It's Not Where You Start Out (14/17)
by Kelly Frieders
raykel2@cox.net

Genre: Drama, B/S
Rating: PG-13, nothing you wouldn't see on the show
Disclaimer: Spike's not mine. Wish he were, but my husband might object. Buffy and all the rest aren't mine, either. I'm just borrowing them from Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy for a while.

Summary: Post "The Gift." Way post "The Gift," actually. Takes place sometime the following year. There's some new interest in the Key and an old enemy is back in town. Spoilers for everything up to and including "The Gift."

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14.

Buffy crouched in the overgrown weeds around St. Cyril's of the Ascension Church, not moving, Xander and Willow behind her. After Willow had prepared a hasty spell, Xander had once again broken most traffic laws to get them here before sunrise and they'd made it with fifteen minutes to spare. The sky was a faint pink, but it wasn't light yet.

"What do you think, Will?" Buffy asked.

"It's an energy barrier, similar to the one we used against the knights," Willow said. "The spell's a little different than mine, though."

"Can you get through it?"

"I think I can put a door in. Which actually will come in handy when Tara and I have to get back in here when they've grabbed you."

"Okay, make it quick then. If we're gonna catch Brother Viktor meditating we need to get in there before sunrise."

"I'm on it," Willow replied. She closed her eyes and changed something Buffy didn't understand, held her hand out before her. The air around her hand glowed a faint blue, then widened into a large circle big enough for them to move through. Willow opened her eyes and smiled. "A door."

"Cool, Will," Xander said, clapping her on her shoulder.

Staying low, Buffy crawled through the door. Willow and Xander followed.

"How are we gonna find this guy?" Xander asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure the area where they were doing the ritual before was the living quarters. Let's circle around to that side and start there."

"A chapel. That's where a monk would go to meditate."

Xander and Buffy stared at Willow. "Pretty up on your monk practices for a Jewish Wiccan," Xander said.

"What, you think I've never studied any other religions?" she asked with a sideways grin.

"Okay, so we find a chapel," Buffy said as they rounded the corner in the direction of the living area.

"Or we just follow that guy," Xander whispered.

Buffy looked through the pre-dawn gloom and saw a tall, thin monk come out a side door and head away from them down a gravel path. Staying close to the wall and moving as quietly as possible through the weeds, they followed him along the path towards a small building with a cross on the door. He pushed the heavy door open and went inside.

"Chapel," Willow said smugly.

The three of them crept up to the building and peered through a dusty stained glass window along the side. It was hard to see anything because the interior was dark and the dirty colored glass wasn't very transparent, but Buffy could make out Brother Viktor lighting candles.

"Okay Will, you're up."

Willow closed her eyes. "Blessed be Nanshee, Mistress of dreams and visions. Grant me your gift, that I may speak through a vision. Let the man who kneels within this structure see the prophecy I will."

Buffy watched as Willow suddenly reached forward and grabbed the window sill. She began muttering under her breath so fast Buffy couldn't make out the words. She exchanged glances with Xander but neither said anything.

Buffy slid over to another window and peered in. Brother Viktor was still kneeling, but like Willow, he seemed to have gone a bit rigid. This lasted for about thirty seconds, and then Willow abruptly let go of the window and her body relaxed. At the exact same instant, Brother Viktor went limp.

"Will?" Xander said, concerned, but after a moment Willow looked up at them.

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Buffy asked, still watching Brother Viktor through the window, but soon he got up. It was hard to tell in the gloom and through the dirty windows, but he looked all right, if somewhat alarmed.

"Well, he either just had a vision of the Key transformation spell failing or my last chem midterm," Willow said wryly.

"He's coming out," Buffy said, and the three of them quickly backed along the wall away from the door.

They heard it slam open and Brother Viktor, obviously a little distressed, hurried back down the path toward the main church building. When he disappeared from view, Buffy motioned to the others.

"Okay then, we'd better get back and see how Tara's coming on figuring out whether we can actually give a real-life demonstration to match that vision. Oh, and I've got another job for you, Willow."

