "Both times."

Willow comes to Tara's defence, "That doesn't mean that Dawn should be doing this."

Buffy looks at Willow with a 'did you really just say that' expression, "Willow, do you remember who used to help Giles with the research in the Library?"

Willow sags, "Oh, yeah."

Buffy smiles brightly, "Great job Dawn, you should keep it up. As until I get you trained up, knowing what you can fight, and what you should run away from is vitally… important…" She trails off as the front door of the shop opens, and Giles walks in.



The two of them stare at each other for a long moment, Buffy at one of the few people she'd trust with her back in this life. Giles at someone he never believed he'd ever see again. At some unseen signal, they both start walking towards each other, until they meet half way in a hug.

As his walking, Giles softly says, "Dear God. You're alive. You're here." As Buffy hugs him tight, he shakily adds, "And you're still remarkably strong!"

Buffy looks up at Giles and blinks for a second, before letting Giles go, "Uh, sorry."

Giles looks down at the girl he spent so long mentoring, and even protecting on occasion, "Willow told me, but I didn't really let myself believe it."

Buffy chuckles, "Try it from this side, one minute I'm being stabbed in the back, the next I'm here."

Giles chuckles in response, "It's a…"

Buffy smiles, "A miracle?"

"Yes."

Buffy shrugs, "Something like that, yes."

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After a brief, and uninformative, conversation with Buffy in the training room. Giles returns to the shop front, only to be greeted by an enthusiastic Anya, "Giles, I'm so glad you're back."

Smiling down at the Ex-vengeance demon, he replies, "Yes, well, it's certainly unexpected."

"You can't have the shop back."

"Yes, I know."

"You signed papers."

"I did."

Satisfied for now, Anya lets Giles go, and he looks over at the table, "And do we have information on this new demon, that I suddenly find so desperately interesting?"

Dawn smiles proudly, "I found him, look."

Giles takes the proffered book, and glances at the page, "M'Fashnik."

Dawn looks at the others with a triumphant expression, "Like, M'Cookies."

Missing the context, Giles absently responds, "No, quite different actually."

Tara looks surprised, "You know it?"

Giles continues scanning the entry, "Hmm, by reputation. They come from a long line of mercenary demons. Causing murder and mayhem for the highest bidder. Course, now the question is, who's powerful enough to control one of those things?"

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It's nearly 11pm when Giles manages to get Willow alone by chance as he's going into the kitchen for some water.

Willow smiles as she sees Giles, "Hey Giles, did you have a good talk with Buffy?"

Giles resolutely makes his way to the sink, and in a level voice replies, "Yes, now she's back."

Willow cheerfully replies, "Yeah, isn't it awesome?"

"Quite." Giles glances back at Willow, "Tell me about the spell you performed."

Willow sounds a little surprised as she replies, "Oh. Ok, first of all it was so scary. I had things crawling under my skin, and then a snake came out of my mouth. But I managed to keep it together, even when a group of demons interrupted the spell. So, what do you think?"

Giles turns back to face her, "What do I think? What do I think? I think you're an irresponsible little girl that's playing with things she can't understand."

Offended, Willow responds defensively, "What, so I'm the bad guy now? I brought her back when nobody else could."

"Really? Did you ever think if you should have brought her back? Do you even know where she was? I was the one that did it, and you'd have done it too if you were there."

Controlling his anger, Giles bites back, "No, I wouldn't. I'd have stopped you if I was here. You're lucky to be alive now. Hell, we all are. You have no idea what you could have done, you could have opened a portal to hell, you could have annihilated the planet, you could have got yourself and your friends killed. And for what?"

Willow pushes to her feet, "But I didn't, I controlled it, I guided the magic, and I made it work."

Giles shakes his head, "No, you got lucky. When I left, I thought you were the responsible one. Instead, I find that you're still just a child, playing with things she doesn't understand and believing it makes her better than anyone else. Well, here's some news for you, there are other people out there that could do what you did. But you wouldn't want to meet them."

"That's because they're bad guys, and we stop bad guys. I'm not a bad guy."

"Oh, you poor deluded fool, thinking that it's that easy."

"Well, maybe it is that easy."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════

Outside, the back door, Buffy stands, watching the moon with a wistful expression on her face. Her thoughts are running over the conversation she's just had with Giles about how her mother handled all of the stuff she's now responsible for with no special powers. Absently, she squashes a cigarette butt that lands on the decking by her foot.

"Hey Spike."

"Slayer. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just looking at the moon."

"Did you hear all that?"

Buffy looks down at Spike, "I did, and it's nothing I hadn't guessed already."

"They must seem like children to you."

Buffy sighs and sits down on a step, "Innocents. Innocents, not children. We-We could never grow old, never mature. It wasn't so bad, as we didn't know any different."

"How did you handle it?"

"Same way as everyone else, one day at a time. Take your fun where you can, and try to leave the universe a better place than you found it."

Spike sits down beside her, "What about your friends?"

Buffy chuckles, "They all think I'm broken."

"Aren't you?"

"Not at all, I come from a different culture, a different society. There were colonies, did you know that. Dotted all over the place. From a few hundred people to tens of thousands. And they all existed in the gap between the rock and the hard place. If the Grineer won, they'd have been exterminated. If the Corpus won, they'd have been exploited until they were little more than slaves. We-We were the protectors of that gap." Buffy waves behind her, "They've never seen anything like that. They couldn't comprehend just how important that space could be, and how careful you have to be with the power you wield. One false step, one push too far, and the whole thing starts to fall down around you. Then you're left rushing from one crisis to another until things stabilise again. Except, during that time, you've lost something precious and irreplaceable. Maybe, if you're lucky, in time, something equally precious will take its place."

"You must have seen so much of that."

Buffy nods, "And caused more than my fair share too. It's why I'm pushing Dawn so hard. I don't want her to be helpless if I make a mistake, and she becomes a target again."

"You know they'd all crawl over glass to help you, don't you."

Buffy laughs, "That's the problem, they wouldn't stop to think about if they should crawl over the glass. Apart from Giles, I don't think any of them understand the price of power."

"Too bloody right."

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It's nearly 5am when Dawn softly walks down the stairs. As her foot lands on the squeaky step, Giles looks up from the sofa.

"Couldn't sleep?" he says softly.

Dawn looks over in surprise, "No, I just woke up and noticed the time."

Giles snorts in amusement, "So, what has you downstairs so early?"

"I figured I'd get a head start today, rather than letting Buffy dribble cold water over me to get me out of bed."

"And what's she doing getting you up so early?"

"She's training me. Wherever she was, it was really bad, and she wants me to be prepared."



Just as Giles is about to respond, someone violently rattles the door handle. Concerned, Giles looks at Dawn, "Um, that door is locked, isn't it?"

Dawn steps backwards cautiously, "Uh huh."

"Good, because I'd…" Giles is cut off as the demon from the bank breaks the door by kicking the door open.

As it does, it knocks Dawn over backwards, and the Demon backhands Giles across the face. Knocking him sprawling into the living room, where he lands on the floor and doesn't rise again. Stepping around he door, the Demon looks down at Dawn, "You're not the slayer, but you'll do to start with."



As it leans down, Dawn screams, only to peter off as a ball of light explodes above it, pulling it into the air by a vortex of energy. Coming down the stairs in her exercise clothes, Buffy smiles at Dawn.

"Great idea, terrible execution. Hiding behind something is a great way to catch an opponent off guard, however you had no idea what you were going to face." Buffy ducks under the struggling demon, and helps Dawn to her feet, "Now, come on, lets head out to the street where there's plenty of space for a proper fight, and I'll show you how some of those motions in Vazarin work in reality."

Struggling above her, just out of reach, the Demon growls, "I'm going to kill you."



Buffy ignores him as she ducks down underneath his reach, and out into the street, tugging Dawn with her. Leading Dawn across the street, Buffy returns to the centre of the road just as the vortex ends, and the demon lands heavily on the floor. What follows is an increasingly frantic hand to hand fight, as the demons strength and toughness is more than a match for anything that Buffy can deal out barehanded. The fight is interspersed by periods of instruction while the demon is caught in a void snare. Something that seems to just make the demon even more irate.



Eventually, the demon comes to the conclusion that he should be attacking Dawn rather than Buffy. At that point, the fight finishes with a beam of crackling white light that takes nearly half a second to burn through the demon and appear out the other side. As the light of Buffy's void beam dies away, Dawn finds herself shivering from more than just the cold. Buffy walks over to Dawn and pauses, momentarily, as Dawn flinches. Shaking her head minutely, she carries on, and pulls Dawn into a hug.

"I'm sorry I put you through that Dawn. But you needed to see just why I'm training you, and how what you're learning is used in an actual fight."

Dawn looks up at her, tears in her eyes, "But, you were toying with it."

Buffy tucks a strand of hair behind Dawns ear before kissing her on the forehead, "I know honey, that's because I've had so much practice. If I'd had my training and experience before, it would have been just the same then. It was also cruel of me to draw out the fight that much, and I'd normally just end it immediately, and move on to the next threat, or the objective. But, I hope you also saw how this school wouldn't have allowed me to actually beat this demon without a weapon. Nothing I was doing was having any effect on it. It also wouldn't help you to defeat something like that. What it will do is help you to survive, either to run away, or until help arrives. Do you understand?" Dawn nods mutely, "Come on, let's get you inside and you can show me how to make hot chocolate again. Then we can do some meditation after you've finished your hot chocolate."

Dawn buries her head in Buffy's chest, "I'd like that."



As Buffy leads dawn back to the house, she pauses at the beginning of the footpath as the whole household seems to have crowded onto the porch, and Spike returned at some point in the fight.

Carefully dabbing his head with a hanky, Giles asks, "Buffy, what was that?"

Buffy looks back at the Demon that's slowly evaporating into hell stuff, "What? That? That was me Demonstrating how the Vazarin school is used in real combat."

Willow looks affronted, "How could you, that was cruel."

Buffy looks askance at Willow, "What, like pulling me back to this life was cruel?"

Willow opens her mouth to reply, but Spike speaks up first, "No, I think he meant that attack at the end."

Giles nods, "Quite right, that was no magic that I've ever seen."

Buffy laughs, "That wasn't magic, that was raw, unfocused, void energy. Now, I'm taking Dawn inside to make hot chocolate, we'll be in the kitchen if you need us."

Putting action to words, Buffy pulls Dawn into the void, and jumps through the wall of the house to the kitchen.



On the porch, Giles removes his glasses and starts cleaning them, "Well, that was mildly unexpected."

Spike laughs as he heads back into the house.

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The next day, after Dawn's gone to school, Buffy is sat looking at the money that's left in her bank account compared to their running expenses. Giles is sat on the sofa chatting to her, when the phone goes.



Buffy looks around the room curiously, "What's that noise?"

Giles sighs, "It's the telephone Buffy."

"Oh, right, I knew that. Silly me. I'll be right back."

A minute later Buffy comes back listening to the handset, "Hey, Giles."

Giles looks up, "Yes Buffy?"

"Do you know anyone called Angel? As he says he knows me."

Giles sighs, "He's a vampire, and he used to be your lover."

"Oh, right. Hi, Angel. Sorry, my memories a bit patchy… No, not at all. It's more like trying to remember that restaurant that your parents took you to when you were six… No, I appreciate that your parents didn't take you to restaurants when you were six, but I think mine did… Yes I know what LA is, it's a nearby city… No, I'm not going to just come and see you… You do remember that Sunnydale is on a hellmouth don't you?... Yes, and that's also why I'm not going to come and meet you half way… No, this isn't a negotiation, if I start disappearing, who knows what will start popping up and trying to take over the world, or this corner of it… Fine, Mindy's at 11 on Saturday."

An uncomfortable Giles looks at Buffy as she takes three tries to hang up, "Buffy."

"Sorry about that Giles, Angel wants to meet up to make sure I'm ok."

"Maybe we should talk about where you were, before you came back."

Buffy wave airily, "Oh, that's simple, I was there for a very long time, and the last thing I remember before being pulled back here, was being stabbed through the back, and floating through a void portal. It might have killed me. Might not have done too. Probably both if I'm honest. But I ended up in a coffin before I could find out."

"Yes, well, I'd like to know if it was a hell dimension so that we can look out for demons following you."

Buffy laughs, "You don't need to worry about that. It wasn't hell, wasn't heaven either. It was just, elsewhere."



After she's put the phone back, Buffy returns to continue trying to work out her sums.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 4

Later that day, while they're all eating together, Giles smiles at Buffy, "Buffy, I'm very proud of you for not rushing off to be with Angel. Instead, you very maturely dealt with the bills."

Buffy shakes her head, "Nah, ah, it's just common sense. Angel wanted to meet me somewhere that I've never been before. I remember that he's tried to kill me on a few occasions, so there's no way I'm going anywhere that he could have set up as an ambush. Thanks for the nudge on who he was, by the way. I honestly hadn't remembered him. Anyway, we're going to meet up at Mindy's on Saturday. It's a public place, and I'll have time to scout it out first."

Willow looks surprised, "Oh, that's unexpected."

Buffy just smiles at her beatifically.

Giles coughs, "Yes. Anyway, do you have any thoughts about what you want to do going forward?"

Buffy nods, "Yes, I'm going to get a job. I went to the Library earlier, and there's a couple of places that do apprenticeships that might be useful in the future. So I'm going to be looking into those tomorrow. If we're careful, we have enough money to pay all the bills for the next couple of months. Willow, that means that you need to pay for your own internet. I don't mind paying the line rental, but I'm not paying $100 a month so that you can use the internet. If you're not happy paying me that, you're welcome to get your own phone line installed, but I refuse to go into debt for someone else."

Willow looks up at Buffy in alarm, "But what a-about all the research we do on demons here?"

Buffy smiles, "My mother had an old computer she used to use, I pulled it down from the loft and it still turns on. So Dawn can use that for her homework, and we can use that for research too, even if it is running something called Windows 98."

"But-But I can't afford that."

Buffy just looks at Giles with sparkling eyes. Giles sighs, "I think that Buffy is trying to point out that she can't afford it either."

Willow looks down at her food, "Oh, right."



After a couple of minutes, where everyone's eating in silence, Giles looks up again, "More generally, do you have any thoughts about what you want to do with your life?"

Buffy chews thoughtfully, "Honestly, I think that being the Slayer is going to be a full time job here. So, I'm going to try and get training and experience in a wide range of things that will support that, and allow me to earn a living too. Metal working, electronics, programming, general science and physics especially. Maybe even as Tara if she can teach me a bit of magic."

Tara smiles shyly, "I'd be happy to teach you."

Willow smiles broadly, "Oh, I can teach you too. I know lots about magic."

Buffy looks over at Willow and shakes her head, "No offence Willow. You're a great friend, but you're a little too advanced for me. And I'd need someone gentle to teach me."

Giles looks surprised, "Buffy I, had no idea you were interested in magic."

Buffy shrugs, "I don't remember being interested before. But I've died since then. And, you know, dying sort of changes your priorities in life. I mean, if I knew more about magic, would I have had better options than jumping to my death?"

With a muttered, "Yes, quite." From Giles, the table settles into an uncomfortable silence after that reference to her death.

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After dinner, Buffy looks over at Dawn, "Hey Kiddo, let's go and get your homework done."

Dawn smiles at her, and puts her plate by the sink, before heading to the desk in the living room.



While Buffy's explaining a particularly thorny problem, in Orokin, translating to English, Dawn suddenly asks, "Buffy, would it be ok to go out with some friends at Halloween?"

Buffy shrugs, "Sure, just make sure you have a weapon as part of your costume, and we'll add it to your morning practice."

Dawn looks up at Buffy in surprise, "What? Just like that?"

Buffy looks confused, "What, did you expect me to say no?"

Dawn looks a bit embarrassed, "Well, yes. That's what Willow and Tara normally say."

"Dawn, you're 15, not 5. It would be hypocritical of me to stop you going out with friends given what the three of us did at your age. When I was your age, the first time, Mum didn't know what I was doing every night. So, I used to sneak out, a lot. I have no doubt that you would be able to do the same if I said no. On top of that, if you've got any friends you trust with this side of your life, don't be afraid to invite them around. As the only reason I'm still alive, both goes round, is because I had friends I could trust." Buffy looks down at her hands, "Of course, the first time around, I didn't want to be the Slayer either. It took me a few years to realise that it wasn't going to let me go, so I had to just learn to live with it."

Dawn puts her hand on Buffy's, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Buffy shrugs, "Maybe during meditation one day. Now, I think we were looking at the components of a cell."



After a while, Dawn asks, "Buffy, how comes you know so much about this, but you know virtually nothing about evolution?"

"You have to get pretty good at cellular mechanics and gene manipulation when you're breeding Kubrow and Kavats. I missed out on most of my formal education last time around, so what I know, I know well. But that knowledge was driven by interest and necessity."

"So, why not join Willow and Tara at university?"

Buffy shudders, "People. You know how I had to wait outside the double meat palace last time we got burgers? Well, that's because I knocked a couple of people out, and broke an arm the last few times I went in there. So, they banned me."



Once Dawn moves onto her English homework, Buffy starts doodling in one of her notebooks. Eventually, Dawn notices and asks, "Buffy, what's that?"

Buffy looks down at the drawing, "It's a kind of bo staff, one that I think I could actually make here. Honestly, I'd prefer a sword, but none of the ones I've looked in the armoury are remotely good enough. And the ones I can remember the designs for need material that doesn't exist yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't exactly head to Jupiter to harvest Oxium, which is a lighter than air crystal. Same as I can't harvest interstellar asteroids to find Tellurium crystals."



Once Dawn finishes her homework, Buffy ruffles her hair, "Well done, you barely needed my help. Well, I'm off for my patrol."

Dawn smiles at her, "Have fun, can I phone my friend?"

"Sure, just, don't spend too long on the phone. That reminds me, once I've earnt some money, we're buying you a mobile phone."

"Buffy! They're expensive."

"I know they are Dawn, but it might save your life one day."

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Later that night, Willow and Tara are laying in bed, when Willow asks, "Do you think there's something wrong with Buffy?"

Tara turns over to face her, "What do you mean?"

"Well, there's that magic she used yesterday."

"Well, we did bring her back from a hell, so maybe she had to learn how to channel it to survive."

"What about that stuff with Taxmen?"

Tara shrugs, "I've never read about any demon like that, or Corpus."

"Do you think she's evil? Did I bring back an evil Buffy?"

"No, no. Maybe she would have become evil if we didn't bring her back. But you stole her from the Demon that was going to do that."

"I did, didn't I. It's just, she's so violent now. I know she had to be as the Slayer, but it's worse now. And look what she's doing to Dawn."

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Downstairs, at a similar time, Giles is on the phone to a contact in a British coven, "Yes, yes, I didn't expect to be here either… She's alive… I know, but she knows things… Would you… I just need to know she's not tainted… I don't want the council involved unless she is… I look forward to hearing from you… And you."

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The next morning finds Buffy on the streets, heading to the industrial area where she met Dawn a few weeks ago. As she reaches the outskirts of the area, she pauses to watch trucks and lorries passing in and out on their way to or from the few surviving businesses. Taking a deep breath, buffy makes her way down the road, past rows of derelict factories. She's almost all the way through the district, and into the commercial district, when she starts to hear the sound of a hammer on metal.



Pausing for a moment to orientate herself to the sound, a truck drives past before turning into a small factory complex making the task moot. Following the truck, she turns off the road into a complex of factory buildings. As she clears the edge of the first factory, she enters a large courtyard style parking area. Around the edges of the area are individual small factory units. Looking around, the truck that just passed her is parked outside a unit on the far left. There, she can see a couple of burly men lifting a wooden sideboard out of the workshop.



