Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile.
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mysteries seem so fated.
Runaway Train: Soul Asylum
The fight raged all around her, but she was wholly focused on the woman in front of her. Buffy watched her every move, ducking and dodging the kicks and punches that were coming continuously her way. She was tiring; both she and her opponent knew it. Buffy knew she couldn't hold out much longer.
After all, she wasn't a Hell Goddess… she was only human.
Lost in her thoughts, she left herself open for a moment and Glory seized the opportunity, lunging in and landing a blow that that threw Buffy backwards into the pile of construction debris behind her, knocking the breath out of her and dazing her for a brief time.
Lying on her back, she focused her gaze on Glory as she towered over her, advancing to deliver her death blow. Buffy knew what was coming what was coming and shifted her gaze up and behind the goddess to her sister up on the platform, high above the battle ground. She saw Glory's minion going towards Dawn with the knife that would be used to make her blood run…
Snapping her gaze back to Glory, she was just in time to see her raise a length of pipe and begin to swing it down towards her. She could hear her sister screaming as the pipe came closer and closer. She could hear Willow call out her name as she locked eyes with Glory. Knowing it was inevitable, nothing was going to stop the downward swing, Buffy refused to close her eyes and hide from what was coming…
She whispered softly, "I'm sorry, Dawnie…"
Buffy woke up with a gasp, her heart pounding furiously. She sat up in her bed and saw that the morning sun was streaming into her room, casting patterns through the curtains onto her floor. She glanced over at her clock and saw that her alarm was about to go off. She reached over and switched it off, not wanting to be bothered by the noise and then lay back on the bed, watching the dust motes float lazily through the air.
She glanced around her room and smiled at the memories held there… until she saw something that made her freeze and her smile fade away.
Her eyes had fallen on her high school graduation photo with Willow. They were both smiling, clutching their diplomas happily. They were both wearing the gold and white scarves that indicated their honor roll status.
Buffy had been lucky to pass her final year of school, let alone attain honor student status.
She sat up and started looking more closely around her room, beginning to spy other differences. There was a large framed picture of her and the Scoobies at what had to be Senior Prom, with Angel as her escort. There was a photo of her and Cordelia, dressed in cheerleading gear, at the State Championships… all around her, there were differences.
She got out of bed and walked to the door of the room. She stood there with her hand on the door knob for a full minute, debating on whether or not to open it, fearing what she might find on the other side. Finally deciding that much too cowardly for the Slayer to be acting, she squared her shoulders, tossed her hair back out of her face and opened the door and marched out into the hallway.
Prepared for the worst, she was actually a tad disappointed to find that nothing seemed to really be out of the ordinary. She could smell coffee brewing and headed towards the kitchen, completely bemused by what was going on. She made it to the kitchen and stopped short by what greeted her. She glanced around to be sure, but yes, this was her kitchen, it looked like her house. What she was having trouble standing, however, was sitting on two of the bar stools right in front of her. She blinked and shook her head, but no, the scene didn't change.
Joyce turned and smiled brightly at Buffy. "Good morning, sweetheart! I was about to come and get you. Do you need a ride to class today? I'm leaving in thirty minutes if you do."
Buffy blinked again. "Ummm…"
"Don't you have chemistry today?" Joyce asked.
Chemistry? She was taking chemistry? She could barely spell chemistry! What was going on here?!
"Buffy, honey, are you ok?"
OK? Was she OK?! That was the million dollar question, now wasn't it? Giles! She needed Giles! Giles would know what was going on. He always knows what the answer to all things 'weird and totally bizarre' was.
"Uhhhh…" she really had no idea what to say. For once, she was completely speechless. Ironically, it was the normalcy of the situation that did it. The phone, she needed to use the phone like right now! There was an explanation for all of this, there had to be! She just needed to call Giles!