----------

Brother Ondrih sat alone in the rectory's dining hall, contemplating their next step. After their defeat Wednesday night, the brothers had spent all of yesterday in devotions and purifications. Josef and Viktor, along with all of their hired soldiers, had been taken away by vile demons that Josef had described in Czech as **synove dabla,** Devil's Own. They had not lost heart, however; nor had Brother Ondrih after his own ordeal with the loathsome bloodsucking *upir.* No, these experiences had only furthered their resolve. The Slayer was defiled, she consorted with demons and exposed the Key to them. The Key was God's tool, not the demons'. They must not fail to retrieve it from her desecrated hands.

The mercenaries, though not devout, were not disheartened either. Angry at the loss of two of their number and at being defeated by one *upir* and one girl, they were as anxious as the monks were to do the work ahead of them. Their local representative, the one who called himself Hawk, might present a challenge, however. He had come to see Ondrih this morning full of fury. The Slayer's *upir* had threatened him last night, and he wanted to retaliate. It was a little worrisome; vengeful anger instead of righteous anger, but perhaps Ondrih could help him channel this fury. It might be best, however, to go after the girl in the daylight, when the *upir* could not protect her. Otherwise Hawk might have his attention focused in the wrong place.

"Excuse me, Brother Ondrih."

Ondrih looked up to see Viktor standing before him. He looked a little shaken. Ondrih frowned. "Yes, Viktor? What is it? Did you have another vision?"

"Yes, Brother. But this-- this one was different than the others."

"How so?"

"I-it was stronger, more vivid. It shook my entire body so that I collapsed afterwards."

Brother Ondrih frowned. "What do you make of this? Is it a vision of God?"

"I-I don't know, Brother."

"Tell me what you saw."

"I saw us with the Key. We were performing the ritual, only it failed. We did it correctly, with all the incantations and amulets and incense, but it failed. Then a light surrounded the girl and she rose from the floor and I heard a voice as if from Heaven saying 'Let this be a sign to you.'"

"A sign of what?"

"I am not sure. I--" He stopped, clearly hesitant.

"Speak your mind, Brother."

"I believe the vision was telling me it is God's will that we fail."

"Surely you aren't serious, Brother! Perhaps our failure the other night has disheartened you after all? Your perceptions are clouded?"

"No, Brother, I follow God's will as steadfastly as always," Viktor sniffed, leveling his shoulders.

"Of course, Viktor, I do not mean to imply otherwise. But God has sent us here to retrieve His Key. Surely you don't mean to say the Eternal One has... changed His mind?"

"No, no," Viktor replied hurriedly. "I merely report what the visions speak to me."

"And in due time we will understand the meaning of this one. But we must prepare."

"Yes, Brother," Viktor replied deferentially, giving a small bow. He turned to leave, but Brother Ondrih called him back.

"Brother Viktor? In your vision, where were we performing the ritual?"

"In the Great Hall, of course."

Brother Ondrih stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps that is the meaning of the vision, that we will fail if we perform the ritual *there.* The Slayer and her allies know where we are and we must not assume the barrier will keep them out indefinitely. They did stop us once before. We must find a new location to perform the ritual. I want you and Brother Josef to attend to that."

"Yes, Brother," Viktor bowed again, then exited the dining hall.

----------

Spike was pacing anxiously across the floor of the Magic Box, smoking a cigarette, when Buffy returned with Willow and Xander. It was well past dawn, Anya had arrived a little bit earlier with a box of donuts, and Dawn was awake and munching on one that was oozing purple jelly.

"How'd it go?" he asked Buffy as they came in through the back door. Willow breezed past them to see what Tara had come up with and Xander, as was becoming his habit, walked by studiously avoiding him.

"Good," Buffy replied, stopping for a moment. "Willow thinks it worked. Now we just have to see if we can do the switch."

He blew out a nervous stream of smoke. "Right then. Tara's getting organized."

Buffy nodded then headed toward the table where Willow and Tara were huddled together looking through Tara's notes and everyone else gathered around. "Will, what've you got for me?"

"I think it will work," Willow replied a bit hesitantly.

"From what we've seen of the ritual they did to create Dawn," Tara added, "and the one they're most likely to do to deconstruct her, the spell is based on the living energy itself, not on the properties of the Key."

"Which means what, exactly?" Xander asked.