A shower of sparks, and the sound of a grinder on metal draws her attention to a double width car garage, where a black man is grinding away at the rust on the fender of a car. Slowly, she walks around the edges of the courtyard, looking through the open shutter doors. She's almost made an entire circuit of the area when she spots someone working on a metal lathe as the light sparkles off the spinning work. Curiously, she walks in, and as her eyes adjust to the darkness, she spots an anvil near the back of the unit, with some other equipment nearby that she can't identify. Looking around, the interior, her eyes pick out half a dozen people working on different projects, until she comes back to the lathe worker.



Cautiously, to make sure she doesn't disturb anything, she makes her way over to have a better look at what they're doing. As she watches, a rectangular block of metal is turned into a cylinder, before the worker stops and starts removing one of the jaws of the lathe. A sudden, bright flash of light sees the worker swear as he drops something behind the machine. Turning to look deeper into the factory, he shouts, "Kyle, you bastard, put up the damn screens!"

Kyle turns back with a welding mask over his face, "It was just a single tap weld! Stop your complaining."



As she's watching them, someone taps her on the shoulder. Spinning around, she brings her hand up in a strike, only for the large black man to block it with his forearm, "Easy there girly, I just wanted to know watcha doing here."

Buffy relaxes her stance sheepishly, "Sorry about that, I was looking for a job."

"Well, why don't ya come up to my office, and you can tell me what a white girl like you is doing looking for work 'round here."

Buffy nods, and starts to follow the man up a flight of stairs on the other side of the workshop, "I'm Buffy."

"Nice to meet ya Buffy, I'm Mike. Quite an arm you've got on you?"

"Sorry about that."

Mike opens the door to the office, to reveal a small reception with a white, middle aged, receptionist. "Ain't no skin off my nose, you ain't the first one to take a swing at me. Won't be the last either. You serve?"

Buffy glances at the woman, and then at the windows, and the two doors, "Ah."

Mike follows her gaze before nodding, "This is Millie, our receptionist and sales rep. On account of some people don't like dealing with black men."

"Oh."

"Come on, my office is through here."



Once Buffy's perched on the edge of a chair in Mikes office, Mike looks at her with an appraising gaze, "You saw combat." The way he says it, makes it more a statement of fact, than a question.

Buffy nods.

Mike nods thoughtfully, "I thought so, I've seen that look far too often. Mostly in the mirror. What did you do, join up straight out of high school?"

Buffy nods, "Something like that."

"So, why are you here? You can't be more than 20, and there's no way you've finished your first tour."

Buffy looks out the window overlooking the workshop floor, in a dead voice she says, "Mum died of cancer last year. My sister's been living at home with some friends, until I got back a few weeks ago."

Mike nods, "That would do it, bet they just discharged you without pension too." Buffy nods absently, "So why come here, you're still young you could go to college, get a job serving food."

Buffy looks back, "I don't want to kill anyone. There's too many people at the colleges."

Mike nods, "What did you do? If you're allowed to talk about it."

Buffy shrugs, "Assassination, extermination, espionage, retrieval, whatever was needed."

"Shit, at your age? They recruiting young these days."

Buffy shakes her head, "I was the best, so there was no one else. And I guess, I just kept surviving."

"That don't make it right. Look, why are you here, I mean in my workshop not just this area."

Buffy stands up and walks to the window so she can see the tools on the floor, "I heard the sound of a hammer on metal, and I know metal. Maybe I can learn to make things rather than just destroy them."

"You ever worked with metal before?"

Buffy shakes her head, "No, but I've read about it. It looks different to what I imagined."

Mike nods thoughtfully, "Ok, I can give you an apprenticeship, but I have a full rota for the morning shift. That means you'll be on the late shift. Will you be alright staying after dark?"

Buffy nods, "That's fine. There's nothing in the dark that scares me anymore."

"Well Buffy, this is Sunnydale. I don't know what you saw out there, but this place will max your weird-shit-o-meter like nowhere else. Now, do you have any problems with working with… minorities?"

Buffy shakes her head, "As long as they don't hunt, kill, or eat, civilians, I couldn't care less."

Mike nods, "Well, that gives me some idea of what you used to do. Come by on Friday at 4, and I'll introduce you to my partner. Your shift will be 4-10pm daily, and you'll start Monday, if everything goes well on Friday. We can only pay you minimum wage until you've got some training under your belt, but you're welcome to use the machinery when you're not working."

Buffy turns around, "Thank you Mike."

Mike smiles, "Don't mention it, and welcome to Mikes Machining. Let's go talk to Millie to get you signed up. While you're doing the paperwork, I'll give you a list of books you need to read."

Just as they're leaving, Buffy belatedly asks, "What exactly do you do here anyway?"

Mike laughs, "Pretty much a bit of everything. Precision turning, iron mongering, welding, engraving, you name it, if it has something to do with turning a block of metal into something, we've probably got the equipment to do it, and have done it in the past. There's not enough business here to survive otherwise. Cities like LA, they have enough people that they can afford to have shops that specialise. Not like Sunnydale and the other nearby towns. Of course, the main reason we're still in business, is that property is dirt cheap here."



As a more cheerful Buffy leaves the workshop, Mike looks at her full name with a frown, "Millie, make sure that Razial knows that the Slayer starting an apprenticeship with us. I don't want any accidents on Friday that are caused by us. I thought she was too young for the forces."

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With a smile on her face, Buffy turns her feet towards the town centre, and the public library there. Yes, the necessary clothing will put a dent in the finances until she gets her first paycheque, but after that, they should be able to get the plumbing fixed with the last of mum's money. Of course, that assumes that Willow comes up with the money for her internet usage. As she reaches the road for the Library, a black van goes past in the other direction. Unnoticed by Buffy, it pulls into a nearby parking lot, before turning around and following her at a distance.



Half an hour later, Buffy is holding an armful of books from the list, while looking at other books in the same section. As she's browsing, a young man bumps into her from behind, and the only thing that saves him from a reflexive attack is the armful of books clattering to the floor. Swearing at the inconsiderateness of some people, Buffy picks up the books, and makes her way to a table so that she can flick through the introductory chapter of a few of the other books that looked relevant.



Sitting down, she picks up a book on smelting, and opens it to the contents. She's read a couple of lines when she catches sight of a young woman sat on the other side of the table to her, typing notes on a laptop with a few books open beside her. Startled, she stands up abruptly, knocking her chair over. When everyone in the research area stares at her, she mumbles, "Sorry, I didn't see you arrive."

The woman smiles at her reassuringly, and returns to her own work.



Picking her chair up, Buffy sits back down and opens the book again. As she starts to read again, she gets through another couple of lines before looking up in alarm as the woman disappears, along with some of the people that were reading nearby. Grabbing the books on her list, as well as the one about smelting, she hurries to the counter, only to stop in horror as the clock above the counter starts to move forward rapidly. Reflexively, she pulls the void around her so that she can take stock of the situation, and the clock returns to its normal speed.



Carefully, she looks around for anything that could be causing this. Conscious of the fact that she has a limited time she can spend wrapped in the void, even if it's less limited than normal as she doesn't have an amp bleeding off excess energy. Not seeing anything around her, she starts to check her clothing and books, just in case someone got something on her. There, on the back of her wrap, is a tiny dot of something. Growling to herself, she picks it off her top and looks at. Her growl changes to an expression of pleased surprise, as she realises that it's a piece of complex electronics. Quickly, she opens a couple of the books she was holding, searching for the antitheft tags they put inside them. Heedless of the damage she's causing the covers, she rips two of them out and hurriedly sandwiches the device between the two stickers. Cautiously letting go of the void while she still has just enough energy to return to the void if it didn't work, she breathes a sigh of relief when time keeps passing like normal.



Checking out the books takes a bit longer than expected, as the librarian tuts and moans about people not respecting their books as she carefully replaces both the antitheft sticker, and the checkout sheet. Then she needs to show the inside of her purse, as the alarms go off as she's walking out, to the mumbled complaint about stores not removing their own tags properly.



On the way home, she frowns at a black van that's taking up a back alley that she often uses as a shortcut, before taking the long way home with the library books.

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As Buffy gets home, she's about to close the door when she sees the school bus pull up to the curb. She smiles when she sees Dawn get down from the bus, along with another girl the same age. Dawn looks surprised when she sees Buffy there, "Buffy, you're home?"

Buffy smiles, "I am, and I got a job too. But, enough about me, who's your friend?"

Dawn smiles, "This is Janice, my best friend from school."

Buffy smiles at Janice, and then steps aside as a Sunnydale welcome. Once they're inside, Buffy closes the door, mentally noting that she needs to thank Xander for repairing it. Turning back to the children she smiles again, "Hi Janice. As Dawn mentioned, I'm Buffy. While you're here, there's a couple of ground rules that you need to be aware of. First of all, never approach me from behind. If you need my attention call my name, or approach from the front. I've had a… rather traumatic past, and I react violently when touched unexpectedly. The second thing is that homework is always done after dinner."

Janice looks at Dawn questioningly, so Dawn replies, "See, I told you she was cool now. Come on, I'll show you the house."



As the two of them head into the kitchen, Buffy takes the books to the desk, before sitting down to open the mail. A few minutes later, Buffy says, "Dawn, I think Giles is going to need that pen later."



As she turns her head, Dawn looks around guiltily, while Janice looks surprised, "Dawn, come with me. Janice, I'm sorry about this, but I need to have a word with Dawn here. Would you mind watching TV while we chat?"

Janice shakes her head, before turning on the TV.



A minute later, Buffy leads a sullen Dawn into the yard, where she kneels down and waits for Dawn to kneel down opposite her.

"Dawn, what was that?"

Dawn tries to bluster, "What was what?"

"Taking Giles' pen from his bag. If you hadn't looked guilty I'd have probably assumed you needed to use it. But there's more to it than that, isn't there."

"It's a nice pen."

Buffy nods, "I have no doubt it is. But it's not your pen. Why did you take it?"

Dawn sulks, "Nobody's ever noticed before."

"Dawn, what do you think would have happened if someone had noticed before?"

Dawn shrugs, "They'd have told me off?"

Buffy shakes her head, "They'd have stopped trusting you. You'd have found things that you used to be able to just use, were suddenly put away. There'd have always been someone watching you. And, if the wrong person saw you, they might have hurt you badly."

"Would that have been so bad, at least then I'd know they wanted me around."

"Dawn, since I got back, have I ever given you any indication that I don't want you around?" Dawn shakes her head, "So, what's going on?"

Dawn tries to meet Buffy's eyes, but ends up looking at her bellybutton, "Mum died, and then you were so busy saving the world, and I tried to keep up, but…"

Buffy takes her hands softly, "And then I died, and everyone seemed to be too busy to take care of your needs?"

Dawn sniffs, "Yes, and I tried to get them to pay attention to me, but they were always told me to go away. So."

Buffy nods understandingly, "Dawn, you are my sister, and my student. I've already lost mum twice, so I'm not going to lose you because I can't take the time to look after you. Do you understand?"

Dawn nods, "But, you said you got a job."

Buffy nods, "I did, and I was going to talk to you about it later, before I spoke to the others. I'm supposed to meet the people I'll be working with on Friday, so I'll pick you up from school. I want you to come with me because I'll be working from 4pm to 10pm on weekdays."

"But what about your research time?"

"I can do that during the day if I have to. I'll also move our homework time to before breakfast, so that you don't lose out. But I want you promise me that you'll try to stop stealing. If it helps, imagine what it would be like if you stole from the demon that broke in last night, and he caught you. What do you think he'd have done? Now, if you've stolen anything from Janice or her family, I want you to get it and give it back to her with an apology."

Dawn looks uncomfortable, "But, what if she doesn't want to be friends after that? I'm not saying I've stolen anything from her or anything."

"Then you cry and accept that that is the price you paid for stealing from her. Now, go on. In you go I'm going to mediate for a minute."

Dawn slowly makes her way back into the house and pauses at the stairs for a moment as she watches Janice watching TV. She takes a step towards the sofa before looking back to the yard door, and walking up the stairs. A couple of minutes later, she comes back down and sits on the sofa next to Janice.

After a couple of minutes Janice asks, "Are you alright?"

Dawn lets out a shaky breath, "That was horrible. She didn't raise her voice once, but still made me feel miserable."

Janice nods, "Yeah, like, I hate it when The Mominator does that to me."

Dawn puts a hairclip, with an embroidered butterfly on it, into Janice's hand, "Here, this is yours. I'm sorry, I, um, took it from your dresser."

Janice looks down at the hairclip, "I wondered where that went, I thought I'd lost it at school."

"Well, I took it. I'm sorry."

Buffy smiles as she void jumps back into the yard, before turning around and walking back in.

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The next couple of days are a lesson in frustration for Buffy, as first of all, she's attacked by three demons, in broad daylight, while shopping for steel toecap boots. Then on Friday, she's trapped in a time loop at a clothing store that Anya recommended, until she bought something. The problem being that the store sold absolutely nothing suitable for working around metal or fire. On top of that, almost everything was outside her budget. In the end she bought a hairclip with a flower on it, before storming off to find a store that actually sold hard wearing clothing.

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Dawn walks up to a grumpy looking Buffy that's standing at the gates to the school, "Hey Buffy, are you ok?"

Buffy grumps before she says, "I'm fine, just frustrated because I've just spent the last 32 hours in a shop, only to be forced to buy a hairband."

Dawn looks at her sister levelly, "32 hours, really?"

Buffy sighs, "No, not really, it was more like 5. As I was appallingly slow on the uptake, and didn't realise I couldn't break the time loop until I bought something. Here, I think it's more your thing than mine anyway." She hands over a small plastic bag.

Opening the bag, Dawn squeals when she sees the hairclip, "It's great, thank you."

Buffy smiles, "You're welcome. Now how's Janice?"

Dawn looks down, "She didn't sit with me today."

Buffy crouches down and lifts Dawn's chin, "Hey, I'm sure you'll make up. It would have been worse if she found out on her own. Now, come on, we've got a fair walk ahead of us, as we're going past the mall."

"Ugh, can't we take the bus?"

Buffy indicates the traffic jam of parents picking up their children in their cars, "How long do you think we'd need to wait for the bus?"

"Fine…!"

Buffy ruffles her hair, "Cheer up, we can afford to buy an ice cream on the way."



40 minutes later, Buffy and Dawn walk into Mikes, 5 minutes late. As she pushes through the side door, Buffy winces as she sees Mike and a figure wearing hooded robes, presumably his partner, waiting for her.

"Sorry I'm late, I needed to pick Dawn up from school, because none of my friends were going to be at home when the bus got there. Dawn, this is Mike, hopefully my boss unless I've screwed up already."

Mike exchanges a glance with his partner before looking back, "This is Razial, my partner. Before we take you upstairs to meet with your co-workers, we need to know if the Slayer is safe to be around for the supernatural elements of Sunnydale."

Buffy's eyebrows rise, "Well, that all depends on the supernatural elements. If they're not hunting, killing, or eating civilians, I don't have a problem with them."

Dawn looks at Buffy in shock, "Buffy!"

Buffy looks down at Dawn, "What? It's true. Well, true now. I fight against the darkness to protect the innocents. I can't go picking and choosing who those innocents are, otherwise I'm the one bringing darkness."

"But demons are evil."

Buffy shrugs, "So are many humans, and I don't go around killing them. Or do you think I should go out and kill Anya, Spike, and Angel?"

"No, they're not evil."

"Have you ever listened to Anya talking? She's still very much evil, but it's now a more human evil. The only reason Spike isn't cutting a swathe through the world is because of a microchip in his head, and the only reason Angel isn't evil is he's got someone elses soul inside of him."

Mike coughs, "Quite. Anyway, I'll hand over to Razial now."

Buffy flushes in embarrassment, "I'm sorry. Um, before you go, on days that my friends can't watch Dawn for me after school. Erm, would it be alright to bring her to work?"

Mike waves to Razial, "That's up to my partner, he's the boss after 4pm, and I'm just the partner."

Razial pulls his hood back to reveal his reptilian appearance, blood red eyes, and prominent fangs, "I have not killed or eaten a civilian since I met Mike in 78."

Buffy shrugs, "Cool, anyway, I'm Buffy, and I hope we can work together."

Razial looks at the two of them, Dawn, who's now hiding behind her sister, and The Slayer, who's standing there without a care in the world, "You do not fear me?"

"I've seen worse, killed worse too. And you're not tense, or ready to attack me."

"Are you so sure of that Slayer?"

Buffy lifts her hand, and relaxes her control over the void for a moment to allow it to crackle between her fingers, "Look, if you were a threat, you'd be dead already. You're not, and I grew tired of fighting just because a few centuries ago. If you don't give me a reason to fight, I won't give you a reason to die."

Razial nods once, "I've got it from here Mike. Come on, let's meet the others and they can get to work."



Buffy and Dawn follow Razial up the stairs and into the reception. There, rather than Milli from earlier, a succubus sits behind the reception desk. Around the room are half a dozen people, a mix of Demon and Human, all chatting together. A plate of cockroaches is sat next to a plate of cookies.

When the door swings closed behind them, Razial addresses the room, "Good evening everyone. This is the new apprentice, Buffy Summers, and her sister Dawn. Buffy, this is Vhesthine, our receptionist, and sales rep. For similar reasons to having Millie on during the day. Once you're up to working on commissions, she'll be the one with your work list. I won't introduce the rest, as I'm sure you'll get to know them once you start working here."

Buffy nods, "So what will I be doing, if I'm not doing commissions?"

Razial give a tooth filled smile, "To start with, you'll be cleaning up the floor and the equipment. Once we're sure you know how to maintain the equipment, we'll start you on the basics, and you'll be prepping stock for the others. We may even get you making nails for the Joes across the way, as they're always needing those for their carpentry."

One of the demons looks at Buffy intently, and then backs away to the wall, "She's the bloody Slayer, please don't kill me."

Razial gives the Demon a stern look, "Not in here she isn't. Out there, she's the Slayer. In here, she's just Buffy the apprentice. If you can't handle that, then there's the door. And you treat her sister just like you would any of the other children that you've all had to look after occasionally."

The demon sags against the wall, "Yes boss."

Razial shakes his head and turns to Buffy, "Be aware that you'll probably get that a lot, as The Slayer is, what did Mike call it, oh yes, The Bogeyman for most Demons."

With that proclamation, the workers all grabbed a work order from Vhesthine before making their way downstairs. It's only a few minutes later that Buffy and Dawn leave too, as Buffy has to go over her details again, this time with Vhesthine. And Vhesthine makes sure that Dawn has the late shift contact details for the workshop.



As they step out of the workshop into the evening sunshine, Dawn leans against the wall with a relieved sigh, "Phew, that was scary."

Buffy pulls her sister into a hug, "I know it was, but you did well. We, that is the Scoobie gang, have given you a very skewed perspective on demon kind. I know I wasn't expecting that, and I remember going to Willy's bar a few times. But, do you know one thing I was forced to learn in the Origin system?"

Dawn shakes her head, "No, I don't think you've talked about that before."

"Come on, lets walk and talk. In the origin system, when I first woke up after the war, everything seemed so simple. The Grineer were the bad guys and we were the good guys. I knew they were the bad guys because they were the ones trying to capture me in order to dissect me. Then I fought my way through their bases, until I found the coordinates of the Venus solar rail. Once I got to Venus, I found out about the Corpus, and debt slaves. That's where I met Legz, and was introduced to Solaris United. I helped them to disrupt Corpus operations on Venus to the point where the overseer had to backtrack on his heavy handed tactics. However, before I him to that point, he called in all of Legz debt, and reclaimed his whole body. All he was left with was his brain, and that was only until his next life support payment was due. Anyway, once I freed them, Legz got a body back, and he now makes, made, MOA's. He died, 300 years ago when his brain ran out, and he couldn't afford the gene therapy to refresh it again. From there I moved on to Mercury, where I found out that the Grineer mine there, and that's where many of the solar systems resources come from.