"I, uhhh… no. No, I think I'm going to skip class today…uh… Mom…"
Subtle, Buffy. Real smooth. She couldn't help the slight cringe when she noticed that her mother was looking at her oddly. Ok, so she was obviously acting even more strangely than usual. She so needed to speak to Giles.
"I have some extra credit projects that I need to do, so I'm gonna stay home, maybe go see if Giles can help me any."
"Giles?" Joyce asked.
"Yeah. He can probably help me. He's all 'book-y' and stuff…" she trailed off at her mother's expression of puzzlement. "What?"
"You've never mentioned him before. Is he from one of your class?"
Buffy stopped cold in her thoughts. Not good. This was not good at all.
"Mom? I've known Giles for years. You've met him before. I've known him since we moved here from L.A."
"Moved here from…? Honey, are you sure you're feeling all right?" Joyce was looking more and more bewildered.
"Yeah, sure. Why? I feel fine."
"Buffy, I'm a little worried. You're talking about some boy like I know him and moving… honey, what's going on?"
"Mom, we moved here five years ago when you decided to leave Da…" Buffy's attention was again brought to the other individual who was in the room. "Huh. Oh-kay… just how long have we been here, then?"
"We moved here right after your eighth birthday, Buffy! What is wrong with you today?!"
Buffy just stood there with her mouth hanging open in shock. Shaking the feeling off, she bolted over to the phone that hung on the wall and dialed Giles' number. Her hands were shaking so badly that she had to hang up and retry the number three times before she dialed it correctly. She finally got the number dialed and waited in anxious impatience for someone to answer the other end.
"Catherine's Arrangements, how may I help you today?"
Buffy held the phone away from her ear and stared at the receiver like it was a live snake.
"Hello? Hello?" the lady on the other end was sounding impatient.
"Umm…" Buffy wasn't sure what to ask. "Is...uhhh… is Giles there?" she finally stammered out.
"Giles? I'm sorry, sweetie. There's no one here by that name. You must have a wrong number."
Buffy hung up the phone, belatedly realizing that she hadn't apologized or acknowledged the lady on the other end. She stood there with her hand on the phone, thinking.
"Mom?"
"Yes, honey?"
"Where's Dawnie?"
Dead silence greeted her question. She turned and looked at her mother and saw her look of angry shock.
"Where is she, Mom?"
"I'm not talking about this."
"Mom?"
"Buffy, you know well where Dawn is." The other voice in the room, the one she so didn't want to hear from right now, stated. "I think this game has gone on long enough, young lady."
Buffy couldn't help the snort that came out. "News flash, people! There's no game here! Where is my sister? Where's Dawn?!"
"She died years ago, Buffy! How can you do this? She's the reason we moved here all those years ago… the memories… She drowned in the pool at the house!" Joyce took a shuddering breath. "Now enough! I'm going to work. Hank? – honey? Do you need a ride to the office?"
It was too much. The room was spinning. She had to get out of here! She needed to think! She spun on her heel and dashed out of the room, heading the front door that could be freedom from this madness, hearing her mother and her father calling her name out in alarm. She fumbled with the dead bolt on the front door and finally got it unlocked. She threw open the door and ran out into the sunlight, barefoot and feeling the dew from the grass wetting her feet. She finally came to a stop in the street, panting, bent over with her hands on her knees, crying.
She was too confused and overwhelmed and therefore, she didn't hear the frantic honking until it was too late. It wasn't until her broken body was sailing through the air from the impact with the delivery truck that she even realized she was in danger. She hit the asphalt with enough force that her head cracked down once, twice. She knew she was dying.
The man jumped from the truck and ran to her side. As she closed her eyes, she whispered to him so lowly that he had to put his ear to her mouth to hear her.
"Please, tell Dawnie I'm sorry…"
Something was horribly wrong. The medical monitors had readings the likes of which he had never seen. He had no idea what was going on. He just knew it couldn't be good. There was no way this could be good.