"Well, the Key is energy, but it's very specific energy. It can be turned into other forms of energy: matter, life even, but it is still  something completely distinct," Willow explained. "The properties that make it *function* as the Key, that's what was in Dawn's blood that made the walls between dimensions open. For whatever reason, and we're still not really clear on why, Buffy's blood shares some of those properties, which is why she was able to substitute her blood for Dawn's to close the dimension walls again."

Tara picked up the narration again. "But those properties aren't what drives the transformation spell used to create Dawn. It's the energy *itself,* and that is completely distinct to Dawn. It should be impossible to do the deconstruct spell on anyone who isn't made up of the Key's energy."

Spike took another puff of his smoke. "I'm hearing lots of words like 'most likely' and 'should be.' Just how certain are you?"

Tara and Willow exchanged looks. "The main problem," Willow replied cautiously, "is that although we know the spell they used to create Dawn, we can only guess at what they'd use to turn her back."

"Guess?" Spike asked disapprovingly.

"I-it's more than a guess," Tara added hurriedly. "We heard part of the ritual when we rescued Dawn before, so we're fairly certain. Although we're still not exactly sure if the Key's properties are irrelevant or if the spell will act on them in ways we can't predict."

"Not exactly confidence inspiring," Spike said grimly.

"It'll have to be enough," Buffy said, cutting him off with a look. "Okay, I think we're good to go. So here's how this will work. Anya is going to summon Palawgi and we'll ask him to grant me Dawn's form in order to deceive the monks. Willow is gonna get that robot that looks like me up and running. It'll be me and I'll be Dawn for as long as it takes to get their interest. I have three days as Dawn, right Anya?"

"Yes, seventy-two hours," Anya confirmed, "or until the Deception is completed. When you have accomplished your objective and you're out of the presence of your victim, you automatically revert back to your true form."

"Okay. And we're gonna try and toe the line between making it easy for them to grab me and being obvious bait. Meanwhile, Willow and Tara are going to use a-- what is it again?"

"A guidance spell," Willow answered. "It will connect you and me spiritually. I'll know where you are at all times."

"Right. Willow and I will do the connecting thing so that she and Tara can follow me to the ritual site and put on the special effects part of our show. Any questions so far?"

"You gonna go to school for me?" Dawn asked hopefully.

Buffy made a face. "Oh yeah, just what I always wanted, to go back to **high school.** Actually, I hadn't thought about it, but no. I don't think I could pull off replacing Dawn to all her friends and I don't want to tempt these guys into showing up at a school with lots of innocent kids around. But thanks for the reminder. I'll call in sick for you while I'm still me."

"Well, I get the day off either way, so that's cool." Dawn thought a moment. "What am I going to be doing anyway? The real me, I mean, not the you-me."

"I was just getting to that. Spike and Xander, I want you two to stay with Dawn and protect her."

"WHAT?" they both cried out in unison.

"I am *not* going to spend three days with someone who could decide at any moment he's tired of playing good guy and make a meal out of me."

"Like I'd bite *you,*" Spike shot back.

"Okay, can we not do the fight thing now?" Buffy said, exasperated. "I need you both." She turned to Xander. "If something goes wrong and they figure out I'm not Dawn, Spike is the only one strong enough to fight off anyone who might come at her. And whatever else you think of him, you *know* he'll protect her." Then to Spike she said, "And Xander can go out in the daylight. If this does go south and they grab her in the daylight, you wouldn't be able to go after them yourself."

She had a point, Spike realized grudgingly. He glared at Xander, who was staring stakes back at him. Oh this was going to be pleasant. "Fine," he muttered.

"Xander?"

"I'll do whatever you need me to do," he replied churlishly.

"Where should we take Little Bit?" Spike asked.

"Somewhere secluded. Your old crypt, maybe."

"That'll work," Spike agreed.

"Okay then. Will's gonna get to work on that robot and everyone else can take an hour, grab a shower or breakfast or something, and then we'll meet back here and get started."

As they started rising and heading in separate directions, Spike went to Buffy and took her arm. "Can we talk a second?"

"Yeah," she said, looking up at him. "I was gonna ask you the same thing."

"Let's go down to my flat. A little more privacy there. Just let me help Will get the robot upstairs and then we can talk."