"When I found the keys to the route to Mars, I returned to Venus and ventured into the 'Dark Sector'. That's where I first encountered the infested. A bioengineered plague that takes over organics and robotics alike. Suddenly, everything was turned on its head, as the Corpus and Grineer were both fighting against the infested, and each other. That's when I decided to visit the Ancient Tenno Relay near the Venus Solar rail, and met the representatives of the main six neutral factions. There I was confronted with Grineer that were free, and Corpus that weren't Corpus. This was before I regained my memories and awareness as a person. So, this was the first time I was ever confronted by the fact that every faction is filled with individuals, and just because most members of that faction behave in a certain way, doesn't mean they all do.

"That, in Mikes, was you coming across the same thing outside the few people you know."



As Buffy finishes speaking, Dawn quickly looks back and tries to look like she was paying attention, "That sucks."

Buffy laughs, "When did you stop listening?"

Dawn puffs out her chest, "Who says I stopped listening."

Buffy just ruffles her hair, "Come on, the magic box is here, and I want to talk to Giles about the demons that attacked me, as well as the time loop."

Dawn stops outside the door, "Now that you've got a job, are you going to stop paying attention to me?"

Buffy turns around and pulls Dawn into a hug, "Of course not. There will be times when I honestly can't pay attention to you. Such as when I'm at work, and I have to concentrate. But there will never be a time where I won't come for you if you're in trouble. I don't work on weekends, so we'll have those together. And I still want to do your homework with you, even if it means doing it after training."

Dawn just nods sadly.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 4 - interlude

During their morning routine on Sunday, that Dawn is finally starting to get used to. Buffy seems to be unusually aggressive and brusque. After a particularly punishing kata, where she didn't seem to be able to get anything right, Dawn whirls on Buffy.

"Buffy, are you alright?"

Buffy bites out, "I'm fine Dawn. Unless you want to hear about my love life with Angel."

"Well, if you're fine, stop taking it out on me!" She turns and runs into the house, crying.



A few minutes later, while Buffy is still staring at the door, Giles comes out with a yawn, "Don't you think you were a little harsh with her?"

Buffy starts to pace the yard, "How could he do that to me?"

"Buffy, what's going on?"

"Angel, that's what."

"I can't imagine what he could have done."

Buffy whirls on Giles, "He tried to pull the age card Giles. Not only did he try and treat me like a child, but he claimed that he has centuries of life on me. Then, he tried to kiss me. He's lucky I didn't kill him."

Giles coughs, "Yes, well, while you're not a child, he is somewhat older than you."

Buffy stalks forward, "No, he, isn't. I had a life Giles. I had a life over there. I was born, I grew up, and I lived. It's been over a thousand years since the old war ended, and I've been awake for the last 400 of them. I fought in that war, and we went to sleep because we hoped we were no longer needed. I was woken up when someone found me in the cave I slept in. They wanted to vivisect me, to discover how I worked and use that knowledge to make new weapons of war. Since then, I did what I do here, I stood between the innocent and those who would trample on them. But this time I wasn't alone, I had my brothers and sisters in the Tenno, and our surrogate mother."

Giles sits heavily on the steps to the decking, "I had no idea, why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Willow," Buffy spits, "she's so certain that she saved me. How can I destroy that? It would break her. It would break the others too. Then what? Will they call me a demon, like Angel did, and try to kill me? Will they continue to think they saved me when I tell them that I'd just been stabbed through the back by the instigator of the new war? I did my time here Giles, and I moved on. Yet, I'm back, and I don't fit anymore."



Giles takes off his glasses to clean them, "We might be able to send you back."

Buffy laughs as she shakes her head, "No you can't, the price has been paid and I'm stuck here now. I bit a bullet Giles. The day after I was brought back, I took a gun and bit a void damn bullet. Then I woke up in my coffin again. It's clear that my Oro was brought with me. I'm stuck here now, so I've been starting to build a new life." Buffy slumps down next to Giles, "But it's hard. So hard, my hands are drenched in blood."



Giles reaches over and places a hand on Buffy's hand, "Buffy, you're not the only one that has killed. You may remember our first Halloween together, when Ethan enchanted the costumes."

Buffy shakes her head, "Sorry, not with any detail. I have so many memories, this life is a tiny fraction of that."

"Right, that would be a problem. When I was a young man, so many years ago, I believed that the council were wrong in being so passive. So I took the fight into the darkness with a few friends. That was a dark time of my life, and I earned the nickname Ripper. We didn't stop until we went after something we couldn't deal with, that no mortal could deal with. I wish I could spare you all that, as you all seem so young."

Buffy laughs, "None of the Tenno ever physically aged past their late teens. I look older now than I ever did there. I'm a monster Giles, by any definition of the word, I'm a monster."

"Buffy, you are not a monster."

"Giles, I've slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians without mercy. I've wiped out whole crews of ships on a contract. I've stolen sensitive information from corporations, and I've destroyed painstaking research that could have improved the lives of billions of people. How am I not a monster? Then I come back here, and I take a job working for a Kleynach demon."

Giles pauses, picking his words carefully, "Buffy, I. I think that; I think that you are a damaged young. No, not young. I think that you are a damaged woman who is trying to push me away from you. No, I don't think that you're a monster. I think you've lived a life that I could barely comprehend, let alone understand." He takes his glasses off again, "I have to confess that I contacted some friend in Britain to do a divination on you. They called me while you were out yesterday, and they told me you weren't a demon, and you weren't evil. They said that you are a void in the darkness, and through the void you bring light. Buffy, I don't believe that there is anyone here that could understand what you experienced. But that doesn't matter, as we are your friends and, if you'll let us be, your family."



After a few minutes of Buffy staring sightlessly at the stars, Giles stands up and walks back inside.

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Later that day, Buffy eventually catches up with Dawn as she's coming in through the front door.

"Hey Dawn. Listen, I just want to apologise for being so hard on you this morning. It's not fair on you for me to let my frustrations with other people affect the way I behave with you. I won't promise it won't happen again, as I'm not a saint. But I will promise to try and leave those issues outside of our time together."

Dawn was all set to run up the stairs and slam the door, instead all she seems to be able to do is stare at Buffy as though she's grown a second head. After a moment she opens her mouth, "Really? You apologise, and suddenly you expect everything to be better again?" Internally, she's screaming at herself, as that's not what she wanted to say.

Buffy sighs, "Not at all. Apologies don't fix things. What they do is open the way forward to repairing things."

"Why?" Dawn whispers.

"Why what?"

"Why are you being so understanding? Why did you apologise? Adults don't do that."

Buffy leans against the wall heavily, "Dawn, I am old, so very old. I've told you about that already. I've made more, and bigger, mistakes than you can possibly imagine. One of the things that time has taught me, is that denying that you've made a mistake doesn't make that mistake go away, or undo any of the damage you caused. The only thing you can do, is own up to your mistakes, and try to learn from them and do better. Dawn, you are an adult in all but name. This society insists on treating you like a child, but you're not, you're a young adult. Old enough to make your own mistakes, but not yet experienced enough to always see them coming, or get yourself out of them." Dawn nods along absently, so Buffy smiles, "Ok kiddo, I can see that you've already gone into 'an adults talking' mode, so let's move on. Do you know what weapon you want to use?"

Dawn shakes her head, "No, no, I was listening."

Buffy smiles, "No you weren't, your brain heard a certain amount of what I said and stopped paying attention. It's ok, you still see me as your 20 year old, older sister. So, instead, we'll talk about what weapon you want to learn how to use."

"Um, a stake?"

Buffy laughs, "Ok, not a stake. And no hand guns either."

"Bow?"

Buffy nods, "Bow's good. We can grab one from the Magic Box later, as well as some arrows. I'll also teach you how to use a dagger. Once you've got the basics down, I'll make one of each for you. And Dawn, this bit is important, no matter where you go, I want you to have the dagger with you at all times."

Dawn looks surprised, "But what if I want to go out?"

"You will have it on you. This isn't a negotiation. This is your life and safety. You probably won't be able to kill most opponents with it, that's what your bow's for."

Dawn starts to shake, "Kill?"

Buffy nods, and holds Dawns upper arms, "Yes, kill. If it's between you and them, then I want it to be you. It doesn't matter if it's a vampire, demon, or human, I want you to be the one coming home to me. Do you understand?"

Dawn swallows hard, "But you can't kill vampires."

Buffy looks at her gravely, "Dawn, I'm not going to sugar coat it with the euphemisms the others use. We kill vampires. Not dust, destroy, release, put down, or any of the other terms they've used. We kill them. Putting a pretty word on it doesn't change what we're doing. They are thinking and reasoning beings that have a non-human morality. We kill them because we know that, with a few exceptions, they treat humans like happy meals on legs. The same is true of most demons too. If a human serial killer came to town, and I encountered them. I'd kill them just as easily as I kill a vampire or demon that is preying on innocent humans. Do you understand?"

Dawn shakes her head, "No, no I don't understand."

Buffy sighs, "That's ok. You're young and innocent. I hope you can grow old and innocent too. But if you can't, I'll settle for just old. So, you're going to carry the dagger, and hope you never need to learn why I insist on you carrying it."

Dawn bows her head sullenly, "Yes Buffy."

"Good, now we're going to find you a dagger the right size, and a bow you can draw. Then you can head out with your friends."

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A couple of weeks later, Spike hops over the back fence while Buffy and Dawn are having their morning girl time and training.

Buffy stops mid move, before leaping back lightly, "Dawn, break. Spike, great timing."

Spike looks at Buffy warily, "Slayer?"

"Come here, I need you for an anatomy lesson."

Spike looks behind himself, "Actually, I have something important I need to do."

"Spike, you can either come here now. Or I can beat you up, and you can stand here with bruises, and maybe a broken bone."

"I'll take my chances thanks."

Buffy sighs, "I'll let you have some of my blood."

Spike looks hopeful, "From the neck?"

Buffy just looks at him with a dead expression until he obediently stands where she's pointing.



"Dawn, pay attention. Spike here is a vampire, obviously. That means that if he was attacking you, most of the normal defences won't work, as he's stronger and faster than you are. That also means that wounds that would cripple a human will only inconvenience him for a couple of hours at most."

"Hey!"

Buffy uses her practice blade to point at each location as she's talking, "That means that you need to strike to cripple if you want to survive. Inside the elbow, back of the knees or ankles, inside of the wrists, or back of the hand. Each of those places have major ligaments close to the surface.

"The back of the elbow is only good if you are sure he can't grab you, as it will stop him from punching you. Don't bother trying to stab him, as it will just piss him off. Though, a younger vampire may still react as they would have in life. Same with stamping, biting, or punching. If you can get his eyes, then great. But when they vamp out… Vamp out please Spike." With a sigh, Spike vamps out, "As you can see, when they vamp out, their brow ridges become very pronounced. This makes it almost impossible to take their eyes out with a downward slash or claw. Instead, you need to go for a much easier to avoid stab, or horizontal slash. If you look at his fingernails, you'll see that they've lengthened slightly. What you can't see is that they're now razor sharp.

"Vampires can also move faster than you can see. So if you're facing a vampire, you shouldn't reveal your dagger until you absolutely need to use it, otherwise they will just take it away."



Dawn swallows, "If that's so, why were we able to kill the ones in the grave yard."

Spike takes out a cigarette and lights it, "Because they're young and stupid. They know how to fight, but most of them forget that they are vampires and try to fight like humans."

"Why didn't you go all vampire on them then?"

"Oh, right, I go all vampire while I'm outnumbered six to one, and remind them all that they can all move superfast and they have claws. What do you think I am, suicidal?"

Buffy nods, "Exactly. Also, unless they've been exercising recently, or they've fed, vampires don't produce heat. So always check how people are dressed after dark. Is it hot, and they're wearing a jumper. Is it cold, and they've only got a thin jacket and a tee-shirt. If they're trying to seduce you, feel under their shirt."

Dawn goes red, "Hey!"

Buffy shares a glance with Spike, "Dawn, you're 15. I know you're interested in people, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Thank you Spike, I'll do you a glass of blood when we're finished out here at seven. Or next time you're around, if you don't want to wait that long."

Once Spikes gone, Buffy looks at Dawn, "Hey, Dawn. You ok?"

Dawn crumples, "Is it true, are we really that out matched?"

Buffy nods solemnly, "You are, at the moment. If you can understand the Vazarin way, and manifest Mending Unity, then we can work on Guardian Shell, and Void Snare. Together, they will buy you the time you need to get to safety. I'll also try to teach you how to infuse your arrows with energy. But that comes later. Now, is there anything else you want to talk about. Don't forget, this is our time, not just training time. While we're here, we're just sisters, and I'm passing on what I know. Come on, dish. Are there any boys that have caught your eye?"

As she moves back into the movements of the Vazarin way, Dawn screeches, "Buffy!"

Buffy laughs, "So there are, what are they like?"

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Sorry it's a bit rough

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 5

Dawn sits, morosely, in the reception for Mikes Machining, after another afternoon where everyone's too busy to be at home. While she's sitting there, she hears a soft meow coming from under Vhesthine's desk.

"Uh, Vhesthine, do you have kittens under your desk?"

Vhesthine looks over at Dawn curiously, "Of course, it's payday."

Dawn startles, "What do kittens have to do with payday?"

"You don't know? Of course you don't know, you're human."

"Hey!"

"Listen kid, it's just a fact. Look, everyone needs to eat, and many demons can't be seen in public. As in they can't disguise themselves. Those demons tend to prefer to be paid in a more concrete fashion than with a cheque they can't cash."

"What do they use kittens for then?"

"Look, if you're going to talk to me, you might as well make yourself useful. Grab the file labelled October 2001 from the office for me. And don't touch anything else, as some of it's cursed and I don't want to die because you were too stupid to live."

Dawn pauses with her hand on the door, "Why would you die?"

"Hello, your sisters the slayer. What do you think she'd do if you got yourself cursed?"



While Dawn's getting the file, Vhesthine finishes up going over the sales invoices for the month. Once Dawn gets back, she looks up, "You took your time kid."

Dawn glances away, "I didn't know where to look."

"You could have asked, I don't bite. Well, not unless you're paying me, or… Well, you're probably too young for that particular conversation."

Dawn bristles, "Hey, I'm 15."

Vhesthine nods, "You are. You're also human."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Humans are soft these days, they coddle you when they should be letting you make your own mistakes. So, until you grow up, you're a kid, and too young."

"But I am, grown up. Buffy says I'm an adult in all but name."

"Then, don't you think it's time you behaved like it? Don't think I haven't noticed you staring at me when you've been here before, like I'm some sort of monster."

"But you are, aren't you?"

Vhesthine slaps Dawn, hard, "Never ever say that again. I'm a Demon, a Succubus to be precise, I'm not a monster. I know monsters, and I have to deal with them occasionally. When the boss brought your sister up, I honestly thought I was going to die. Do you know why? We're raised to believe that The Slayer is a monster. She kills us without remorse or pity, and she doesn't care why we're here, just that we're not human. But that's not Buffy, your sister. I've seen her sitting right there, chatting with her co-workers while drinking coffee, asking after their kids and loved ones. Monsters don't do that. But you look in her eyes when she's off guard, and you'll see someone that believes they're a monster. Anyway, you wanted to know about kittens."

Dawn stumbles back from where she was quailing in front of an angry succubus, her wings flared out and her clawed hands inches from her face. The switch in subject, and the way she seems to just put the anger to one side catching her off guard.



From the desk, Vhesthine asks, "Well?" Numbly, Dawn just nods. "Well, get up then, and grab the baskets from the shelves when I call out a name. Donas, he has 6 kittens. For demons that can't hide amongst humans, kittens are a combination of both food and currency. Not only are they tasty, but they're also plentiful as strays breed like crazy. Aglomal needs 8 kittens. So, they'll use them in betting, or trading for services."

Dawn looks a little ill as she takes the kittens out of the large basket, and puts them into the individual baskets, "Why don't they just use money?"

Vhesthine shrugs, "You can't eat money. And if you can't hide that you're a demon, you can't spend it either."

"Why couldn't they use the money with other Demons?"

"Look, despite what it may seem like to you. We aren't some monolithic bastion of evil. We have out own factions and societies, and for most of them, might makes right. Surkos had a couple of days off, so he only gets 5 kittens. In fact, most of us working here would be a target for the Scourge, if it wasn't for Razial. That means it's better for them to be paid in goods, that can be bartered for things they need, than bits of paper that will force them to trade with demons that may hate them, or just want to kill them. Roselyn gets two kittens, as she's married to a Demon."

Dawn looks surprised, "Married? Like, in a church?"

Vhesthine laughs, "Don't sound so surprised we can feel love. There are many reasons some of want to leave the Hells."

Softly Dawn asks, "What's yours?"

"Sorry kid, I don't know you well enough to share that story."

A pitiful mewl comes from the large basket under the desk, so Vhesthine lifts up the flap with a toe. Crawling around the lining is a single kitten. After quickly double checking the baskets, Vhesthine sighs, "Looks like we got an extra one. Go on, you can have it. Someone else will only eat it later, so it might as well be you."

Dawn picks up the little black kitten, with white paws, and a white circle around one eye. It's not long later till Tara drops by to pick Dawn up.

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A couple of days later, during their morning together time. Buffy doesn't get up at the end of their meditation.

"Dawn, I'd like you to close your eyes and wait for me to get back. And no cheating, I will know."

Dawns eyes widen, "Why? What's going on?"

Buffy smiles, "It's a surprise. Now close your eyes."



Obediently, Dawn closes her eyes, only to crack them open again after Buffy gets up. After almost a minute, she closes her eyes again, just in case.

With a laugh in her voice, Buffy says, "Ok, you can open them now." From right in front of her.

Dawn opens her eyes in surprise, and smoothly stands up and steps backward. Lying on the floor between them is a box with Nokia written on it, and 3310 written on the side.

Kneeling back down, Dawn looks at the box questioningly, "Buffy?"

Buffy smiles and softly says, "It's yours. I got paid on Wednesday, so I bought this for you yesterday. It's got a prepaid sim, so we own it free and clear. I also want to talk to you about pocket money."

Dawn picks up the box as though it's going to be taken away, "Buffy, are you sure?"

Buffy nods, "It's for your safety, so yes I'm sure. But if you run out of credit, you need to top it up out of your pocket money. Now, as your parental unit rather than your sister, I have two rules. Number 1, if you're going out after school, ring me at home before I leave, same if you're going to be out after 8pm, call the office or the home, and I'll pick you up on my way home. Number 2, like your dagger, you must keep this with you at all times, this is for your safety so that you can call us if you're in trouble."

Dawn chokes up, "Buffy, I… Why are you so nice to me?"

"Dawn, I'm only doing what Mum would have done. And some things that think I wished she'd let me do. Now, pocket money, would you like it weekly or when I get paid?"

Dawn looks up from the box, "Pocket money?"

Buffy nods, "I asked the guys at work, and the humans said that it's normal for children to get pocket money. I can't afford much, but I think we can do $10 a week." Dawn sits there in silence, watching her, so Buffy looks down at the floor, "I'm sorry, I'm not very good with the Parenting thing. It should be Mum doing this for you. Either one."

Dawn blurts, "No Buffy, you're doing great. It's just, I, wasn't expecting any of this. I love you."

Buffy smiles, "Of course, I'd be much happier if we could just give you communications implants, so that we can chat whenever. But we can't do that here. Now, do you want to do some practice, or do you want to play with your new phone?"

Dawn looks down at the phone, "Would you mind if we looked at the phone?"

Buffy smiles, and move around to kneel beside Dawn, "Sure, well open it up then."

Dawn picks up the box and looks around it, "I need to get a knife from the kitchen."

Buffy looks at her askance, "Why? Where's your dagger?"

"Um, on the chair in my bedroom?"

"Dawn, what were my rules about the dagger?"

Dawn looks at her sullenly, "Have it on me at all times."

