Everyone sat at the table recounting what had happened the past couple of days. "So, basically we have a group of demons after Willow's power. That's nothing new, we can do power seeking demons," Buffy said, standing.
"But that's not all," Frederick said. "They were hired by someone. We need to find out who."
"And what happened to Willow!" Kennedy said. "She was evil again. I thought she had that under control. I've never really seen…" She trailed off, looking at the floor. Dawn put her arm around Kennedy comfortingly.
"It's okay," she said. "She's not evil, she is in control. Something must have affected her."
"Are you sure you told us everything?" Buffy asked Mikkel. She was eyeing him suspiciously. Dawn really liked him, so she hated him. She was going to have to give that boy a good talking to when this was all over.
"Yes," Mikkel said, looking at the ground. "I can't really remember, it's all a blur."
"This is great," Xander said. "So far all we have is ‘the demons did it.’"
"Well, that’s easily solved! We need to research," Frederick said, brightening. "We have tons of books back at Slayer Central. We should go, try and find something."
"We have books here too," Kennedy said.
"And I have some in my suitcase," Dawn offered. Buffy shot her her best I do not approve and we will talk about this later face.
"Okay, let’s form teams. Frederick, you take Susie, Faith, Xander, and Dawn. Go back to Slayer Central, see what you can find. The rest of us will stay here. We meet up at the other Slayer Central at six. We need to be out in full force tonight, see what we can do," Vi said.
Everyone nodded and started to gather themselves to leave. "I need to check and make sure Willow's okay," Kennedy said, heading back to the bedroom.
Frederick was telling Dawn about a particularly interesting volume of text he had back at his apartment when he opened the front door and ran straight into a man wearing a jacket that looked suspiciously similar to his own. "Oh, excuse me." Frederick said.
"Pardon, me," Giles said at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment.
"Giles!" Dawn squeaked, running to the Watcher to give him a tight hug.
"Mr. Giles," Frederick said, extending his hand. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance. My name is Frederick Cornelius Hummel." He shook Giles' hand like a star struck teenager.
"Yes, hello," Giles said to Frederick. "Dawn, what are you doing here?"
"It's a long story," she said with a giant smile plastered on her face.
"May I come in or must I set up camp on the door mat?" Giles asked.
"Yes, please come in," Frederick said, gesturing grandly.
Giles walked into the apartment and took in the scene around him. He was in shock. Everyone was there. "What are you all doing here?" he asked.
"Well let’s see," Xander began. "I was kidnapped, then Buffy saved me and Dawn ran away with Mikkel and came to see Willow and Kennedy, who were attacked by a group of Demon's, who trashed their apartment, and made Willow go all evil, but only for about a minute, until Kennedy and her little band of slayerettes burst in and saved the day," Xander finished, eyeing Giles.
"I see," Giles said, looking back at Xander. "Xander,” the Watcher started, about as emotional as his British upbringing would allow, “it's good to have you back." He nodded. "Shall we get down to research then?"
Their original plan slightly revised, Frederick, Susie, and Charlotte went back to Slayer Central to grab any relevant materials and bring them back to Kennedy and Willow’s. They would all try to stay together till this was figured out.
Buffy and Giles greeted each other coolly. They didn’t know exactly what to say. When Buffy decided to leave, Giles had supported her, but when Buffy had decided to stop working with them, it had hurt him. He wanted to support Buffy, but felt her decision to abandon her calling was a mistake. They fought more then they talked now, unable to relate to each other. Buffy was hurt by Giles lack of attention to her transition. He was too occupied with the all the other changes to notice she really needed him.
The group was deep in research mode when Kennedy reemerged from the bedroom.
Seeing Giles for the first time since his arrival, Kennedy was taken aback. “Giles? What are you doing here?”
Everyone looked at her. In all the commotion of his arrival no one had asked why he had come.
“Why did you come?” Buffy repeated, eyebrow raised.
“Ah, yes. Of course.” Giles began removing his glasses to clean them. “After Kennedy called the other night with the news of Dawn’s discover of the Dalgin Ki˙mse, I began to do some research of my own.”
“Wait, Dawn! When did you talk to Giles?” Buffy asked, angry with her sister’s deception.
“I didn’t, I called Kennedy. I was only trying to help. Which is more then I can say for you!” Dawn said defensively.
