Persons in Mirror... Chapter 4

[maryperk73703]

the plot thickens

Chapter 4

"I'm staying too," Spike's voice rang out like a bell. He gave Buffy a soft smile. "Till the end of the world, pet."

"Even if it's tonight." Buffy returned his smile as she squeezed his hand.

"Especially if it's tonight," Spike squeezed Buffy's hand in return.

"Count me in," Oz replied.

"You're the Slayer!" Angel protested. "You can't stay here."

"Tell me who I should sacrifice in my place then, Angel?" Buffy glared at the dark-haired vampire. They really had grown too far apart, she realized sadly. She promised herself she would apologize to Spike for throwing Angel in his face at every turn. He certainly didn't deserve that kind of treatment.

"Don't think of it as a sacrifice," Angel muttered with a roll of his eyes. He really didn't understand Buffy's problem. As the leaders of their individual groups, it was always up to them to make the hard decisions. "Think of it as a strategic move. I mean, it's not like <I>Spike</I> is worth saving."

"You don't know anything," Buffy growled. She squeezed Spike's hand in reassurance. She was sorry she ever lorded Angel's soul over Spike. It was quite obvious that Spike considered her wishes above his own. "God, what are your issues, Peaches?" Buffy had asked Spike once what the nickname meant, but all the bleached blond vampire could do was laugh.

Spike snickered when Buffy called his grandsire by the hated nickname. Before the soul, he would have felt the need to jump into the conversation at that point, but now he was content letting Buffy handle Angel. Besides, she was doing a right fine job all by herself. "That's my Slayer," he said softly with a grin.

"You know for someone who is so easily dusted, you sure like pissing off a Slayer," Anya observed. Despite being 'friends' under the First's spell, she didn't feel all that close to Angel at this point.

"That's because, despite thinking we were a freak show, Angel thinks he can dictate my actions," Buffy answered. She felt much closer to the ex-demon now than she had before.

"May I see the spell work, Giles?" Willow asked the Watcher.

"Certainly." Giles went to get his briefcase from a nearby table. "By my calculations, Buffy, Spike, and Oz should have adequate power to do the spell." He opened the case, took out some papers, and handed them to Willow.

The red-haired witch nodded before she started to go over the magical incantation.

"I don't like this," Angel grunted. "How on Earth can we win without an experienced Slayer?"

"I could temporarily give a potential Buffy's Slayer powers," Willow said absently. "We considered tapping into Faith's power as a way to utilize an unused resource."

"Go Will with the Giles-ese," Xander chuckled.

Willow's forehead creased as she frowned. "I think this spell will require six casters."

"Well, we have three volunteers already. Anyone else willin' to 'sacrifice' yourselves." Spike looked at Angel, and he lifted one sardonic eyebrow in challenge.

"I'll stay." Anya raised her hand. "I've always preferred to be far away from an apocalypse. They're bad for orgasms and making money." She gave Xander an evil glare. "Besides, I wouldn't want to find myself engaged and abandoned again."

"I'm very sorry, Ahn," Xander said with a sigh. "I really do love you. I just wasn't as ready as I thought I was." He remembered how happy Anya and he had been as normal teenagers under the First's enchantment.

"Will there be any consequences to staying here?" Buffy asked. She gave Spike a small smile. "Someone told us that magic always has consequences."

"We can't be certain." Whistler shook his head. "This was unforeseen. Even the Almighty Father is being particularly silent on the matter."

"One of you from the rescue team must stay too." Willow shuffled the papers around. "If... WHEN we return to break the spell, we'll need that person to help break the spell."

"I'll stay." Giles looked at the other rescuers. "It's my duty and privilege to watch over Buffy."

"Really, Giles?" Buffy looked at the Watcher with hopeful eyes.

"Of course I will." Giles let out a strangled grunt when he found himself in his Slayer's mighty embrace. He uttered her name with a squeak.

"Slayer, don't squeeze old Rupes too hard," Spike said with a chuckle. "We might need him later."

Buffy blushed as she dropped her arms, and stepped back from the breathless Watcher. "Sorry, Giles."

"That's all right, my dear." Giles laid his hand on Buffy's shoulder. "I've missed your hugs."

"Buffy, can I talk to you in private," Spike suddenly asked.

Buffy turned to look at her bleached blond lover. "Sure." She led Spike over to the opposite side of the room. "What's up?"

"I think we should let the Bit decide if she wants to stay with us or fight the good fight." Spike remembered that Dawn hadn't seemed too happy to see him before, but he knew that a decision this big was one she needed to make for herself.

"You think so?" Buffy bit her lower lip. "I mean, we wouldn't know who she really is if she decided to stay here."

Spike shrugged. "If she stayed, it would solve the problem of the last volunteer."

Buffy brightened considerably. "Yeah, it would." She reached up to cup Spike's face in her small, lethal hands. "I didn't lie while under the spell, I really do love you. I have for a long time. I was just too scared to admit it."

"Buffy," Spike whispered reverently. He slowly leaned down to cover her lips with his own. From off in the distance he heard the distinct disgruntled rumblings of his grandsire as Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You just need to accept that Buffy's moved on, Deadboy," Xander drawled. "The rest of us have. Besides, you best of all should know how stubborn she can be." He glanced over at the kissing blonds. "Break it up, you two."

Buffy pulled away from Spike, and she smirked at her friend. "Come on, Xan, it's not like we're doing invisible pushups in bed this time."