"Go and get it. And Dawn, if I catch you not wearing your dagger, we will immediately be playing dodge the vampire, with me playing the part of the vampire. Do you understand?"

Dawn winces, and then scurries off, as that's one of Buffy's training games that really hurts. It's a game that she'll play 15 times over the next five days.



As Buffy goes inside after their time together, Giles meets her with a cup of coffee and a smile, "That was a good thing you did there."

"I'm just trying to keep her as safe as I can, without stopping her from learning from her own mistakes."

Giles nods, "It's more than that, you used money that you could have spent on yourself to buy that. It wasn't cheap, I know, you left the receipt on the counter."

"She's worth it, and even if it doesn't save her life, it will still be worth it knowing that she can contact me if she's in trouble."

"You know, some people would say you're too lax with her."

Buffy looks at Giles questioningly, "What do you mean?"

"You are very permissive."

Buffy nods, "I have to be, as I sort of remember sneaking out to do patrols when I was her age. I keep wondering how mum would have felt if I got badly injured one night, and the first she knew was the hospital calling. I'm not going to do that to Dawn, I want her to trust that I'm not going to have a go at her if she's in trouble. How many things would have been easier if I'd just trusted mum to let me go out."

Giles nods, "That's a very mature way of looking at it."

Buffy pokes him, "Thanks, that's over 400 years of experience speaking."

Giles coughs, "Yes, well. I didn't just want to congratulate you. I wanted to let you know I've found an apartment, and I'll be moving in tonight."

"Good for you. I bet you'll be glad to get away from all the hormonal teenagers."

"Buffy, you've been wonderful company. Also, I want you to have this."

Buffy laughs as she takes the slip of paper and opens it, "I note you didn't say anything about Willow or Tara… Giles, I can't accept this."

Giles closes her hand over the cheque, "Buffy, you deserve it. It should cover the phone bill, and Dawn's phone. As for Willow and Tara, I don't think I can live with Willow for much longer, as she is becoming far too cavalier about using magic."

Buffy frowns, "I'm not sure what that means, or why it's a problem."

Giles nods, "I'm not surprised, it's not really something you'd understand until you've got a little training under your belt."

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The next Wednesday is Halloween, and so Dawn is surprised to Buffy waiting for her outside school.

"Buffy, what are you doing here?"

Buffy smiles, "Waiting for you silly. The late shift at Mikes is closed today, it being Halloween and all."

"What, why?"

"I thought you might want to do something before you go out with your friends later."

"Um, sure? Do you want to see what Anya's done with the Magic Box?"

Buffy looks uncomfortable, "Sure, as long as we can leave if it's crowded."

Dawn smiles, "Why?"

"You know what I'm like if someone touches me unexpectedly, I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Is that still happening?"

Buffy sighs, "Dawn, it's not going to go away. Void, I wish I still had my implants. Then I could turn off my combat instincts, and just enjoy being around people."

"Buffy, you know my Orokin isn't that good yet. What was that about implants and instincts?"

Buffy sighs, "I had implants in my head that interrupted the signals going to my amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex, and turned of my flight or fight response. We all did. It made us safe to be around civilians." Buffy looks around, and once she's sure there's no one close enough to see, she reaches into her purse, and pulls out Dawns dagger and waist harness, "Dawn, you left this at home today. I'm not going to chase you today, as it's Halloween. Just put it on, and don't take it off until you get home."

Dawn blanches as she sees the belt, she thought she'd hidden it properly. Reluctantly, she takes the belt and puts it on so that the knife sits horizontally just above the back of her hips.

"Buffy! You know I hate wearing this, as it's so uncomfortable."

"Dawn, trust me, you'll hate not having it more than wearing it when you need it only to find you left it at home. But, if you keep wearing it, you'll start to miss it when it's not there."



When they get to the Magic Box, Dawn smiles privately at Buffy's expression when the two of them get drafted to help. It's payback for making her wear the dagger. A couple of hours later, she's wishing she hadn't suggested coming here, as it's almost like it was before Buffy came back. 'Oh Dawn, can you help Willow over by the magical books.' 'Oh Dawn, can you help Xander with the trick or treat bags.' 'Oh Dawn. Oh Dawn. Oh Dawn.'



As she's subject to another aborted attempt at talking to one of her friends, as Willow crouches down in front of a girl dressed as a witch, Dawn spots a tarnished bronze medallion lying on a doily nearby. Sidling over, she looks around, feeling the familiar tense sensation, and the worry that she's going to be caught. When nobody seems to have noticed her, she nonchalantly palms the medallion, and puts it into her pocket.

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Buffy grimaces as Xander steps between her and a mother that just tapped her on the shoulder. The instinctive jab she lashed out with her left hand impacting him on the shoulder early, and jolting her out of her reaction to fire a void blast.

"I'm, ah, going to check to see if Giles needs any help on the counter."

Xander nods with a, barely hidden, pained expression, "Good idea Buffy."



Buffy quickly, almost magically, moves behind the counter. After the 3rd person reaches across the counter to get her attention, and in the process almost getting their wrist broken, Buffy retreats to the basement on restocking duty.



Around an hour before the store closes at 7pm, Buffy's leaning over a shelf, trying to read the scrawl that identifies the contents of each jar. Spike walks out of the tunnels that run under Sunnydale, and says.

"Buffy, how do you feel about, urk."

Buffy void leaps backwards and punches the threat in the kidneys before using the flinch reaction to grab the bottom of their chin, bringing their head down to her shoulder, and moves to rip their throat out, all before she registers who was speaking.

As she freezes in the middle of the last move, Spike croaks out, "Can you let me go please?"

After a second, Buffy lets go and steps back as Spike collapses to the floor, "Spike, you know better than that. You're lucky I didn't kill you."

Spike gets up and brushes himself down, "I thought I was far enough back to get your attention without startling you."

Buffy sags against a shelf as the adrenaline rush dies down, "Sorry, Anya drafted Dawn and I to help in the shop. It's worse than clearing a vault on Demios, at least there you can kill everything that gets to handsy."

Spike looks at her as if she's insane, "Why didn't you refuse?"

"We got here just after school, and it was just about empty. Anya assured it that it wouldn't be too busy."

Spike goggles at her, "And you believed her? It's never been anything less than crowded on Halloween, even when it was Uncle Bob's. You should know that."

Buffy puts her hands on her hips, "Spike, do you want me to kick your arse so hard you'll be eating out your arse for a week?"

"Now, Slayer, I…"

"You're talking to Miss three lives over here, well two, but my memories were wiped for most of the second one. Grineer Queens, how do you expect me to remember five days out of the 800 odd years I've been awake? Mercury's mines, I didn't even think to write it down in my diaries."

Spike laughs, "You wrote in a diary?"

Buffy gives him a look, "Just be glad I did, they've helped me remember the broad strokes of my life here. But apparently Buffy Summers was obsessed with social standing, cheerleading, fashion, and enjoying life."

Spike throws his hands in the air, "Bloody great, The fucking Slayer's been pretending to be the Slayer since she got back."

"When did I ever pretend to be the Slayer? I told you up front who I was, it's not my fault you didn't believe me. I'd rather be hit with the jade light than pretend to be Buffy Summers before I died. The girl had absolutely no survival instincts. Also, why did she let her mother die from cancer? She knew two witches, Giles knows at least one coven, and she has contact with the demon world. Demios' depths, they also had the spell to give a vampire a soul, so they could have just asked you or Angel to turn her, and then give her her soul back."

Spike looks at Buffy strangely, "Buffy, what are you saying?"

"Spike, do you honestly think that Buffy wouldn't have found another way, that I wouldn't have found another way to deal with Gloria before it got to the point where I had to sacrifice myself, if only I wasn't grieving my mother?"

"Uh, well, um, no? She was a goddess."

"Spike, you do realise that we are sitting near a portal to the hells? We could have just shoved her through the hellmouth and sealed it up behind her. Even if that didn't solve the problem, it would give us time to solve the problem."

Spike laughs, "You'd have killed dozens of people, maybe even hundreds, if you uncapped the hellmouth. You'd have never done it."

Buffy laughs, "Spike, I've wiped out whole colonies of innocent civilians because we had one confirmed case of a person infected by the infestation. I didn't even lose sleep over it. Don't confuse me for one of the humans from here. I may share their genetics, but I was born an Orokin, and I became a Tenno. If the Scoobies knew what I'd done, they'd call me a monster. Giles, I'm not so sure about. You, you're a monster, and if you breathe a word of it, I will kill you. You won't even see it coming."

Spike vamps out as he stalks towards Buffy, "So why do you keep pretending?"

"Dawn. She is my sister, and my responsibility. I even love her, alien as that thought is. Also, my mother, I'd think she'd want me to be more human. You know what I like about you Spike?"

"My rugged good looks?"

Buffy laughs, "You're far too young for me Spiky. No, it's that I don't need to pretend around you. I can let go of my masks and just be. Work's the same really. Anyway, I've just spotted the mandrakes, so I need to get them upstairs."

As Buffy disappears upstairs, Spike grumbles, "So, I guess you don't want to go patrolling then."

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Eventually, the store closes and Buffy is able to get close enough to Dawn without running the risk of killing someone accidentally, "Hey Dawn, are you doing alright?"

Dawn nods, a little too quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"So, that's a no then. Sorry I couldn't be around, I didn't want to accidentally kill anyone."

"Why?"

Buffy looks Dawn in the eyes, "Are you sure you want to know?"

Dawn looks at Buffy's eyes before shaking her head, "No, probably not. Forget I asked."

Buffy smiles, "Sure, though if you change your mind. You can ask during our morning sessions. When are you supposed to be meeting your friends?"

"About 8, we wanted to get out after all the kids were finished."

Buffy nods, "Do you want me to walk you to your meeting point?"

Dawn looks at Buffy suspiciously, "Why do you keep doing this? Don't get me wrong, I like it. But…"

"You don't trust it, and you think it will be taken away?" Buffy pointedly looks at Dawns pocket.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Dawn, you are my sister, and my ward. I think I even love you. All of those things come with a certain level of expectations. I can't get you fitted with implants, as befitting the sister of an Orokin. Same as I don't want you to be forced to be a Tenno. So, I'm doing what I can, and raising you to this worlds standards to the best of my ability."

"Buffy I…"



Xander interrupts their conversation by getting up to stand beside Anya, "Everyone, I have something important to say. I have asked Anya to marry me, and she said yes."

Buffy rolls her eyes as Xander and Anya have a quiet conversation, and then kiss, while she and Dawn are joining the group.

Willow looks around everyone else and says, "Hands up everyone who did not see that coming."

When Buffy doesn't put her hand up, they all look at her, "What? Anya literally told me the night you resurrected me. When I asked her if she was human."

Anya squeaks, "I did?"

Buffy nods, "Yeah. I do have one question though, what does engagement and marriage actually mean?"

Willow looks at Buffy strangely, "Buffy, how don't you know the answer to that question?"

Before anyone can answer, Anya has a dreamy expression, "It's the purest expression of love, two souls coming together as one before god. It's so beautiful, the dresses, the bridesmaids, and then the ceremony. Then you're husband and wife forever."

Buffy frowns in thought, "Two bodies one soul? That sounds like the oro exchange ceremony some Orokin did with their life partners. Anya, you said souls becoming as one didn't you."

Anya nods, "Oh, yes, it's so romantic."

Buffy nods, "And you're not human."

"Well, ah, sort of. I'm an Ex-vengeance demon."

"Will you go back to being a vengeance demon when you die? Of old age, not violently."

Everyone looks at Giles, "Um, well, not much is known about Ex-demons and the afterlife."

"Well, joining souls is a big step, as if you do go back to being a demon, Xander might join you. And eternity is a long time. So, maybe you should let Xander set the pace. After all, he did finally announce your engagement, didn't he."

Xander stammers, "Me, become a demon?"

Buffy waves him off, "Just because you're a demon doesn't mean you'll be inhumanly evil. So far as I can tell, the biggest downside is developing a taste for kittens."

Dawn looks defensive, "Xander, if you ever become a demon, Patch is off limits."

Xander and Anya share a glance, "Patch?"

Dawn has a look of realisation, "Oh, yeah, you haven't been round our house since Buffy got paid. They had a kitten left over, so Vhesthine gave him to me."

Willow looks like she wants to ask some questions, but Anya starts to shuffle everyone out of the shop so she can lock up.



On the way home, Buffy ignores all of the disapproving looks from her friends, as she checks that Dawn has her phone and dagger, before saying goodbye.

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Dawn meets up with Janice, just down the road from her house rather than at the location they were supposed to meet.

"Hi Janice, did you have any trouble getting out?"

Janice shakes her head, "No, mum thinks I'm staying at yours. You?"

Dawn giggles, "Buffy just let me go out on my own. She's much cooler since she came back."

"Wow, I wish she was my mum."

"I know right…" Dawn pauses mid-sentence, "It's not all good though, she's been teaching me self defence for two hours every morning since she got back. And she makes sure I know about all of the potential dangers out here."

Janice laughs, "Like she knows anything. I bet she's just paranoid."

Dawn looks uncomfortable, and unconsciously starts to fall into the motions of the Vazarin way, "Maybe. Hey, do you have any plans, or are we just wandering?"

Janice nods, "A bit of both really, I met this guy at the Bronze a few weeks ago. A senior called Zack. He's going to meet us with his friend Justin."

Dawn nods, "Sounds good."



It's almost 9pm when the four of them run out of eggs to throw at Halloween decorations and windows. Over the last hour, Dawn has been getting the feeling that something's wrong. Something that Buffy's been teaching her. However, she ignores that niggle, and instead allows herself to be carried along by the laughter and excitement of the other three. As Justin comes back to the group empty handed Dawn forces a smile, "So what now? Heading to the Bronze?"

Zach looks around, before pointing, "Na, one more."

Dawn follows Zach's finger to a dark house with a foot path that is shrouded in shadows. Sitting on one of the bolsters of the porch is a lone carved pumpkin, a candle illuminating the pattern from the inside.



As Dawn looks at the pumpkin, Janice shudders, "Eww, not me."

Justin crows before saying, "What, you chicken?"

Dawn looks between Zach and Justin, before setting her shoulders, "I'll do it."

Marching up the pathway, she grabs the pumpkin, determined to get this over with so that they can move on. As she lifts it above her shoulder, someone's hand clamps on her shoulder and she drops into a crouch and spins away, even as she screams. Instead of a vampire, there's a doddering old man with a cheerful smile, and an absent gaze.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I have a treat for you inside, all four of you. Come on in."

Dawn looks at the mans back and stifles her desire to shout, 'You never invite anyone into your house, ever.' As the other three catch up with her, she straightens up and tries to look nonchalant as she walks into the house.



The inside is like an Aladdin's cave of vintage toys, from robots to jack in the boxes. All lovingly, and messily, laid out on every surface. Dawn only partially pays attention to the old man, as he explains that he used to be a toymaker, until something happened. Janice, oblivious Janice, sits down on the sofa with the others. Looking at the others, Dawn moves around so that she's perched on the sofa next to Janice.



After a few moments of awkwardness, the old man smiles at them, "Would one of you be able to help me in the kitchen?"

Dawn catches Justin and Zach sharing a glance, and starts to stand up. Justin leaps to his feet, "I'll help you."

Settling back Dawn's eyes dart around the room nervously, as Janice takes hold of Zach's hand. After a couple of minutes, Dawn feels like something important has just gone missing. Looking over her shoulder at the kitchen, she gets up off the couch, and Janice and Zach follow her as she calls out "Justin, are you ok?"



Just as she gets to the door, Justin pulls it open just enough to slip around it, before pulling it shut behind him, "I got the old mans wallet, let's go."

Dawn glances behind her as the four of them run from the house. As soon as they hit the sidewalk, Zach runs off back the way they came, leaving Janice and her with Justin. As Janice trails behind Justin and herself, Justin opens the wallet and takes out some cash, "Here, this is your half of the spoils."

As she takes it, Dawn looks at the money and then down at the pocket of her jacket. The one that Buffy looked at before she left the Magic Box. Swallowing hard, Dawn hands the money back, "No, it's ok. I… don't want to disappoint my sister. Um, where are we going after this?"

Justin smiles at her amiably, "Just out for a little drive to get some privacy, so that we can get to know each other a little better."

"Oh, ok. Um, I'm just going to call my sister to let her know I'll be late home, as she only let me come out if I did."

Dawn takes her phone out of her pocket, and drops back to Janice. It takes her a couple of tries to actually dial the house, but Buffy answers on the 3rd ring, "Hey Buffy, just letting you know that Janice and I will be a little late. Zach and Justin are going to drive us... Something not right, know not what… Concealed place, Kubrows and Kavats."

When Dawn hangs up, Janice asks, "I didn't know you spoke a foreign language, what language was it?"

Dawn shrugs, "I don't know, Buffy's been teaching me since she got back. She insists on me speaking it a bit every time I call."

Out of the corner of her eye, Dawn notices Justin relax almost imperceptibly. It suddenly becomes very difficult to keep her shoulders and hands relaxed, as her heartrate speeds up.

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Buffy hangs up the phone with pride in Dawn. Walking back to the living room, she looks at Anya and Xander, who have already started making out on the couch.

"That was Dawn, she's in trouble."

Xander and Anya disengage, and Xander looks at Buffy in confusion, "Didn't we already know that? After all, isn't that why Giles, Willow, and Tara all left 20 minutes ago?"

Buffy rolls her eyes, "No, all we knew was that Janice hadn't asked her mother for permission. Everyone assumed they were in trouble. I said that Dawn would call if there was a problem, and she did. Now, as the only one with a car, and also in a romantic relationship. Where would you go for some private time to get to know each other."

Anya blurts out, "Xander's apartment."

Buffy sighs, "If you didn't have an apartment to go to."

Xander sighs, "Probably the woods on the other side of the cemetery."

Buffy nods, and runs off to get both bows, as well as Dawn's live ammunition, before running out of the house as fast as she can, using void jumping to bypass obstacles she can't just jump over.



As she's getting close to the woods, she hears a scream rent the night, and redoubles her pace. Absently, she notes Janice lying on the floor as she's passing through the woods. As she arrives, Giles is standing opposite Dawn, who is being held around the throat by a vampire. Surrounding them is a circle of nearly a dozen vampires. Buffy void jumps to appear next to Giles.

"Hey old man, need some backup?"

Giles looks around, "That would be appreciated."

Buffy looks around the group, "Right, before I start staking first and taking names later. Were any of you here just to get some nookie?"

When a single couple raise their hands, Buffy makes a shooing motion as she looks at Dawn.

"Well Giles, are you ready?"

Giles looks around again, "Not really."

"Well, too bad. Dawn, I thought I taught you better than that."

Justin looks up, "Well, what do you know, she's the Slayers sister. Put down the bow otherwise I'll Arrrgh!" As he's talking, Dawn fumbles for her dagger, and then slices the double blade down the inside of Justin's arm.

Buffy smiles, "I don't know what an Arrrgh! Is, but I think I'll pass. Dawn, catch!" with a smooth motion, she chucks Dawns bow and quiver of arrows to Dawn as the other vampires all charge at the three of them.



Buffy lifts her own bow and tries to draw it the same way her Ivara Warframe did, and use void energy to produce an arrow. By the time she's failed three times, the first of the vampires arrive, so she lifts her hand and fires out a Void Snare.

Meanwhile, Giles is struggling with one vampire, as he can't match it's speed or strength. As he goes sprawling when the vampire backhands him across the face, he turns with the blow, and rolls onto his back to use the vampires momentum to stake it. Instead, the vampire is pulled back into the effect that Buffy created, and all of them turn to dust as she fires her beam and casually sweeps it across the suspended vampires. When the beam cuts out, she turns towards Giles, "Hey, do you think you and spike can handle the last one while I check on Dawn?"