“If you could please let me finish,” Giles started.
“No,” Buffy cut off. “I want to know what my little sister has been doing behind my back. Well?” she said pointedly at Dawn.
Dawn looked around embarrassed. “I haven’t done anything. It’s not like I was hurting anyone.”
“Please,” Giles said. “I do not think—”
“Stay out of this!” Buffy cut off again.
“Buffy!” Dawn said. “I didn’t..”
“STOP IT!” Kennedy screamed through the argument. “Just stop.” She slumped against the wall. “She’s getting worse. She’s in there, trashing and mumbling, and I can’t make her better. I can’t wake her up.” Everyone just stared at Kennedy. For the first time they really looked at her. She looked worn, tired, but most of all she looked much older since the last time they had seen her. Slumped against the wall, she clenched and unclenched her fists, ready to strike the opponent no one could find.
Buffy, Dawn, and Giles looked guiltily at one another. Of course this was not the time for this. “What can we do?” Buffy asked.
Kennedy shrugged. “Let Giles finish.”
Buffy looked at the floor angry and frustrated. Giles began again, “I think Dawn may have come across something with the book she found. I found several references to it in my library. They were all referencing a girl. She was sick, possessed. Apparently she was a medicine girl and quite powerful. She would heal people by giving them a part of herself, magickally I presume. They would continue to ‘feed’ on this part and they would stay well.”
“You mean they ate her?” Susie asked, horror in her voice.
“No, she let them feed on her healing magickal energies. But once wasn’t enough; they needed to keep doing it in order to stay well. Eventually, it seems, they needed so much that she did not have enough for herself, because she now needed the energy back from the case she was sharing it with. She started to see things in the lives of the ones she healed. Going into a trance. I believe this is similar to what is happening to Willow. I believe when she cast the spell to empower the slayers, she opened a door of sorts that allows her to feel what they feel, but only at times of extreme stress in their lives, when they must borrow extra from her.”
“So Will is like the Energizer Bunny,” Xander quipped.
“How long can she keep going?” Buffy asked.
“I am not sure,” Giles said concerned. “Apparently they are taking much more then before. I suggest we find a way to close the gateway between the slayers and Willow.”
Mikkel nudged Dawn. “The necklace,” he whispered.
“Right,” she chirped. “Giles, I got this in Brussels. Maybe it can help?”
“This is interesting. Where did you get it?”
“A magick store owner gave it to me, and this.” She got up to retrieve the book from her bag, handing it to Giles along with the Dalgin Ki˙mse.
“Charms are now new and improved. They come with instruction manuals,” Xander said, smiling.
“It’s like you never left,” Giles retorted, trying to sound irritated, but couldn’t hide the obvious joy at the man’s return.
“So you think we can close this gate and then all the new slayers will stop sucking magick from Will,” Kennedy asked hopefully.
“What effect will it have on us?” Charlotte asked. “I mean, if we are feeding off her, won’t we essentially lose our power if we can’t get it from her?”
“To be honest, I have no idea,” Giles said.
“How did the girl you were talking about before get better?” Kennedy asked.
“Well, a local medicine man named Ma’ukhil tried everything he could to close the gate between her and the ones taking her energy, but according to the text there was no way without killing everyone she was connected to.”
“What happened?” Kennedy pressed.
“They took everything from her,” Giles said solemnly. “When she could no longer sustain them, she fell into a comma. She never recovered.”
“Okay, research party,” Dawn said, trying to stay positive. “Xander, do you want to come with me to get doughnuts?” Dawn extended her hand to Xander.
“I would love to,” he said. “Okay, so if I remember correctly, it’s jellies for the Watcher, chocolate glazed for the Slayer, and powdered for Wil..” He stopped short, remembering the lack of one very important member of their group. “We’ll just get an assortment,” he added quickly, looking at Kennedy, who was still slumped against the wall.
“This still does not answer the questions about the Touruk Demon attacked. Who would have hired them and why do they want Willow?” Frederick piped in.
“And why did she go all evil?” Dawn added.
“If I knew the answers to all these questions, our research would not be necessary, now would it?” Giles said quickly. “I suggest we get started. I think it will be a long night. Xander, you should probably get extra doughnuts,” he finished, looking around at the group.
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