Obi-Wan sighed and turned away from the girl. They needed to get to Coruscant as soon as possible. The doctors there were much better able to handle this situation that there were here in the Queen's ship. They just didn't have the resources available to them here. He knew Qui-Gon was doing everything he could, but Obi-Wan's instincts told him that it wasn't enough. They needed to get the girl out of the state she as in.
But they were delayed by the need for the part that they had no choice but to stop at Tatooine for. The rim planet was mainly desert. To be honest, he wasn't sure they would be able to find the part that they needed here. But the Force provided what was required… According to Qui-Gon, at any rate. Hopefully the part would be found soon. Qui-Gon had already been gone for several hours with the Queen's handmaid. And Obi-Wan also didn't know what to think about the odd conversation he'd had with his Master about the child Anakin. Something was telling him that the child was going to be a problem, however.
Hearing alarms suddenly going off, he turned back towards the monitors and couldn't help the exclamation of dismay. Her pulse was through the roof, almost to the point of causing a stroke or permanent damage to her heart. Her brain activity was alarming. She was on the verge of flat-lining on every aspect of her vital signs. Something had to be done.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and moved to the head of the medical bed. He knew the fundamentals of Jedi healing, but had never attempted it himself. Qui-Gon had taught him the basics, but that was all. However, he knew that if he didn't try something, even if it was just to calm the girl down somewhat, she would never make it to Coruscant.
Calming himself, relaxing, allowing himself to feel the Force more fully, he placed his hands on each side of the girl's head and concentrated. Going through the steps that his Master taught him, he started the process of joining with the girl's thoughts, entering her memories and dreams, attempting to gain entrance and bring comfort and peace to her mind. When he gained entrance he was shocked to find that hers was a mind that he was already familiar with.
He had been dreaming of her since he first was apprenticed to Qui-Gon.
Buffy woke gasping, drawing breath into a chest that ached. Her throat felt raw and dry, like she had been screaming. She lay where she was, eyes closed and gathered herself and focused on slowing her breathing. She was almost afraid to open her eyes, she had no idea what she was going to find. She had faced so many horrors already; failed Dawnie so many times. She hadn't beaten Glory, she hadn't killed Angelus, she hadn't defeated the Master… Over and over she'd had to face her failures and every time the ones most important to her had paid the price of her failure.
She couldn't open her eyes and face another defeat.
She didn't know what was happening to her or why. She just knew that she couldn't continue on. As much as she didn't want to admit it to herself, she had no choice.
She was afraid. Deeply, terribly afraid.
She slowly became aware of something else. There was something else near her. She slowly opened her eyes and focused on the blackness in the room. She was lying on the cold floor again, in the white shift, but the shift was torn and stained with blood and gore. She rolled to her side and slowly, painfully made her way to her knees, pushing herself to a kneeling position. She hurt everywhere. Deeply, aching in places that she didn't know she could hurt. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and away from her face, flinching at the knotted clumps that she came in contact with and looked around.
She couldn't stop the gasp that escaped from her when she spied the soft light that surrounded the man that was slowly approaching her from the distance.
Struggling, she made her way to her feet, swaying with pain induced weariness. She needed help. She wasn't afraid to ask for it anymore.
Stumbling towards the man, she couldn't almost fell to her knees and would have fallen but he leapt forward and caught her before she collapsed. She clutched at his clothes, almost sobbing in relief that she could feel him, he was real, not a ghost as she had feared.
"Help me, please! I can't take anymore of this! I want to go home!" she pleaded.
"Shhh… sweeting. It's time. You're not alone anymore." She heard the man say.
She looked at him in surprise and it took all of her willpower not to pass out right then and there when she saw him smile softly to her. It was him! He was here! She hadn't seen him in years, not since the battle with Glory, but it was him! She'd know him anywhere.
"Please, get me out of here! Where am I? Who's doing this to me?!"
Obi-Wan looked around perplexed.
"I do not know where we are, but we now have an additional problem, sweeting."
"What would that be?"
"I can not get us out of here. We're both trapped now."