Giles coughs, "I'm sure we'll manage."

With a nod, Buffy heads off after Dawn, leaning down on the way to pick up her dagger.



Dawn runs from Jason, her instincts driving her. As she passes into a clearing, the flight response from freeing herself finally clears, and she mechanically hooks the quiver onto her dagger harness. Drawing an arrow, she scans the edge of the clearing, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. There, a shadow moves and she lets fly with an arrow, that clatters off into the trees.

"You know, I knew you were special from the moment I saw you." Dawn lets another arrow fly towards the voice, "You know, you're different from the other girls. You've got spunk." Another arrow, another miss, "Don't worry, it will only hurt for a moment, and then you'll be happy." Thunk, an arrow hits a tree, "Oh, poor little Dawnie, you've run out of arrows. Should have paid more attention while you were running."

Dawn toes the arrow that she dropped on the floor, and looks around, making sure she's not too far from it. When Justin appears in the forest line, the arm he held her with is still hanging limply at his side, "You were good Dawn, very good. Once you're a vampire, you'll be better. Now, don't worry, this won't hurt."

Even planning for it, Dawn isn't ready when Justin rushes forward and knocks her off her feet. Despite that, she lands on the arrow with a loud snap. Almost casually, Justin kneels down on top of her, and leans over to bite her neck. For Dawn, the end is almost anticlimactic, as she lifts he razor sharp broad head, and it slips effortlessly through his ribcage and heart, until the wooden shaft makes contact. As it does, Dawn is looking in Justin's eyes as he realises what's happening, and then she's covered with dust.



Buffy appears next to Dawn with Dawn's dagger held where Justin's neck would be, "Hey Dawn, how are you doing?"

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Once they all get home, Giles watches Dawn sit down on a dining chair as Tara and Willow both make their way upstairs. When Buffy comes back from putting the bows away, Giles turns to her, "Someone needs to have a word with Dawn. What she did tonight was reckless."

Buffy shakes her head, "Don't put that on Dawn, she did almost everything right. What she got wrong was inexperience, not recklessness. And don't worry, I'm about to tell her exactly that. Good night Giles, and thank you for going out to look for Janice. But in future, please remember to take a proper weapon with you. Or do I need to start a training regime for you too?"



Without looking back, Buffy walks over to Dawn and sits next to her silently until Dawn looks up. Dawn looks at her, "What? Is this the point where you tell me off and explain everything I did wrong?"

Buffy shakes her head, "No Dawn, this is where I tell you that you did everything right. Why did you go with them, even after you called me?"

Dawn looks down at her hands, "Because Janice didn't know any better, and she'd have gone anyway."

Buffy nods, "Understandable, and you probably saved her life, along with Giles. If you weren't there, she probably wouldn't have made it out of the car."

"Buffy, I killed him. I could see it happening, and I killed him."

Buffy nods, "You did. It was you or him, and you chose you. Now you know what I've been saying. It also looks like you're starting to understand the Vazarin Way."

Dawn's voice cracks, "Buffy, can I sleep with you tonight?"

There's a long pause before Buffy answers, "I've used a lot of void energy tonight, so I think I'm depleted. So, just for tonight, but if I wake you up, you need to get out of my room immediately."

Dawn looks up with tears in her eyes, and reaches for Buffy, who takes her hand and pulls her into a hug.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Buffy the Tenno – Episode 6 – part 1

As Buffy lies uncomfortably in bed with Dawn clinging to her like a limpet, she frowns as Willow and Tara's disagreement carries on into the bedroom. Her frown deepens when Tara does a volte-face and is suddenly giggling and the two of them start behaving like they normally do. It takes her a long time to fall asleep, as she is once more left wishing she still had her implants. Her thoughts focusing, unbidden, on the three times she'd regained lost memories. The first, when she stopped the Stalker from destroying the Reservoir, and discovering the grim truth about her existence. That she wasn't actually a warframe, instead, she was a person and the Reservoir is the place where she, and her brothers and sisters, were kept in pods. Safe from attackers. The second when she followed Teshin to rescue him from the Grineer Queens, only for him to do the same for her when the elder Queen was trying to destroy her mind, and take over her body. Then the last, and most recent, when Willow resurrected her, and she discovered that this was a past life. Once more she curses her lack of implants, as unlike her previous memories, those memories started fading immediately, and it's only by reviewing her diaries and notes that she's even retained a portion of those memories.



Gently, she tries to tug Dawns arm from around her so that she can meditate. When Dawn doesn't budge, she muses darkly that this must be how her mother, Veldé, must have felt during the early days on the Zariman, before the void destroyed her sanity.

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The next morning, Dawn's still struggling with what happened the previous night. As she gets ready for her training she reaches behind her back for the dagger. When she doesn't find it, her breathing quickens, and her heartrate soars as she looks around her room wildly. When she spots it hanging over the chair, she grabs it and wraps it around her hips. As she continues to get ready, her hand keeps straying to the grip of the dagger, just touching it to reassure herself that it's still there.



During her training, Dawn keeps getting distracted by the memory of Justin's arm around her neck, but she gamely moves through the motions with Buffy. The movements and practice seemingly more important than just bonding time with her sister. Eventually, she notices that Buffy seems to be distracted by something, so, for the first time since they started, Dawn calls, "Buffy, break." To talk rather than get out of training.

As Buffy steps back, Dawn sinks to her knees. Buffy looks at her appraisingly, before doing the same.

After a few moments, Dawn asks, "Buffy, are you ok? You seem distracted."

Buffy's eyes refocus and she shakes her head slightly, "Huh, what? Oh, yes, I'm ok. Just dealing with my lack of implants."

Dawn switches to Orokin, "As sister, what wrong?"

Something Dawn had noticed before, happens once more as a switch seems to flip in the way Buffy regards her, "I am struggling with emotional regulation. Tara stopped being upset with Willow last night, and I can't stop thinking about regaining my memories. A few hours meditation should sort it out."

Dawn nods as she struggles to understand and translate what Buffy just said. Once she has, she responds, "Tara, try talk to."

Absently, Buffy replies, "Try and talk to Tara. Remember, G sound to indicate joining, and stress on Tara to indicate subject."

"Try talk to Tara."

"Better, and I will. I'll give it a few cycles first."



Dawn touches her dagger, and blinks as she remembers trying to talk Justin down in the car, "I kill Buffy last cycle."

Buffy laughs, "Buffy, I killed last cycle. And, yes, it's the Tenno way. We kill so that others can live in peace." Her eyes go distant, "We were created as weapons of war, our memories robbed, and our birth right stolen because they were losing. When we started waking again, it's all we knew, so the Lotus guided us to protect the ones caught in the middle. We took money from the Corpus to attack the Grineer, and money from the Grineer to attack the Corpus. In the middle, the independent colonies thrived. Or they would if it wasn't for a final weapon of the Orokin, the infestation. A techno-organic disease that would take over both living and electronic systems."

Refocusing on Dawn, Buffy continues in English, "Yes you did kill, but rather than focus on what you did, look at why you did it, and how you got there."

Dawn huffs with annoyance, "I got into the situation because I was stupid, alright."

Buffy shakes her head, "No, not stupid, inexperienced. Did you know they were vampires? Did you sneak out without permission? Did you do it all alone?"

Dawn looks down, "I should have known, all the signs were there. I could have got Janice and I out of there earlier by saying I wanted to go to the Bronze."

Buffy reaches across the gap between them, "Dawn, you knew none of those things yesterday. One of the reasons we have, had, implants so that we can review our past actions without the emotional biases that hindsight brings. It's one of the things I remember mum teaching me, how to separate current knowledge from my past actions. I was 13 when I got those implants, and it was amazing. The day before, the world was a confusing mess, and after a couple of months, it was just a mess. I could look at what happened, and judge my actions clearly. School became a breeze, as we could turn off our emotions so that we could focus on the lessons and understanding them. We were just starting on the more advanced stuff like Eternalism and the scientific proofs that show it's not only a valid philosophical precept, but actually exists. Though we can't interact with our doubles. Well, I should say, we can't normally interact with our doubles. It was a wonderful life, but it was a caste system, and we were at the top. The Dax and Corpus were below us, and everyone else was below them. We even created the Grineer as a slave race to work in conditions that robotics and our civilians couldn't without dying in a matter of years… Sorry, I got side tracked, we were talking about your experiences last night."

Dawn shakes her head, "No, I was interested. You don't normally talk about these things like you were there."

Buffy shakes her head, "And I shouldn't, that was then and this is now. Tara's volte-face must be affecting me more than I thought."

Dawn laughs, "Buffy, volte-face, really? When did you start using language like that?"

Buffy sticks her tongue out, "Fine, her sudden flip-flop on her disagreement with Willow."

"What was their disagreement anyway?"

Buffy shakes her head, "If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you. I may have super senses, but if I share stuff like that, then people will stop trusting me. Now, come on, lets practice with our bows and see who can pull the most ridiculous pose while still hitting the target. Also, I'll walk you to school later, as you're wearing your dagger for once."

Dawn reaches behind her to touch the grip for reassurance.

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Buffy sits in a cheap padded chair in front of the principles desk at Sunnydale Junior High, next to her is Dawn, who is twitching nervously.

Principle Stevens looks up from Dawns notes, "Miss Summers, it is a pleasure to see you. And I am very happy with the improvements that Dawn has been making over the last couple of months."

Buffy nods, "While that is certainly pleasant news, I'm actually here on a more important matter."

"Oh?"

"As you may know, I've recently started an apprenticeship with Mikes Machining."

Principle Stevens looks back down at the notes, "Indeed, I see you updated the after-hours contact details."

Buffy reaches into her purse and pulls out her old Initiative ID card, "Well, what you shouldn't be aware of is the fact that I have been part of the armed forces. And this is classified information, so don't note it down." She hands over the ID for the Principle to look at briefly, before putting it back in her purse.

Stevens frowns, "While that's all very interesting, what does that have to do with your presence in my office today?"

Buffy gives him a sweet smile that doesn't reach her eyes, "I was just getting to that Principle Stevens. Suffice to say that I have been unable to put my full attention to raising Dawn the way she deserves to be since our mother died. I am, however, no longer associated with the American Government. I am, however, still highly skilled in all forms of CQC, including daggers. A skill that I have been passing on to Dawn here, since the circumstances that prevented me being a full part of my sisters life were lifted. It was this skill that saved her… virtue, and possibly her life last night."

"Miss Summers, please get to the point."

"Principle Stevens, I would like you to write Dawn a waiver so that she can carry the dagger, that she trains with, in school."

"Miss Summers, you know that we have a very strict no weapons policy."

"Principle Stevens, you are aware of the fact that you can provide a waiver to that policy, and I have just explained why you should do just that."

Stevens leans forward, "The school rules are very clear that there are no exceptions to that rule. We will not be having a repeat of Sunnydale High, with students high on PCP running amok."

Buffy nods, and pulls a letter from her purse, "Very well, as you won't make an exception for a reasonable reason. I have here a letter informing you that I am withdrawing Dawn Summers from the school on personal safety grounds. She will be home schooled until she graduates to high school. We will be taking a copy to City Hall as soon as we're finished here."

Dawn stares at her sister, wide-eyed, as Principle Stevens takes the letter and reads it through.

"Miss Summers, you do realise that this letter could be very damaging to the schools reputation?"

Buffy looks at him with wide, innocent eyes, "I have no idea what you mean. After all, I've only been on this earth for 20 years. I actually had the receptionist at Mikes help me prepare for this meeting, as I thought something like this might happen. After all, you tend to make enemies in my former line of work."



After a long few moments, Principle Stevens writes out a waiver and hands it to his Secretary to type up. Once he's sat down again, he looks at Dawn, "Miss Summers. Dawn, this is a waiver to carry the dagger with you in school. It is not permission to draw it. If I find out that you've drawn it without a teachers supervision, you will be subject to the normal rules on weapons in the school."

Buffy coughs meaningfully, "Principle Stevens, I would hope that if Dawn had cause to draw the dagger in school, you'd have the police involved, not just treating her as a delinquent."

Principle Stevens nods, "Yes, yes indeed."



Once the waiver comes in, Buffy pulls out a small dictionary and reads through the waiver twice, double checking any word that she's not sure of the meaning of.

As she's doing that Principle Stevens protests, "Miss Summers, you don't need to do that. The waiver is written in plain English."

Buffy looks up absently, "I am aware of that Principle. However, I'm not ashamed to admit that I didn't do as well as I should in English at school. I was also advised to ensure that I understood the waiver before signing and dating all three copies."

The principle sighs, and lets Buffy continue. After a couple of minor changes, Dawn, Buffy, and the principle all have a copy signed by both Stevens and Buffy. Once they're both in the corridor outside, Buffy gives Dawn a hug, and Dawn whispers, "How did you do that? Where you really planning this for weeks?"

Buffy smiles, "Presentation of the truth, and yes. It came up at work when I mentioned I was trying to get you to wear your dagger all the time."

Dawn squeezes her tight, "Best sister ever."

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From the school Buffy heads home to grab the library books she's been reading for her apprenticeship, before making her way to the Magic Box. Which seems to be the unofficial study location for the Scoobie Gang. When she arrives, she finds the shop mostly empty, with Tara sitting at the round table at the back doing some work for college. Giles is standing around looking busy, while Anya is serving a customer.



Giles looks up, "Buffy! I wasn't expecting you in yet."

Buffy shrugs, "I had to stay awake anyway to talk to Dawn's school. So I figured I'd forego sleep, and get some more studying in."

Giles raises an eyebrow, "Oh, anything interesting?"

Buffy nods and holds up a couple of books, "Uh huh, powder smelting alloys, and welding."

"Fascinating."

Buffy nods, "They are, did you know that incorrectly made welds can have a honeycomb structure, that leaves them weak to stresses even though they seem to pass all the normal tests."

Giles takes off his glasses and pinches his nose, "While I'm sure its interesting, I really don't think I need an in-depth description of it, thank you."

Buffy shrugs, "Suit yourself."



Taking off her jacket, she drapes it over a skull on the near by shelf and sits down next to Tara. As she starts to take notes in Orokin, and making comparisons with the techniques she learnt in the Orokin system, Tara leans over and says softly, "You should probably move your coat before Anya notices."

Buffy nods, "I would, but I don't like been watched by people I don't know."

Slightly more urgently Tara asks, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that someone has gone to the trouble of hiding a camera in the eye socket of that skull. You can just about see the reflection of light on the lens if you're coming up the stairs from the basement, with the door already open."

"How did you even spot that?"

"Hours of walking up and down the stairs into the basement looking for obscure items of stock. Last night."

"Oh. How did you know what you were looking at?"

Buffy smiles, "Tell you what, when you're willing to talk to me about what happened the night I came back. I'll talk to you about that too."



Tara and Buffy go back to their individual studies.



Around half an hour later, Buffy finishes her chapter and sits back to think. After a moment, she taps the table in front of Tara gently.

Tara looks up from her work, "Yes Buffy? You could have just used my name."

Buffy nods, "I didn't want to startle you. Would you mind if I spoke to you in the back quickly?"

Tara looks a little surprised, before nodding. Buffy leads the two of them out the back door, and into the alleyway, where the sun's shining.

Buffy paces for a couple of minutes while she considers revealing her enhanced senses, and if she can ask what she wants without doing so. Coming to a decision, she turns back to Tara.

"Sorry about that, I was trying to think of the best way to ask what I want to know. As you know, the Slayer is 'gifted' with extraordinary abilities so that they can combat demons on an equal footing. What everyone seems to forget is that this includes senses, such as hearing."

Tara goes bright red and covers her face with her hands.

Somewhat exasperated, Buffy huffs, "This is why I don't bring it up. For the most part I try to ignore personal conversations. But, last night the two of you were quite loud in your discussion of Willows magic use in the kitchen. I was just wondering, why does it matter how much magic Willow's using?"

Tara looks up, "What? Willow and I didn't argue last night."

"You did, and you even took it to bed. Which is why I took note of it, as you seemed to have made up very quickly."

Tara looks upset, and gets up to go back into the shop. But Buffy reaches out gently, and stops her, "Tara, if she's messed with your memory, let me know as I can't have someone living in the house with Dawn who's willing to do that. No matter how good a friend she was to Buffy Summers."

"Why though, she's your friend."

"Tara, it's not about friendship, it's about trust. I've had my memories stolen from me before, and they turned me into a weapon. I've regained memories three times, and each time was so bad I had to strip the emotions from the memory. That's why I wanted to know what's so bad about using magic."

Tara takes a deep breath and sits on the pile of pallets. In a small voice she says, "When you cast a spell, you draw magic in from the world around you and channel it into the working you're doing. If that was it, then using magic wouldn't be a problem. However, there are hellmouths all over the world, and the magic from those hells mingles with the magic of the earth. This makes it feel nice to use it, like a small bar of chocolate on your period. I'm just worried about what happens if you do it too much."

Buffy nods, "That makes sense. Also, I haven't forgotten that I want you to teach me magic. I've just got a few too many commitments at the moment."

Tara stand up and starts going back inside, "I-I have something I need to look up."

Buffy gets up to follow her, "I understand. If you do find something, talk to Giles about it first, as he's the expert on all things occult."

"I'll think about it."

"You should also start to keep a diary too, make a note of all your concerns and worries. You can use one of the drawers in my desk if you don't trust anywhere in your room."

Tara pauses and whispers, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Buffy smiles and shakes her head, "Because you're a nice person. You know Dawn likes you too, as you're the only one that occasionally checked up on her, not just told her what to do. Or told her off for that matter."



Once Buffy gets back inside, she pulls out the notebook she's been using as a diary, and makes a note of her discussion with Tara, and the fact that magic could be addictive.

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After school, Dawn makes her way to Magic Box, and looks through the window inside to see Willow and Giles chatting about something at the table, with Xander talking to Anya by the counter. Not feeling like being ignored again, she turns around and makes her way to Buffy's work.



When she gets there, she looks around for Buffy, and watches as a demon talks to her over by some sort of spinning machine. As she watches, the demon takes a circle of metal and places it between two plates on the machine, with some sort of explanation going on. Seeing that Buffy's busy, Dawn makes her way up the stairs to the reception, where Vhesthine is talking on the phone. Slumping over to a chair, Dawn sits down, and then adjusts herself until her dagger is more comfortable. Pulling out her phone, she starts to look for the games the box said it came with.



After half an hour or so, Vhesthine turns to Dawn, "What's the problem?"

Dawn looks up and shakes her head, "Nothing."

Vhesthine shakes her head, "Succubus here, I can literally taste your emotions, and you reek of misery. So, what's wrong."

"I killed someone last night."

Vhesthine rolls her eyes, "Oh please, there has to be more to it than that."

"Isn't that enough? Do I really have to say I thought he was cute, until he turned out to be a vampire."

Vhesthine shrugs, "Sounds like you did the world a favour. One less vampire to cause trouble. So what else?"

"I think he killed someone while we were walking the streets, egging houses. There was this creepy old man who used to make toys. I'd started thinking there was something wrong with Jason and Zach. But I ignored it, because I was having fun. He caught me about to smash his pumpkin, and he invited us in. Then Jason went into the kitchen. Well, first of all, we were sat on his chairs, and he asked for some help in the kitchen. I saw Zach and Jason share a glance, and I was about to volunteer when Jason jumped up. He was taking too long, and it felt like something disappeared, so I got up to check on Jason, and he rushes out of the kitchen. While Zack was getting their car, Jason tried to give me $10, but I remembered Buffy talking to me about pocket money that morning. And it felt like I'd be betraying Buffy if I took it, so I gave it back. When Jason said they were driving us out to get some privacy, I called Buffy to let her know I'd be late, but I used the language she's been teaching me to say I was in trouble. Then, in the car, Jason was talking to me, and I was scared, but I couldn't reach my dagger because I was sitting against it. So I got out of the car. That's when Giles turned up, and he was so brave, he confronted Jason, even though he was holding his arm around my neck. That's when the other vampires walked out of the trees, and I was so scared I couldn't think. I thought we were going to die, and Buffy just appears, bang, one moment it's just Giles, the next Buffy's standing next to him holding two bows. When she called my name, I just knew what to do, and I grabbed my dagger and cut the inside of his elbow as deeply as I could. When he let go, I spun away and Buffy threw me my bow and arrows. We got separated, and I ran. When I got to a clearing, I stopped, and tried to shoot him with my arrows. But I dropped one first, as I remembered Buffy saying that they were too fast. When I ran out, he pushed me over, and knelt over me. That's when I took the end of the arrow and pushed the end through his ribs, into his heart. Blood poured out all over my hand, and then he turned to dust."