They headed down into the basement behind Willow, who found the robot in a corner, covered with a tarp. Spike heaved the heavy form over his shoulder and brought it upstairs while Buffy waited for him in his room. With Buffy's doppelgänger set up in the corner, he left Willow to work on it then returned back to his flat where Buffy was standing near the door waiting for him. Before he could say anything, she spoke up.

"I never got to thank you for what you did with Ethan Rayne. That was--" she smiled impishly-- "well, that was just fun."

Spike shrugged. "Think nothing of it. Fella had it coming."

Buffy's face grew serious again. "Was it hard on you? Pretending to bite him, knowing you could if you wanted to?"

"No," he said quickly. "That wasn't the kind of situation that brings the bloodlust out in me." He looked at her closely. "You're not gonna be fretting about this all the time, are you?"

"No, it's not that. I just wouldn't want to be the one to put you in a difficult situation, that's all." She stepped closer to him and the temperature seemed to go up a few degrees. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you."

"Did you now? Any particular way of thanking me spring to mind?" he asked mischievously.

"I'll think of something," she replied, then reached up and kissed him. It started out gentle and sweet, but quickly grew more passionate. Spike held her close to him, suddenly afraid to let her go. She must have sensed the sudden desperation in him and she broke off their kiss to look at him.

"You hate this plan, don't you?"

His eyes locked with hers. "No, it's actually a fairly decent plan. What I hate is the uncertainty of what that mojo could do to you. I--" he stopped, suddenly choking on the strength of his emotions. "I can't lose you, not again. Not *now.*"

"Spike, like I told Dawn last night, I'm the Slayer. *Everything* I do is a big risk. That's part of the package."

"This is different," he insisted. "I don't worry about you fighting vampires and the like. You're good at it and you can defend yourself. Besides," he smirked, "if *I* couldn't kill you then I don't think some brainless minion is gonna have much of a shot."

She smiled at this.

"But if something goes wrong, if Red and her little lady are wrong, you won't be able to defend yourself against this."

"That's what they'll be there for," Buffy replied encouragingly. "If something doesn't look right, they can stop it."

"I hope so."

"It will be fine, Spike. I promise."

"Yeah," he said, not convinced. He turned his eyes upward, looking away from her.

"Hey," she said, drawing his gaze back to hers. Her eyes held his for a long time and she brought her hand up to his face, lightly tracing his cheek and lips with her thumb. "I love you," she said at last. "I don't want to lose you, either."

He pulled her back into another kiss, ravenous for her. She pressed against him, her desire matching his, her fingers running through his hair as his lips roamed from her mouth down to her throat. She moaned softly as his hands hungrily slid down her sides to her hips, pulling her even more tightly to him.

"Spike," she said breathlessly, then moaned again as his lips left her throat and worked their way lower. But she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back slightly. "We can't. Now's not the time."

"You said an hour," he growled, kissing her neck and then her mouth again. She returned his kiss with equal fervor a while longer before making another attempt at pushing him back.

"I don't want to rush," she breathed, "and I don't want this to be out of fear." She looked at him intently. "I'll be fine. We have all the time in the world."

He closed his eyes and put his forehead against hers. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

He sighed deeply and looked at her again. "You're right. We've all the time in the world." He forced himself to give her an encouraging smile.

She disengaged herself from him and gave herself a little distance. "Besides, Dawn and I need to run home and get some of her clothes for me."

"Right."

She took his hand and gave it a squeeze then headed out of the room and up the stairs. Spike watched her go, the smile on his face melting away into something much more somber when she disappeared at the top of the stairs. He waited a few minutes longer, then followed her up.

She and Dawn were just leaving through the front door when he reached the top of the stairs. Looking to his right through the beaded curtain that separated this part of the shop from the counter area, Spike could see Willow at the study table rooting about in the back of the robot's neck. Chewing on his lip, he headed over to her.

"A word if I may, Will?"

"Sure, Spike," Willow replied, looking up at him.

"You have to watch out for her," he said with such intensity he almost surprised himself. "If she's in over her head or if it looks like the mojo's gonna do something to her, promise me you'll stop it and get her out of there."

Willow regarded him a moment, her expression partly startled and partly moved. "I will, Spike. We won't let anything happen to her. None of us wants to go there again."

"I know. I just..." he trailed off, not quite sure how to finish.

Willow gave him a small smile and squeezed his arm encouragingly. "I know."

NEXT

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