Xander spluttered, and he pointed at Spike. "I knew there was something weird going on that day!"

"Took you long enough, Harris." Spike rolled his eyes.

"Giles, we decided that it might be best if Dawn decides for herself if she wants to join us here or not," Buffy announced.

"And can you adjust the spell to make us older, Red?" Spike gave Willow a lop-sided grin. "All this teenage angst might be Angelus' cup of tea, but it's not mine."

"I'll try, Spike." Willow nodded. "No guarantees though. I have enough to deal with as it is."

"How long do we have before the First and the Beast realize that you're messing with the spell?" Cordelia asked. "If I leave here will I go back to my body?"

"Yes, you will," Whistler answered. "As for how long we have?" He glanced at his watch. "About an hour, I'd say. Just enough time to say your good-byes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forty-five minutes later, Buffy had said good-bye to her friends, and she thanked those who weren't her friends but had been in on the rescue. The only one she hadn't talked to was Angel. Something she wasn't looking forward too. Unsurprisingly, under the spell, he had been the most critical of her friends.

Buffy smiled at Spike. She squeezed his hand before she said softly, "I really should talk to Angel for a few. I'm so looking not looking forward to it."

Spike made an unhappy sound in the back of his throat.

"You have nothing to worry about." Buffy tried to reassure her vampire. "I'm sooo over him."

"Are you now?" Spike tried to sound confident. "I'm not just convenient?"

"Spike," Buffy sighed. "I'm sorry for everything I said last year and how I treated you. I know I was all mixed messages girl then, but now I'm not." She turned to her friends. "I love Spike. I have for a while now, but I was too scared of how everyone would react. Being under this spell thingie... everything Spike and I had is real. It has been since Willow resurrected me."

"You mean it's not just the soul?" Giles asked with genuine curiosity.

"No, Giles." Buffy shook her head. "After Spike left town, I knew what I felt was more than lust. I missed him so much."

"Soul? What soul?" Angel asked.

"The one that Spike went through trials to get," Buffy replied.

"That's great. Everybody's got a soul now. You know, I started it. The whole having a soul. Before it was all the cool new thing." Angel muttered every word with discontent.

"What are you? Twelve?" Buffy huffed.

"I got the brush off for Captain Peroxide," Angel said childishly.

"If I recall correctly, you were cursed, Angel," Giles spoke up. "Spike fought for his."

"It's a good thing he had the thing," Gunn spoke up. "Otherwise this spell here wouldn't have worked on him."

"I'm ready to do the initial spell," Willow announced. "Is the note for Dawn ready?"

"Here it is." Giles handed a piece of folded paper to the red-haired witch.

Willow took the note. She gestured for Giles, Anya, Spike, Buffy, and Oz to join her. On the floor, Willow had painted a pentagram, and she placed each person at a star point. Then, she took her place in the middle. Willow concentrated, carefully pulling power from each of the star points, taking into consideration that some of the people present were stronger than others. She knew she could easily put Dawn into the center position. After all, the Key was more powerful than any of them could possibly imagine, even if Dawn was a gawky teenager.

A glowing portal opened, and Willow tossed the note through it. Within minutes, Dawn Summers stepped through the gateway.

"Well, duh," the tall teenager said as a greeting. "Of course, I want to be here with you guys. Although..." Dawn pointed her finger at Spike. "... you'll find I don't forgive as easily as Buffy does."

"Thanks, Bit." Spike's heart clenched with happiness. His Nibblet was willing to try again, and Buffy was his girl. All was right in his world. Not even the magnificent poof could bring him down now.

"Carefully come into the pentagram, Dawn." Willow gestured to the young woman. "I've worked everything into the spell already."

"What did you do, Will?" Xander asked softly. He watched as Dawn and Willow traded places.

"To Spike, Buffy, Anya, and Oz, Giles will be the newest curio shop owner and Dawn is his ward." Willow stepped out of the star. "I made your ages what they should be; Dawn is seventeen while the bespelled ones are twenty-three."

"Wow, you're good," Gunn declared. He gave the redhead a charming smile. She wasn't his type, but he had to admit she was kinda cute.

Fred looked away sadly. Things had changed so much between Charles and herself in the past few months. She didn't blame him if he had moved on since their breakup.

"I don't like this," Angel protested. "We can't win unless we have a Slayer."

"That is why I will be temporarily siphoning their..." Willow pointed at the six beings now holding the portal open. "...power into myself."

"Willow, is that wise?" Wesley asked. Both he and Fred gave Willow a concerned look.

"Probably not." Willow shrugged. "I have no idea how the powers of the Key, a Slayer, a master vamp, a werewolf, and a chaos mage will react to one another."

"Giles is not a chaos mage!" Xander protested.

"Of course he is," Anya announced wearily. "How on earth do you think he was able to hold all that power Willow stole from him?" She felt so tired, and she hoped that they would stop chatting and go soon.

"Okay, I've made the spell breaker to be 'Umad the Key must come home now'," Willow told the people now inside the pentagram. "At that time, the spell will break, but only you guys will remember what happened. To the rest of Sunnydale, it will be as if nothing changed. They are currently living their lives exactly the same as always. It's just those of a supernatural nature that have been changed."

"We only have two minutes before the Beast and the First know we're here." Whistler's voice sounded anxious. "Everyone through the portal now!"

"Good luck, everyone," Buffy called out to the quickly departing Scoobies, A.I., and their allies.

The portal collapsed quickly and quietly.