Vhesthine sits patiently through Dawns rambling confession. As she peters out, she taps her finger on the desk, "Dawn, grab a chair from the break room and come and sit next to me."



While Dawn's doing that, she pulls her makeup bag from her purse, along with her nail polish and care kit. Once Dawn's sat down, Vhesthine snaps, "Hands" at her, and starts to inspect her nails.

"Hmm, I can see I have my work cut out for me. You should stop biting your nails, as it will damage your nail beds, and your fingers will grow up over them. I'm going to use a touch of succubus magic to grow them slightly, so don't scream."

Intelligently, Dawn says, "Huh?"

As Dawns nails lengthen to around ¼ inch longer than the tips of her fingers, Vhesthine adds, "Don't worry, this much magic isn't corrupting. It's clear that nobodies ever taught you how to take care of your nails. And they're so good too. The first thing we're going to do is moisturise your hands, then I'll shape your nails and apply some polish. Then we can braid your hair to frame that lovely face, and add a touch of makeup."



As Dawns emotions change from misery to contentment and bliss, Vhesthine asks, "Was this your first kill?"

Absently, Dawn says, "No, well, yes. Sort of. I've dusted vampires before, but Buffy keeps talking about not sugar coating things, or using eupha… eupha…"

"Euphemisms?"

"Yeah, those."

"Uh huh, most mortals need to work up to that. So, if you've done it before, why is this time so hard?"

"I don't know, I've always done it with the others before."

Vhesthine nods, "The first time hunting alone is always hard. I remember my own, I thought the male was going to see through my disguise, or that I'd say the wrong thing and his lust would die back. All of that happened, but by the time it did, he didn't care what I looked like, he just wanted me, and tried to take it. It was absolutely delicious, decadent, and so very filling. These days I prefer lust mixed with desire, and to take a little every day rather than gorging myself every few weeks. Anyway, my matriarch was nearby the whole time, watching just in case she needed to step in."

Dawn nods absently, "Just like Buffy."

"Other hand. When it comes down to it, you did us a favour, as we'd have hunted them down ourselves. We do not hunt on Halloween while humans make a mockery of us. That way leads to the churches taking notice, and thinning the feeding pool while futilely looking for us."



Vhesthine pauses as a chime goes off softly. Glancing down at a security camera on the desk, she turns back to Dawns hand just before a Nitobe walks through the door. Smoothly she says to Dawn, "Don't move, I still need to finish this hand."

Turning to the demon she smiles, "Good evening, do you have an appointment?"

The Demon looks over at Dawn, "Why do you have a human here?"

Vhesthine smiles, "She's a prospective. Now, do you have an appointment?"

The Nitobe shakes his head, "I wish to speak with a smith about a commission."

Vhesthine nods, "Do you have a way to be contacted?"

"No."

"Very well, I can pencil you in in four days' time. You will need to bring proof of wealth."

The Nitobe nods, "I will return."



Once they're alone again, Dawn asks, "What's a prospective?"

Vhesthine starts to apply the polish coat to Dawns fingers, "A prospective is a human that's caught our eye, and we're grooming to become a succubus."

"Am I?"

Vhesthine looks at Dawn critically, before finally saying, "No, you're innocent in all the wrong ways."

After several minutes digesting that, Dawn asks, "What's it like being a succubus?"

Vhesthine shrugs, "I couldn't say, as I was born a succubus. Now turn around, so I can start to do your hair. No! Don't hold the chair, you'll ruin your nail polish. Just sit sideways."

As Dawn turns around, her dagger comes into view. Vhesthine looks at it, for a moment, "Do you mind if I look at your dagger?"

Dawn chews her lip for a moment before saying "Sure" and reaching around to draw it.

Vhesthine says, "Ah, no. Nails remember. I'll get it, and I'll put it straight back once I'm finished with it."



Drawing the dagger, Vhesthine bounces it gently in one hand, "Good balance, not perfect. A bit heavy towards the front." Grabbing a small metal stick with a ball on the end, she taps the blade in multiple places, "Hmm, even construction, probably machine made. Good edge," she taps it again, "Though a little soft. Needs a little sharpening. Has Buffy shown you how to do that?"

Dawn shakes her head as Vhesthine puts the dagger back in the sheath, and takes out her brush, "Once we're finished here, I'll show you how to care for your blades properly. Though you should really have a better blade than that."

Dawn sighs in contentment as the brush moves through her hair, "Buffy said she'd make me a new one once I was competent with a knife."

Vhesthine nods, "Then it's a perfectly acceptable blade for a beginner. I may even be able to give you some tips."

With some surprise, Dawn says, "You know how to use a dagger?"

"I do. Succubae aren't exactly known for their strength, so we use weapons instead. The more easily concealed the better. After all, humans aren't the only ones with a taste for human looking women."

Dawn shudders, "I did not want to know that."

"I do not understand the human fascination of withholding information for the sake of feelings."

"I… I don't know either. Maybe Buffy does."

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It's about half nine when Razial appears on the factory floor in a flash of light, "Everyone, we're closing early today! I hope you all have a good weekend, personally, I'm looking forward to a weekend away. We may be closed Monday, so call in before coming to work. Buffy, a word in my office."



Confused, Buffy turns away from the pile of ruined copper disks, and a couple of very basic copper bowls, and follows her boss upstairs. As she enters the reception she pauses in surprise when she sees Dawn pushing her dagger over a stone. As she notices her hair, Buffy looks Dawn up and down, "I like the nails, and the hair."

Dawn looks up at her with a beaming smile, "Thanks, Vhesthine did them for me."



That said, Buffy hurries after Razial, and closes the door behind her.



Razial sits down and pulls back his hood, "Buffy, I'm talking to you as an apprentice, as everyone knows that The Slayer would be driven to kill me on sight."

Buffy nods, "Apprentice Buffy, reporting as ordered."

"This is no joking matter. Someone has summoned the Lord of the Dance. Everyone downstairs already knows the drill, but you're new here. I cannot be seen looking after my human employees, even though it would be a wasted investment if they came to undue harm. So instead, I suggest a course of action, as I'd rather not lose resources that I've put so much time and effort into training. If there's still a Sunnydale left on Monday, then you'll be working as normal. Otherwise we'll let you know where the new workshop is. You'll still be paid. If you don't call in, we'll assume you died." Buffy opens her mouth to say something, but Razial shakes his head, "That's all I needed you for."



Numbly, Buffy walks back into the reception, where Dawn looks up, "Buffy, are you ok?"

"Dawn, I need to use your phone."

"Um, ok? It's in my school bag."



Buffy first calls Magic Box, on the off chance that someone's still there. When the phone goes to answer phone, she calls her house.

On the second ring, Giles picks up, "Summers residence."

"Giles…"

"Oh Buffy, thank God. Dawns missing, she didn't turn up at Magic Box, and she wasn't at home. Xander and Anya just closed up, and Willow and Tara have…"

"Giles, Dawn's here. And her phone number is written on the number list in front of you."

"Oh God, I feel so stupid."

"Giles, we don't have time for that. Work's closing early because someone's summoned the Lord of the Dance."

"Who?"

"I don't know, but it's bad enough my boss is leaving town for the weekend."

Giles pauses for a moment, then sounds more serious, "Right, I've got a key to Magic Box. I'll leave a note for Willow and Tara, and I'll call Xander and Anya. I'll meet you there."

Buffy looks back at Dawn, "Giles… I'll be there, but Dawn might be staying with friends."

"Oh, good."



Buffy looks at the phone for a few seconds before stabbing a button to hang up, and turning around.

Raising her hand to forestall Dawn, Buffy looks at Vhesthine, "Vhesthine, I know it's not normal. But, if Dawn agrees, do you think you could look after her for the weekend?"

Vhesthine looks at Dawn appraisingly, "I couldn't guarantee her safety, or humanity."

"Compared to what the boss is worried about, how safe would she be?"

"Walking around Sunnydale on a Friday night?"

Buffy nods and lowers her hand, "Dawn, it's your choice. I seriously doubt that anything here can kill me, but this is your life we're talking about."

Dawn shakes her head, "There's no choice, you're not leaving me again."

Buffy smiles at Dawn, "Well, come on then."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Episode 6 – part 2

It doesn't take long for the three of them to meet up at Magic Box, or for Giles to let them in.



Buffy puts her coat over the skull before sitting down at the table, "Giles, I have to confess that I'm not particularly sure of what happens now. As last time research needed to be done, I was working. The time before that was the day after I was brought back. So, what do we do?"

Giles takes his glasses off to clean them, "Ah, well. We have a library of ancient and esoteric tomes on the mezzanine floor. However, they haven't been catalogued beyond what category of book they are. We know he's a demon, and that he has been summoned. But that's about it."

Buffy shakes her head, "We also know that my boss is wary enough of him to be out of town while he's supposed to be around."

Giles sighs and puts his glasses back on, "Yes, there is that. So, we're probably looking for his identity first, and then trying to find the banishing ritual."



Buffy nods, and stands up her voice rising in song, as she leaps up to the library and passes a book down to Giles "Because I'm all about those books, all those books."

Giles places the book on the table and passes it over to Dawn as he sings, "Start reading."



After another round of the same, that ends up with Giles sitting at the table reading a book, Dawn takes over, "Yeah, it's pretty clear that I am really cool. Because I'm reading, reading. It's what I like to do…"



As the song continues, first Willow, then Tara, and finally Anya dance in through the various entrances to each take a book from Buffy.



Once the song comes to an end, Buffy leans over the railing of the library, "Um, guys, I know we kinda got carried away there. But can we take a more structured approach to this? I mean, randomly going through books will turn up an answer eventually, but um, would it be better if I handed the books to Giles and he puts them in one of 3 piles. Probably, maybe, and longshot. Only, I think he knows more about what's in these books than anyone here. Once you've finished with a book, you can put it in a definitely not or probably not pile. Willow, Tara, concentrate on summoning rituals that mention Lord of the Dance. Dawn, concentrate on Demons. Anya, I want you to grab some paper and write down everything you can remember that could be related to Lord of the Dance. I don't care if it's a play from across the ocean or something equally asinine, once you're done, join Dawn."

Giles looks up, "What about me?"

"Giles, you're the expert here. I trust your judgment, and I couldn't guess where your strengths are."

Anya looks up at Buffy, "What are you going to be doing?"

"Once I've got all the books down, I'm going to be setting up some tables using the pallets from outside, and I'll transfer the piles of books onto those. I think I saw a whiteboard in the basement, so I'm going to bring that up and put what we know on it so that we can all see it at a glance. Then I'm going to make everyone a cup of tea or coffee. If there's spare time, I'll be starting to flick through the probably not pile, to double check things, and also make a note of the book title and headings or broad contents, so that next time we can quickly check that list to see if anything rings any bells."

Anya makes an O shape with her mouth before grabbing a pad and a pen.



Giles frowns as he starts sorting the books, "Buffy, I don't think it's a good idea to make those notes."

"Oh?"

"There is a lot of dangerous knowledge in these books. We have the benefit of always having access to these books. However, some of the people who have caused trouble in the past only had an hour or so's access to the books. So, I feel that having a convenient set of notes around would be more detrimental long term, than it would be helpful."

Buffy shrugs, "Ok, how about if I wrote it in corpus script?"

Giles takes his glasses off to clean them, "I'm afraid there are spells to translate any known language."

"Ok, I want to discuss what known language actually means later. But for now, I'll just make a list of titles that we've ruled out."

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It's 3am and Dawn has already fallen asleep, Willow has got up to stretch her legs, and Anya has sung about bunnies twice.

Buffy puts down the book that she's currently double checking, and puts her pen in the crease so that she doesn't lose her page. Standing up, she walks over to Willow, "Hey Willow, you're supposed to be one of my oldest friends, so I'm just checking in with you. Are you ok?"

Willow looks up at her with a tired expression, "What, no, just a bit tired. How are you still so fresh?"

Buffy shrugs, "Regular meditation, I guess. Do you think we should call it a night."

"What? No! I'll just do a spell to freshen everyone up."

"Willow, will that actually freshen everyone up, or just make them feel like it."

Willow smiles, "Don't worry, it will be like drinking 4 expressos."

"Then don't, you all need real sleep, not just alertness. As we're doing stuff that requires attention to detail."

As she's about to turn to the rest of the room, Tara and Giles are affected by the magic and launch into a soft duet about leaving. [AN: Under your Spell/Standing (reprise) – Except Giles doesn't feel he's contributing anything, and that Buffy has outgrown him]



As the song comes to a close, Buffy's head lolls forward in despair and exasperation and she mutters, "I asked her to talk to me first." In a louder voice she addresses the room, "Right, that's it, we're all tired, so I'm calling it a night. Anya, will you be alright getting home, or do you want to couch surf somewhere?"

Anya looks between Tara and Willow warily, "Um, I can get home."

Buffy nods, "Good, Giles, we need to talk about your concerns when we're both awake. But you are still needed here. And Willow, you're sleeping on the couch, and as soon as this situation is dealt with you need to find alternative accommodation."

Softly, Tara says, "It's ok, I can go."

Buffy shakes her head, "No, this has nothing to do with you and your relationship. This is to do with Willow."

Willow looks surprised, "Me, but I didn't do anything to you."

"You broke my trust Willow. You erased Tara's memory, how can I trust you haven't done that to Dawn or I? Would you even tell me if you did? Void, would you even remember if you did?"

"I haven't, I promise."

"Prove it."

"What? But I…"

"Precisely, this is why trust is so important. You can't prove you didn't do it, because you could have erased your own memory."

"But you can't do that. Magic doesn't work that way."

"Really? How can I trust your word on that? No Willow, I can't trust you in that way again, so I can't have you living in my house."

"But…But… I wouldn't need to be living with you to do that, not that I would, so kicking me out doesn't make any sense."

Buffy sighs, "Willow, do you really want to die that much?"

Willow shakes her head, "No, no, living is good, I like living."

"Then don't make threats like that."

"I wasn't making a threat."

"Willow, for someone that so intelligent, you are so very stupid sometimes. What you just said is a threat, you may not have meant it as one, but that's what it was."



Buffy stalks away, to the rest of the group, "Giles, sorry to ask this, but do you have space on your couch for a couple of nights?"

"I, um, that is…"

"Giles, it's alright to say no."

"Um, I'm living with a lady friend at the moment."

Buffy smiles, "Good for you, one more reason to stay. Anya?"

Anya shakes her head emphatically, "No, no. I'm not having anyone get in the way of my Xander time."

Buffy nods, "Fair enough. Ok Willow, you're still sleeping on the couch, only because I don't want you to be lunch for a vampire. Giles, do you think you could talk to her and explain what she's done wrong? As I'm worried I'll shoot her if I did it."

Giles looks distracted again, before he quickly refocuses on Buffy, "Oh, yes right. Um, yes I can talk to Willow."

Buffy nods, and hesitantly puts a hand on Giles upper arm, "Thank you, and I appreciate you doing that sort of thing. I don't really deal with threats very well, as I have my automatic responses to contend with while I am. As, to quote me, once something's deaded you can't exactly say sorry."

"Um, Buffy, I think you actually said, 'I'll say sorry after it's deaded'."

Buffy nods thoughtfully, "Yeah, that sounds more like Buffy Summers. Anyway, times a wasting."



Buffy carefully covers Dawn with her coat, before lifting both Dawn and her bag in a bridal carry. Once they get home, Buffy puts Dawn to bed before returning to the top of the stairs and sinking down into meditation.

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As she lies in bed, conscious of the void next to her where Willow would sleep, Tara stares at the dark ceiling trying to work out how she got to this point. For so long she's been Willow's girlfriend, and she's been content. As that's still better than she deserves. If it wasn't for her, her mother would still be alive.

As she turns over to face Willow, she's surprised to see the shadow of her Doppleganger lying sideways on the bed facing her, its head propped up on its hand.

"Hey Lily."

Tara screams, and falls backwards out of the bed onto the floor. Seconds later, Buffy comes through the door and flicks the light on.

"Tara, are you ok?"

Tara picks herself up off the floor, and looks over the bed, "It was there, it was right there."

"What was?"

"Me, it was lying there, facing me, and it said, 'Hey Lily'. How did it know that?"

Buffy sighs and kneels down beside Tara, "Tara, it's probably just Wally. He likes to pop in on the Tenno, just to remind us he still exists and that we owe him."

Tara starts to cry softly, "He was right, we really are demons."

Awkwardly Buffy looks for somewhere appropriate to place a hand, before settling on Tara's shoulder, "Tara, you are not a demon. Did you make a deal with him?" Tara nods and sniffs loudly, "Then you're just void touched like I am. Do you mind telling me, what deal did you make?"

Hesitantly, Tara explains what she remembers of the deal, at the end of it, she cringes in on herself. Her old insecurities dancing around in her head.

Buffy wryly shakes her head, "Yeah, he got us with that one too. The Tenno I mean. We never asked what the price was, and he didn't volunteer it. I know that I was just desperate to survive. That was what 14 cycles after I killed mum while she was trying to stab me."

Tara looks up at Buffy, a look of horror on her face, "You killed your mother, how did you cope?"

Buffy shrugs, "Badly, as soon as I had the opportunity, I changed my face. After that, well, it didn't really matter, as I was 19 when they stole my memories. Didn't even remember who I was till, oh, three, four hundred years ago. I was just BunnyGirl in chat, or Tenno in person."

"Oh goddess, that's why, Willow. That must have been traumatic, how did you cope. Remembering that is."

Buffy shrugs, "It was traumatic, and not in a useful way, so I removed the trauma, and removed the emotion from the memory. Then it was just something that happened."

Tara emotions bounce back into horror, "How could you do that to yourself?"

Buffy blinks, "Huh?"

"Mutilating your memories like that."

"Oh. No, the memory is still there, completely intact. It just doesn't produce the chemicals that cause trauma. And I removed the trigger from the… I don't know the English term for it, but it's in the base of the brain, and deals with reflex actions. However, that's distracting from what just happened to you."

Tara shakes her head, "You can't just brush that sort of thing off, humans just don't work that way."

Buffy looks up to the ceiling briefly, before looking back to Tara, "Tara, I'm not human. Well, I wasn't. I'm Orokin, and while we're born human, our implants set us above everyone, even the Dax and Corpus…"



Buffy can't help it, she takes Tara's hand and launches into a ballad about the wonders of the Orokin empire.

At the end of it, she shakes her head, "Depths of Demios, that was bad. Yeah, that was the society I grew up in. Great for the people at the top, not so great for the civilians. When I woke up, it was worse if you weren't part of the Corpus, or one of the Grineer. Even in the Corpus things weren't great unless you were at the top. The people at the bottom were slaves in all but name, constantly under threat of physical reclamation if they didn't make the payments on their debt. Then each bit of reclaimed body added a bit to their burden. They reclaim your legs, you now have to have your replacement legs maintained, which costs credits." Buffy trails off as the sees the look of horror and compassion on Taras face, "I'm sorry for upsetting you."

Tara shakes her head, "It's not that, your society sounds like a mix of fantastical and barbaric. And you lived through all of that."

Buffy puts her finger under Tara's chin, "Tara, look at me. Whatever you're imagining, it wasn't that bad. We had our monsters, but for the most part it was just life. The English term for our society is a caste system. I looked it up shortly after I was pulled back here, and India has one that looks a bit like the one I lived in before the war. Only, instead of civilians on the bottom, we instead created short lived hardy clones that had only the intelligence and sense of self needed to get the job done. After the war, they became the Grineer. After I woke up, I and my brother and sister Tenno fought to prevent the free citizens from being subsumed or eliminated by the three major factions. Inside that space, life and society thrived." Then she shrugs, "Besides, it sounds like part of you is finding out first hand what my home is like. As it sounds like I should have survived my trip through the void."



From the dresser, Buffy's voice says, "Oh, very clever you worked it out." The two of the look over to see Buffy, wearing her operator suit, jump off the chair and disappear in a white wisp of mist.



Buffy glances up at the clock, "Come on, it's five in the morning, and you need some actual sleep."

Tara looks at Buffy, "Are we just going to ignore that? And what about you? You need to sleep too."

Buffy chuckles, "Yes, we're going to ignore Wally, as there's nothing we can do about him. And I will meditate, I do have lots of practice after all. I also have my own bed, if you've forgotten."



Tara falls asleep dreaming of fantastical machines, facemasks that offer a glimpse of paradise, and a floating robot that hovers protectively around an almost invisible figure.

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The next morning, Buffy wakes up lying on her side at the top of the stairs. The cause of her consciousness ringing away merrily in her bedroom. As she stares blearily at the stairs, Buffy tries to remember when she fell asleep. Staggering to her feet, she stumbles into her bedroom and stops the bells.



She's still staring at the clock and its incessant demand that it is after 8:30 when the sound of Willow throwing the front door open to sing "Oh what a beautiful Morning" to the world, joined by all their neighbours, reaches her ears. Putting the clock back down, Buffy walks over to Dawn's room to check on her. Seeing that she's still asleep, she listens at the door to Willow and Tara's room, and nods at the sound of deep, even, breaths.



While she's brushing her teeth, Willow makes her way upstairs, having finished her song. As she's waiting for the bathroom, Willow stands nervously in the doorway.

"Buffy, I'm sorry..."

Buffy turns to her and holds up her hand. A few seconds later she spits out the toothpaste and rinses off the brush, "Willow, don't. I'm not the one you need to apologise to. And it doesn't change my decision."

"But my parents hate the fact I'm Wiccan, that's why we roomed together last year, remember?"

Buffy shakes her head, "Actually, no. I remember we roomed together after something to do with a demon. But I don't remember why you were staying there. Or why I was staying there considering how close the house is."

"But, what am I going to do?"

Buffy sighs, "Maybe you should have thought of that before doing what you did to Tara. Someone, I note, who you claim to love."

"Buffy! I do love her."

Buffy walks out of the bathroom, and then turns around, "Willow, why do people say you shouldn't use too much magic? No, not what do you think, what do others think?"

"They say that it pulls you in, but they're wrong."

Buffy nods, "Fair enough. Just as a thought, there's a flyer in the library for something called a 12 step program. I think someone said it was addicts anonymous or something like that. Anyway, you should probably attend a few meetings, just so you know what to look for if it does start becoming a problem."

"Buffy, I'm not addicted."

"I didn't say you were."

Buffy goes and changes her clothes before heading downstairs to cook one of the few foods she's got a handle on making, chocolate pancakes with strawberries and cream. One of Dawn's favourite breakfasts. At the same time she puts on a pot of coffee for everyone.



She's still mixing the batter when Dawn makes her way downstairs, rubbing her eyes, followed by Tara.

Dawn yawns, "Buffy, what did you say to Willow? As she's crying in the bathroom."

"Hmm, she tried to apologise to me, and I told her to apologise to Tara. Also it wouldn't change my decision. Um, I also suggested that she sit in on an addicts meeting so that she learn the signs, just in case her magic use becomes a problem."



Tara looks back at the door to the stairs wistfully, "I still love her, even with that. But I can't be with someone that would do that."

Dawn looks between the two of them, "Um, what did Willow do?"

Buffy tips her head to one side, "Tara, you're the victim, it's your choice. Void damn it, that's the second time this week." Buffy carefully puts the bowl on the counter, and starts fishing out the bits of metal that make up the whisk she was using.

For a minute, the only sounds in the kitchen are the drips from Buffy cleaning off the batter into the bowl. Then Tara grabs a chair and sits down heavily, "Willow made me forget some stuff with magic."

Dawn scrunches her eyebrows together, "That doesn't sound too bad. There's some things I'd rather forget, like Justin, or walking in on Xander and Anya in the basement."

Buffy puts a skillet on to heat before grabbing the strawberries and sits at the kitchen table, "Dawn, what about the memories of meeting me on the tower? Or how about our morning sessions? Or going to get ice cream together?"

"I'd tell her to give them back."

"How would you know they were missing? How do you know she hasn't done it too you already? Would you still be you if you'd lived 30 years without them, and then they were returned?"

"I don't know, I'd ask her I guess."

Tara reaches out to hold Dawns hand, "Dawn, how would you know if she was telling the truth?"

Dawn says, "I ah," and then stops.

Buffy finishes slicing the strawberries, and starts to ladle batter onto the skillet, "It's the paradox of proof. Albrecht Entrati proved that even this paradox has a solution, though in an unrelated science to that of the brain. We used to have a punishment, whereby we would erase the memory of the guilty and give them new memories, thus making them a productive member of society. A several thousand years before I was born, a judge wondered how he could prove that it hadn't been done to him. It took 500 years and many failed experiments for a resolution to the paradox to be found, though not a solution. They developed a new implant that would record an engram of every memory, and prevent them from being erased by replaying them immediately after it detected their removal."



Buffy puts a plate of pancakes down in front of Dawn before turning back to the skillet. Dawn and Tara sit in silence while first Dawn, and then Tara, eat. When Buffy finally sits down with her own pancakes, Dawn asks, "How did Albre… that scientist solve the paradox?"

Buffy chews thoughtfully, "Albrecht was the scientist that first posited, and then proved that the void exists. A proof that was stolen from him, as his peers stole his work and refused to credit him until well after his death. Shortly before his death he wrote out a proof that the untime and unreality nature of the void could be used to follow your personal time back to the point that you were born. It took another, less scrupulous scientist to put the proof into practice. He was successful, even though his subject died before they reached their childhood."

Horrified, Dawn looks at Buffy, "How could they do that to a person?"

Buffy shrugs, "They were a criminal, so they were going to be put to death anyway."



Tara looks at Buffy in shock and surprise, as she starts to really understand that Buffy comes from a completely alien culture, "Buffy, are you even Buffy, or did we pull back an alien."

Buffy nods, as she eats, "I was waiting for someone to ask that. So far as I know, I am the same Buffy you knew before. I even got her memories back the night you pulled me here. Though, it felt like they were just been shoved in there, and they've mostly faded since then." She points her fork at Tara, "Your deal with Wally confirmed it for me. As I bet he'd have taken me back if I didn't belong here. Buffy Summers diary has helped lots, as it brings back flashes of her life when I read it." She sighs, "But just like I'm not really my mother's daughter, Veldé rather than Joyce, because of the centuries of memories, and the personality I developed, between having my memories stolen, and getting them back. It's why I treasure them so much, as they're a glimpse of what could have been."

Insightfully, Tara softly asks, "How are you coping without your implants to manage the memories you've made since your resurrection?"

Buffy looks away, "I think you should kick Willow out of the bathroom so that you can both get ready for a scintillating day of research."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

As they're walking to Magic Box the four of them pass a news stand, and Buffy stops for a moment to read a headline.

Man found dead in West Road cemetery, signs of ritualistic killing.​

"Hmm, I forgot to go patrolling last night, what with all the research we were doing."

Dawn and Tara share a glance as Willow nearly shouts, "What? Someone died in the graveyard, and your response is 'I forgot'?" at Buffy.

Buffy shrugs, "Pretty much, yeah."

"What about your Slayer duty?"

"Willow, despite everything, I am just one person. I can't be everywhere. So sometimes people die, and the world moves on."

As Buffy walks away, Willow moans, "When did you become so callous?"

Rather than respond, Buffy just continues the dozen yards to Magic Box. Once inside Buffy makes her way over to the table, where Giles has already started reading, and then looks around curiously, "Um, where are the pallet tables?"

Anya looks up from the till as she's taking out change for a customer, "Oh, I moved them into the back room as they were disrupting the look of the shop, and I didn't want them driving away customers."



Buffy nods before making her way into the back room, once there she takes one look at the books before turning around, "Anya, what happened to all the nice, neat, piles we had?"

Anya shrugs, "I was in a hurry, as I overslept."

Buffy sighs, "Tell me you at least saved my list."

Anya nods, "Yep, I slipped it in one of the books so it wouldn't get lost."

Buffy rubs her temples and Giles gives her a sympathetic look. Returning the look, Buffy asks, "Giles, would you be able to help me resort the piles so the girls can start researching while we finish sorting out everything again?"



Sorting out all the books, and finding Buffy's list takes until lunchtime.

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While they're sorting books, Giles glances at Buffy, "Buffy, I've seen how you've grown over the last few months."

Buffy shakes her head, "I haven't really, I've just learnt more about this world, and this life."

"Regardless, I've seen you fight. I've watched you teaching Dawn, and last night I watched you take the moral route rather than the emotional route."

Buffy looks up, "This is about you returning to England isn't it."

Giles nods gravely, "It is. Buffy, you have outgrown me, and so I need to give you space to truly spread your wings."

Buffy frowns, "I don't have wings, and I never used any of those cosmetic items, as they cause problems with peripheral vision. Though some of my fellow Tenno did use them."

Giles sighs, "It's an expression Buffy. It's supposed to bring to mind birds flying free. Anyway, I feel the only way to do that, is to return to England."

"Giles, it's not just about me. You're Dawn's godfather."

"It's just, Olivia was only here about a job in… I am? I did not know that."

Buffy nods in understanding, "Look, Giles, if this is really about your relationship with Olivia, then go to England and see where it takes you. And don't behave as though you're James Bond, who's lovers are doomed to die."

"Buffy, how is it you remember James Bond, but you don't remember things that actually happened?"

Buffy smirks, "Buffy Summers used to fantasise that you used to be James Bond, and your replacement would come and sweep her off her feet one day."

"I don't believe I wanted to know that. Anyway…"

"Look Giles, don't pretend we don't need you. We do still need you, as you are the most knowledgeable person I know in the occult. It doesn't matter that I've got an education from a civilisation literally millennia ahead of this one. It doesn't matter that Tara and Willow are magically better than you. It also doesn't matter that Anya used to be a demon. You have years of practical and-and learnt experiences that we cannot match. Could any of the rest of us have sorted these books like this? Make whatever decision you want to make. But don't lie to yourself while you're doing it. Could we do without you? Probably. Would it get people killed? Also probably. Yes, at some point, you should step back and allow us to move forward. Maybe that time is now, maybe it isn't. But we are your apprentices, do you really think we know enough to be journeymen."



Buffy goes back to checking the books Giles has already sorted, for her list, while occasionally one of the others comes in for a new book and deposits one in either the "definitely not" or "Probably not" piles.

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It's around 3pm when Xander shows up from work early.



Xander flops down onto one of the chairs, "Hey, everyone, did you find the demon that you called Anya in about last night?"

Dawn looks up from the page she's struggling through, "Does it look like we've found it?"

"Oh, hey Dawn, don't you have some homework or something you should be doing?"

"Buffy, my sister, asked me to help with research."

Buffy glances up from her own book, "I did. And that's a statement, not a question."

"Oh, what are we researching?"

Giles looks up, "The Lord of the Dance."

Xander shifts slightly uncomfortably, "Why?"



Willow looks up from her book, "Because it's making everyone sing and dance."

Xander's eyebrows arch, "Is that such a bad thing? I mean, yeah I sent everyone home early today, and told them not to come in tomorrow. But that's because the dancing was quite frankly disgusting and embarrassing." Dawn snorts with laughter, "What's so funny?"

Dawn snorts again, "Today's Saturday."

"Yeah, and?"

Dawn sniggers, "Tomorrow's Sunday. You told them not to come in on their day off."

Buffy chuckles a little more discreetly. Xander isn't quite so impressed, "So, we have a little smarty pants here. Have you found anything useful?"

Dawn looks at Xander, "Pied piper of Hamlyn. Most versions agree that the village hired him for a task. Though what happened when the villagers renegaded changes, in most versions he returns and leads the children away, never to be seen again. In some, he plays and makes the village dance and dance until they die."

Giles looks up in surprise, "Where did you find that, and why didn't you mention it?"

Dawn points at the shelves where they keep the books for sale, "A book on fairy tales over there while Buffy was dead. And I didn't mention it because I don't think it's related to a Lord of the Dance."



Buffy gets up and quietly adds Pied piper of Hamlyn to the whiteboard.



Giles takes off his glasses and pinches his nose while he things, "Dawn is quite right, it is a good cautionary tale, but unless we find the original German version referenced in one of these books, we won't know if it's related or not."

Buffy hums, "Giles, would it be an idea for someone to make a list of the fairy tales that include dancing. That way if someone comes across one, they can take a closer look."

"Well, it certainly couldn't hurt."

Buffy smiles sweetly at Xander, "Xander, that's your job. And don't break the spines, otherwise Anya will make you pay for them."

Xander looks at Anya, who's looked up from her book keeping at the mention of her name, "Buffy, that's not fair."

"Xander, it needs to be done, and everyone else already has their own tasks."

Xander pouts, "When did you become the research queen, I thought that was supposed to be Willow."

"When I died, now get over there unless you want me to punt you."



Xander sulks as he goes to collect a book on fairy tales, then sulks even harder when he realises that it's not illustrated.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Episode 6 – part 3

By mid-afternoon, Dawn is starting to fidget and look around the shop more than the book she's been reading. Everyone around her seems to be so busy, and she knows this is important, she really does, but…



Buffy looks up from the book she's currently double checking when she hears someone fidgeting around. When she spots Dawn looking around, her gaze lingering on different points around the store, Buffy slips a piece of paper into the book as a marker. Standing up, she makes her way around to Dawn.

"Dawn, are you ok?"

Dawn looks back at her book, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

Buffy hums sceptically, "Come on Dawn, we're going to the park for our morning session."

Dawn looks up, "But, Buffy, this is important."

Buffy nods, "It is, and so is your health. You're not used to the long hours of physical inactivity combined with maintaining mental focus. That's ok, neither is Xander, which is why he keeps getting up to flirt with Anya."

At the table, Xander objects, "Hey, I'm doing super serious research here." Holding up a book of illustrated fairy tales.

Buffy nods, "Yes you are. That's why you've put down the book on fairy tales and their variations, face down, and cracking the spine in the process. And picked up an illustrated guide to fairy tales instead."

"Oi! I needed to give my brain a rest."

Anya walks around from the counter and looks at the face down book, "Xander, fiancé or not, you are paying for that. I can't believe you treated my stock so badly."

"But, Anya, honey, I needed to keep my place."



As Xander and Anya get into a good natured argument about the book, Buffy just leans down to Dawns ear and softly says, "See." Standing up, she speaks loudly enough to be heard, "I'm just taking Dawn to the park to burn off some energy. Does anyone want to come?"



There's no answer for a moment as everyone else looks around the room. Tara, however, looks at Willow. Who at some point during the day, sat next to her. Just as Buffy and Dawn are leaving the store, she makes a painful decision, and marks her place in the book. She then hurries after Buffy and Dawn.



Nearly an hour later, Willow cheers, "I've found something. There's a story about a Demon teaching Nero to dance, and giving him an instrument.

Giles looks up, "Oh, very good. Does it give the name of the demon, or how it was summoned?"

Willow shakes her head, "No, it references another 'fanciful tale' that claims half of Nero's court danced themselves to death."

"Well, let Buffy know, she's been managing everything… Where is Buffy?"

Anya calls over from the counter, "Oh, she took Dawn to the park, and Tara went with them."

Willow looks absolutely devastated by the news, "I can't believe it. She can't be the same Buffy we knew before."

Giles looks up at her, "Willow, you can't expect her to be the same Buffy you knew. She spent a long time on the other side, and she experienced many things. Many of them bad. People grow and change, and Buffy has too."

"But it's not fair, I just made things better, and she's making it like this big thing."

Giles sighs, "Willow, you need to be careful about thoughts like that. As they are often the start of something bad. Why don't you ask yourself, 'Better for who', and that may help you discover why Buffy is having such a strong reaction."

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Dawn, Buffy, and Tara, are all walking through the park, looking for somewhere that isn't too crowded, and doesn't have 'keep off the grass' signs. Off to one side is the glittering of a lake, with people enjoying the sunshine, or doing their yoga by the water. Nearby is a group of children playing with a mix of traditional and electronic toys.



Finding a space between a few trees, Buffy and Dawn put their bags down before kneeling down facing each other. Tara looks around for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Um. Do you mind if; Would it be ok if I; I-I can go away if you'd prefer."

Buffy looks up at her, "Tara, you can join us if you want. We always meditate before we start our practice."

"Is it ok if I sit, only I don't think I could kneel like that for very long."

Buffy nods, "Go ahead. I'm teaching Dawn the Tenno way, the way of a protector. You don't feel like someone that could live that sort of life without losing who you are."

As Tara settles down into the familiar cross-legged position, she asks, "What about Dawn?"

Buffy looks wistfully at Dawn, "Some people don't get a choice about whether they live a life of peace or not. That has been my destiny twice. Dawn has already been targeted both because of who she is, and also because of who I am. So I'm teaching her to kill in the hope she will never need it. Founders know, I hope that she will live to grow old and innocent, but I can live with just old. She's already had some of that innocence knocked off during Halloween."

Dawn nods without opening her eyes, "That was bad, I couldn't sleep that night, and I had nightmares the night before last."

Tara shakes her head, "I'm sorry I didn't notice."

Dawn shrugs, "It's ok, Buffy let me sleep with her on Halloween, and we talk about stuff as sisters during this time, and Buffy leaves mom mode in the house."



A few minutes after the three of them have started meditating, the children they passed earlier come running past carrying planes. The first child is making 'Ewwww, foosh, dakka dakka' noises, but the second child's plane has a speaker in it. When they press the button on the side of their plane, the tinny sound of a turbine spinning up, followed by machine gun like sounds, plays out of the tiny speaker.

Buffy's eyes snap open and she dives into a roll, pulling Dawn with her. Coming up into a crouch, she starts to scan the skies with her left hand pointed at the horizon.



As she's crouching there, she starts to sing about always needing to be vigilant, as an attack can come from anywhere, and how the life of a Tenno is a solitary one. Meanwhile Tara provides a heart rending counterpart about everyone needing a place to rest without fear, and how she feels violated. Dawn does an admirable job of providing main backing vocals, and leading the dancers.



At the conclusion of the song, Buffy is surprised when Tara hesitantly pulls her into a hug. Even more so when Dawn joins in.



Tara looks up at Buffy, "Buffy, when was the last time you let your guard down completely?" When Buffy looks around, she adds, "Please don't dodge the question this time."

"On the orbiter while waiting for word on the Lotus' location."

Dawn translates, "She hasn't, not since she got here."



Tara shakes her head, "Buffy, you need to relax, to find somewhere or something where you feel safe and don't need to be on guard. You said you don't have your implants. That means that you're human, not what you were before. As a witch we teach that care for others first comes from care of the self. I-I know I have value my-myself, even if I-I am a demon."

Dawn nods, though a little confused, "Exactly, I think you would like the Vazarin Way as it's all about defence, and Buffy can make people heal really well."

Seeing an out, Buffy reaches up to ruffle Dawn's hair, "That's a fighting style, it's for people who are willing to kill in defence of others. By the way Tara just flinched at the word kill, I don't think she'd be able to focus on it. On the other hand Tara, you have a lot of experience with magic. Maybe you could use that experience to use void energy for things other than killing."

Tara confidently continues, "Buffy, I also know a lot about healing from trauma. How much do you remember about my past?"

Buffy shakes her head sadly, "Not a lot, Buffy Summers saw you more as Willow's friend, by the time that changed, anything to do with your past was already resolved in her mind."

Dawn disengages, and starts to go through the motions of the Vazarin Way, while Tara steps back to give Buffy a bit of space, "You do that a lot, don't you. Refer to Buffy Summers rather than yourself."

Buffy shakes her head, "Only for things that happened before my current life. I know we share the same Oro, otherwise I wouldn't be here. But I'm no more her than you are your six year old self. I choose to take the name Buffy, as it's the one Veldé gave me, the one that was stolen from me when I became a Tenno. But Buffy Summers, she was a life I lived, and died in. She was supposed to be a closed chapter of my life. Yet, to continue the metaphor, here I am, back in the same book again. Yet, it is a different author telling the story this time."

"You should join Dawn. But before you do, will you let me try to help you heal inside, and find a place you can relax?"

Buffy nods reluctantly, "I can't make any promises, but I'll try. You should also try to learn how to use void energy before it becomes a problem you can't avoid anymore." Buffy looks at her hands sadly, "A lot of what the Orokin did to us was in the name of controlling our powers. We were even seeing some results before they stole our memories. After that, the only thing that worked was transference, even after I got my memories back, I don't have complete control, and the void sometimes lashes out from me while I sleep."

Tara nods, "I will, when I can."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

When the three of them arrive with a stack of Pizza, to refrain of "They got the mustard out". Buffy takes note that Willow and Giles are still researching, even though Xander is kanoodling with Anya behind the counter.



Buffy strides over to them, "Willow, Giles, time to take a break. By take a break, I mean go outside and get some fresh air, maybe buy yourself a coffee, and relax."

Willow looks up from the book she's researching, "Buffy, we found something."

Buffy nods, "Well done, did you add it to the white board, and put the book to one side?"

Willow looks at the book in the centre of the table, "Um, isn't that your job?"

Buffy sighs, "I'll deal with it while you're both out on your break, and don't come back for at least an hour. Before you go Giles, what section of the books is for Roman history?"



Giles looks up, "Mmm, the books aren't organised like that. You should probably look at anything with a Latin or Greek title and check inside them."

Buffy nods, "Apart from you, who would be best at evaluating them quickly. Unless you can think of any particular books that stand out, of course."

Giles shakes his head, "There is very little that survives from that era, so anything you do find will be transcribed works, likely by Monks in the 7th to 10th centuries. Any original documents would be kept by the Watchers Council in England."

Buffy sighs, "And there's a point for moving back to England. Willow, sometime in the next few days, I want you to teach our technophobic mentor how to download and use ICQ."

Willow squeaks, "You know what ICQ is?"

"Well, yes. I even have an ICQ number. Well, off you both go, I'll mark your pages while you're gone. Tara, can you start looking for relevant books up there? I'll put these Pizzas on the weapons chest, and then set up a new pallet table."



It takes a bit more chivvying, but Willow and Giles eventually leave the shop. Once they have, Xander looks at Buffy, "Scary lady, can I talk now?" Buffy just gives him a look, so he quickly continues, "Why didn't you tell me to have a break?"

Buffy's shoulders sag and her head tilts to one side, "Really? Xander, you're already having a break. You didn't need me to tell you to do so."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

While Buffy's dealing with the pizzas, Tara notices Dawn looking longingly at a pendant necklace that's on the counter.

"Dawn, what are you looking at?"

Dawn jumps, "Nothing."

Tara smiles, "Was it that necklace?"

Dawn turns and stares at Tara, "How did you know, apart from Buffy, nobody's ever noticed before."

Tara smile turns sad, "I guess that when there's something more interesting to look at, I don't pay as much attention as I should."

Dawn turns back to it, "Well, I wasn't going to take it or anything, as I don't want to disappoint Buffy."

Tara pats her on the shoulder, "That's very mature of you. Why don't you show it to Anya and ask her about it. Maybe you can work it off an hour a day after school."

Dawn stands stock still for a moment, before turning back, "What? I can…" She trails off when she notices that Tara is already climbing the stairs to the library.



Shortly after the store closes, Dawn hesitantly grabs the necklace and returns to the table.

"Anya, erm, I spotted this on the counter last night. And it was, erm, still there today. Do you think I could have it? I'm-willing-to-pay."

Xander shuffles uncomfortably in his seat, and looks back down at his book.

Anya takes the necklace, "Hmm, I think this is one of our mystical items. Giles, do you recognise this?"

Giles looks up from his book, "Huh? Oh, yes. It was part of the stock when I bought the shop. It had some information with it, but I never put it on sale as it was something to do with demon summoning. I never did get around to doing more research on it."

Buffy looks at it in interest, "Would it be dangerous to Dawn as it stands?"

"I shouldn't think so, not without the incantation or instructions. It should be immediately obvious if wearing it will cause problems."

Buffy nods, "Give it here."

"Buffy, you shouldn't. It could kill you."

Buffy gently takes it from Giles, "Giles, I'm the slayer, it's my job to take those sorts of risks."



Buffy puts the necklace on, and then sits there for a while. When nothing happens, she turns back to Anya, "How much do you think this would cost?"

Anya looks at it critically, "If it wasn't mystical, then it would be around $80 retail. However, as it's a mystical item, add another… uniqueness… I'd be putting a $500 price tag on it, but I'll let you have it for half the markup, $400."

Buffy nods, "If Dawn still wants it, will you accept a $20 deposit, and you can work out with Dawn how she can pay for it?"

Anya looks around the store, thoughtfully, "Three weeks, Friday after school, and Saturday all day."

Dawn looks surprised when everyone looks at her, so Buffy says, "Dawnie, this is where you accept, make another offer, or decline. You're being treated like an adult here."

"Um, could I just do it after school for a week?"

Anya pounces, "Two Saturdays and everyday of that week after school."

Dawn tries to think about it in her head, but gives up, "Um, sure."

Buffy shakes her head, and decides to take pity on Dawn, "Anya, be fair, she's never done this before. How about two half Saturdays, the first afternoon, and the last in the morning."

Anya pouts, "But I was going to get an extra half days work out of it."

"And now Dawn knows, and won't feel cheated when she works it out later."

"Ok, fine."

Xander pipes up, "Um, don't you think it's a little irresponsible letting Dawn have an unknown mystical item?"

Five pairs of female eyes look at him, and he buries his head back in the book.



Buffy takes the necklace off, and hands it back to Anya with $20, "Do you think you could find the original packaging?"

Anya shakes her head, "I don't know, maybe. I've got bins of necklaces down there, and they come in all sorts of packages. I can have a look while I'm getting a presentation box. But it could take me a few days to find."



Xander's eyes dart around, and he grimaces silently.

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Sunday goes much like Saturday as the gang meet up at Magic Box for another day of looking for information on the Lord of the Dance. That is until lunchtime.



Dawn marks and closes her book, as her leg starts bouncing up and down for the third time. Standing up, she grabs her coat, and what's left of the $10 that Buffy gave her as pocket money.



As Buffy looks up, Dawn catches her eye and lifts up her phone, "I'm feeling a little fidgety, and, well, yesterday you took me to the park. But, um, the news was saying that some people have burned to death overnight. So, I was just going to grab a muffing from Expresso Pump, and go to the arcade for a bit."

Buffy nods, "If you're not back in an hour I'll give you a call."

Xander looks up, "Don't you think someone should go with her?"

Buffy looks Xander in the eye, "Xander, you're an adult. If you want to go to the arcade you can go. You don't need to suggest that Dawn can't look after herself on the other side of the court."

Xander shakes his head, "No, no, researching is important. See, doing important research here."

Buffy looks at him suspiciously, before turning back to her research.



An hour later, Buffy looks up again, "Anya, could I use your phone?" Anya waves her hand, so Buffy calls Dawn's mobile, twice. Each time it rings 5 times before going to voicemail.

"Guys, Dawn's not answering, I'm just heading to the arcade."

When she gets virtually no answer, even from Xander, Buffy frowns, and claps, loudly.

Everyone jumps, "Good, I've got your attention. I know it's been a long two days, but you can't let yourselves get so focused you don't notice the stuff around you. Now, Dawn didn't answer her phone, so I'm heading to the arcade to look for her. If she calls, let her know that I'm going there, and to stay put."



Muttering imprecations, she stalks out of the store and looks around the court. Seeing that the coffee shop has closed already, she makes her way over to the arcade. It takes her half an hour, but someone finally mentions that they saw three people with weird heads taking someone down an alleyway. Seething with anger, she stalks her way back to Magic Box with sparks of void energy jumping from her hair, and her eyes glowing like stars.



Pushing the door open a little harder than she intended, it bounces off the wall with a loud clatter.

Giles looks up, "Buffy, is everything…"

Buffy grinds out, "We're out of time. Dawn's been kidnapped. I'm going to track down some demons to see if they know where the demon is lairing, I need you guys to turn up something, anything."



Before anyone can say anything else, Buffy's stalked into the weapons room, and doesn't come out again. Tara looks around before quickly grabbing her bag and hurrying into the room, "Buffy!"

Buffy turns around from the back wall, a bow with arrows slung over her back, and a large sword in a harness facing the other way.

"Take my phone."

Buffy's eyes dim slightly, "I didn't know you had a cell phone."

Tara looks at the floor, "Until last week, I was the only one. So, I didn't want to show it off. I bought it when I started at UC."

"Thank you."

Buffy tucks the phone into a pocket, and void jumps through the wall.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Dawn suddenly wakes up on a snooker table, and is immediately caught by the demons magic as ballet music starts playing in the background. Helplessly, Dawn goes through a choreographed routine where she pretends to try to escape, before been thrown at the feet of pair of red pants, and black and white shoes. As she looks up, as if it's another part of the act, the red skinned demon starts to dance. [An: 'Dawn's Ballet' followed by 'What you feel' from Season 6: Episode 7]



As she utters the words, "My sister's the slayer." Dawn feels the magic holding her break for a moment. Desperately, she reaches for her dagger, only to panic when she finds it isn't there. Desperately, she lunges for the demon using one of the moves Buffy's been teaching her, freezing in mid step as he contemptuously flicks his finger in her direction.

"Oh, a feisty one. They are always so much fun. You will make an excellent bride."

Dawn shakes her head minutely, "B…But I didn't summon you."

The demon looks at the ones that kidnapped her, "Find the Slayer, tell her. Tell her everything, and get her here. I want to see her burn."



As the three underlings leave, the demon turns back to Dawn, "Now, don't be shy. You're wearing my talisman, of course you summoned me."

Dawn shakes her head again, "No, Buffy wore it before me. Besides, you were already here when I saw it."

"How interesting. Well, either way, I will have my bride, as that's what I was promised."



Dawn despairs as her body walks to a chair on the stage and sits down gracefully. The demon sitting in another chair next to her.

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It's full dark and the scooby gang are frantically looking through the books, trying to find something to help. This buzz of activity is violently interrupted when Spike kicks the front door open.



Spike struggles through the front door, dragging what appears to be a human man with a big, red, wooden looking head. Once the five of them have got up to see what's going on, Spike grabs it by the back of the neck, "Lookie what I found crawling around outside. Go on, tell them what you told me."



With dawning horror everyone in the shop listens as it lists everything that's happened since it's master, Sweet, was summoned, before finally telling them that he has Dawn at the Bronze. As soon as she hears that, Tara freezes for a second, before she runs to the phone and hurriedly dials her own cell phone number.



Her heart breaks at Buffy's tone when she answers the phone, "Buffy, she's at the Bronze." Is all she's able to get out as the others start to sing, and she gets caught up in the song. [AN: Walk through the fire, without Buffy].

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As she hears those fatal words, Buffy snaps Tara's phone closed and void jumps out of Willy's. Leaving a very confused demon and the few clients that hadn't run as soon as Buffy walked through the door.



Buffy runs as fast as she can towards the Bronze, void jumping whenever her reserves have refilled enough to allow her to do so. The world around her seems to pass in a blur, as her determination to see Dawn safe pushes her onward. Reaching the door to the Bronze, she doesn't even slow down as it explodes inwards in a shower of shards and splinters. As soon as the demon comes into view, standing on the stage and singing, she raises her left hand and fires a void beam through it's head.



Abruptly the beam stops, and Buffy struts forward to the dance floor. As she does, the demons head seems to pull itself together, from the air around it, "I love a good entrance. However it is traditional to allow the previous act to finish first."

Buffy strains against the magic, and grinds out, "How are you with death scenes, as you made a big mistake when you kidnapped my sister."

The demon just chuckles, so Buffy asks, "You got a name?"

Sitting down in the chair beside Dawn, he smiles, "I've got 100."

"Well, I can't just keep calling you demon."

Dawn leans forward as much as she's allowed, "Buffy, he thinks he's going to marry one of us."

Buffy shakes her head, "Don't worry Dawn, that's not going to happen."

The demon leans forward, "And what exactly are you going to do about it, hmm?"

"Kill you if necessary. I only have three rules for living in this town, don't kill, eat, or hurt civilians, and you've already broken two of those rules."

The demon leans backwards, "Well, lets see how well you dance, shall we?"



The barely audible background music that was suggesting the pause before a performance begins flares to life with the sound of alien instruments, and Buffy's voice soars into the air as she sings in her native Orokin about life, loss, despair, and grim acceptance, along with a duty so deep it could outlast the stars themselves. Then she sings about being pulled away and discovering her sister. During her dance, Buffy shucks off her coat, and her weapons, to reveal a shimmery red top.



Throughout her song and dance, the demon looks confused, but impressed. He grows even more impressed once she passes the 5 minute mark. However, Buffy eventually runs out of things to sing about, and the final parts of the demons magic take effect as she begins to dance uncontrollably.



Giles is the first one through the door to the bronze, and he skids to a halt as Buffy turns towards him, flames already licking up her arms and legs. As the others pile in, Buffy smiles one last time before her body crumbles to less than ash.

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In the graveyard she was buried in, Buffy appears in the air as she void jumps out of her coffin. Landing on the ground, she runs for the Bronze.

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Back in the Bronze, the demon chuckles, "Now that was a show-stopping number. The fireworks at the end were fantastic."



Willows face travels from the pile of ash to the demon, and hardens, "Get out of here."

The demon looks up at her in interest, "Hmm, I spell power. I guess the little missus and I should be on our way."

Giles takes a firm stance, "Sweet, that's never going to happen."

Sweet chuckles, "I don't make the rules. She summoned me."

Dawn leans forward, "I so did not, I keep telling you that."

Sweet leans over Dawn, "You have my talisman on, sweet thing."

Dawn shakes her head, "I told you, I bought it last night, and you were already here then."

Sweet feathers his chin with his fingers, "Well now, that's a twis…" Whatever he was going to say is cut off as Buffy appears in front of him just long enough to grab his lapels and disappear with him.



With a sense of horror, Giles starts to turn around, "If that's his talisman, then one of us probably…"

As Giles looks around the assembled people, Xander slowly puts his hand up.

Anya exclaims, "Xander!"

Xander shakes his head, "Well, I didn't know what was gonna happen, I just thought there gonna be dances and songs. I just wanted to make sure we'd-we'd work out. Get a happy ending, ya know."



On the stage, Buffy reappears staring daggers at Xander. Absently she looks back at Sweet, who looks like he's taken a beating, "Sorry about that, looks like you're off the hook."

Sweet tugs his lapel with his remaining arm, "Yes, well, I think everything worked out just fine."

Xander raises a finger, "Does this mean that I have to…"

Buffy firmly says, "No Xander, it doesn't." As Sweet tries to disappear, Buffy holds a finger up and points at him, "You, don't go anyway unless you want to experience unreality and untime again."



Buffy stalks down the stairs towards Xander, "Xander, you are the worst sort of monster there is."

Giles steps in front of Xander, "Now Buffy, it was an honest mistake."

Buffy gently, but firmly pushes Giles out the way, "Originally, yes. A mistake that could have easily been forgiven. Xander became a murderer when he didn't own up to what he'd done yesterday. We told you what we were researching and why."

Xander backs up, until his back hits the wall, "But, Buffy, it wasn't hurting anyone."

"Xander, you are not that stupid. We don't research harmless demons, as they're all civilians. They some of the people we're here to protect. But that isn't the end of it, last night, Dawn showed Anya that necklace, and asked her about it. She then asked Giles, and I wore it for an hour." She pokes him in the chest, "At any point you could have fessed up, and you'd only have one or two deaths on your conscience. But no. You have to stay silent, and kidnap Dawn."

Willow calls out, "But that wasn't Xander."

Buffy briefly looks back towards the stage as a fully healed Sweet is starting to move, "I haven't forgotten about you. Don't go anywhere, we are coming back to you in a moment." Turning to Willow, Buffy looks disappointed, "Willow, you never blame the weapon, you always blame the person who fired it. Sweet was summoned, and followed his nature according to the agreement made in the summoning. That's right isn't it?"

Sweet nods as he finishes healing, now sure he could escape, "Singing and dancing in return for a bride."

"Willow, Xander had every opportunity to help, but it was only here that he owned up to it. When it was far, far too late to do anything."

Buffy's hand lashes out too fast to see, and she gathers Xander's coat in her fist before pulling him off balance. Then she drags him up onto the stage with Sweet.

"Sweet wasn't it? Your agreement included a bride. I would imagine that jello for brains here was thinking about his fiancé Anya when he summoned you. In light of his long friendship with Buffy Summers, and the fact that Anya used to be a Vengeance Demon, I think you should take him and turn him into a demon."

Giles calls up from the floor, "Buffy, you can't. He's a human, you're supposed to protect humans. What you're proposing is evil, utterly evil."

Buffy turns back to Giles sadly, "Giles, if you really think that, then you are far too innocent and bigoted. This is not evil, this is justice. Or do you believe that Anya is evil?"

"No, of course not, she's mortal."

Buffy shakes her head, "Giles, Anya is still evil. Look at her motivations. But it's a small evil, and it doesn't really hurt other people as she's still a nice person. Alad V is Evil, he takes the people who work for him, or those who owe him debts, or even just those who happen to cross his path, and use uses them in his experiments. Fusing them with machines, animals, the infestation, or even sentients. The Grineer Queens are Evil, they control an entire race of clones as slaves. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of humans on this world that are worse than most demons you'll ever meet. I have seen, and been used as a weapon in, atrocities that you couldn't possibly imagine. If I was holding Xander to the same standards I hold demons, he'd already be dead. Instead, he is being given Justice, and Anya is getting a partner who will live as long as she will. Assuming she still thinks he's worth marrying that is."



Buffy shoves Xander at Sweet, who takes the hint and disappears with him.



As Xander disappears, Willow steps forward, "Buffy, how could you."

Buffy looks down, "Willow, you need to look up the word hypocrite."



As the bodies of Sweet's minions start to disappear, Buffy spots Spike leaving through the back door as music starts to swell. Void jumping to the exit, she slips outside as everyone else starts to sing.

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Spike turns around when he hears the crunch of a boot on wood splinters, "Buffy, shouldn't you be inside having a Kumbaya-yah with your friends?"

Buffy shakes her head, "You know me better than that. I came out to thank you for coming with the others. I appreciate the support. I haven't rescinded your invitation for a reason you know."

"Yeah well, next time you need a monster, come find me."

Buffy turns around and starts to walk back in. Over her shoulder she calls, "Even monsters can be redeemed Spike, remember that. I should know, after all."



Spike turns away as Buffy's voice joins the others inside, "I don't need them, I've never needed any of them."