And here's the new, new part.
Title: Truth & Possibilities 3/?
Author: Appomattoxco
Rating: FRT violence and some strong language
Pairings: It will be Giles/Anya with Spike and Dawn friendships.
Summary: Very AU Post the episode “The Gift” The summer after Buffy dies, Giles and Anya find out more about Dawn and the Key.
A/N: This story is dedicated to LJS and Zanthinegirl. It’s beta by the wonderful JaneDavitt and Agilebrit is as usual an invaluable sounding board.
Dawn’s first thought was that at least the landing was softer this time, and she really didn’t want to move. The grass was bright green and the blades were fuzzy like mom’s African violets. It was warm and soft here and it smelled good too, but everyone was yelling at her to get up for some reason. Pretending to be unconscious sounded like a good plan to her. It would be nice not to have to get up and face reality.
Anya said, “Dawn, I know you must be very tired but you can’t sleep here. I think we could be in Ghrub Reet, this is just the sort of place to have bunnies!”
A very young voice asked what a bunny was. He sounded pretty calm now for a kid who'd just seen his father killed by a bed and then been kidnapped by a green glow. Anya started to explain the horror of bunnies but Giles must’ve given her a kiss or one of his scary looks because she sort of huffed to a stop. Probably a kiss; Anya wasn’t scared of his evil eye. It was still weird that they kissed so much. Not that they groped each other all the time but that they felt that way at all. She’d been so mad at them both; Xander was like her big brother and now he was moving away. When she found out and blew up at them Anya had looked so sad and Giles had seemed so resigned. Dawn just didn’t have the heart to be angry at losing Xander. She just couldn’t join Willow’s ‘I hate Giles and Anya party’ it would only mean more grief, and she was up to her eyeballs in that already. Dawn felt like she was starting to drift off again for real. Maybe they would all just forget about her and let her sleep.
Spike said, “I don’t see any rabbits, but look over there; pastel colored bison!” That was enough to get Dawn up. Looking around her, she saw woods filled with velvety grass and bright flowers and weird trees but there wasn’t a bison in sight. Spike said, “Faker.” Dawn smacked him on the arm.
Giles said, “If Anya is right, the natives are relatively peaceful, wherever they are, but there could be some dangerous animals. Do you think you can walk, Dawn?”
“Do we want to go to the cooking fires?” the kid asked after sniffing the air like a vampire. Dawn couldn’t smell a thing, but Spike and the creepy preschooler both said there was a village or camp near by.
Dawn asked, “How do you know it’s not just a forest fire or something?” The sleeping might’ve been a little fake, but the shakes weren’t, and Dawn walked leaning on Giles and Spike for a few steps.
“I can smell bread and something like onions and cabbage; not my idea of a feast. It either means the folk are vegetarians or they’re very bad hunters,” Spike said, “You lot might not be on the menu if you drop in for dinner.”
“There isn’t meat,” the boy agreed after another freaky sniff.
Dawn noticed Giles trying to decide if the kid was something that was going to eat them all in their sleep. That was good, better than him thinking the kid was cute. She knew that it was her own fault that sniffy boy had gotten dragged into this, but she wouldn’t want to be tossed over for a younger model so soon. Maybe she should start calling Giles ‘dad’-- it might be worth the weirdness.
“We need to go faster. Going slow gets you eaten,” the creepy kid urged. Dawn felt really guilty over the fact that her bed killed somebody right in front of him, but the kid’s attitude was wigging her a little.
“So, do you have a real name, or will we just be calling you Pugsley?” Spike asked, as if he wouldn’t be calling the kid ‘Pugsley’ from now on anyway. It fit and was funny but now she’d have the darn The Addam’s Family song stuck in her head.
“I’m Stephen,” the boy said, which started introductions all around.
“We should sing.” Anya said. “If there are bunnies around they will hear us and hop away before we arrive. Otherwise, we could startle one unexpectedly and give it an excuse to attack.” Dawn wasn’t surprised to see everyone but Stephen mentally replace ‘bunny’ with ‘bear’, or ‘bear-like thing.’ She wasn’t even surprised that Giles was the first to see it was a good idea and sing. What surprised her was that he knew some of the words to The Addam’s Family theme song.
Dawn saw plenty of creatures crawl or fly out of their way as they walked along singing the whole TV land songbook. All of the feathered or scaly things looked more SciFi than Animal Planet but there wasn’t anything big or threatening. For the most part, she stumbled along too tired to care.
She had begun to wish that she was small enough to be carried when she heard the hoof beats. There were five demons with way too much skin riding big shaggy horses. The biggest one pointed a spear at Giles and asked, “Did you fall from the hole in the sky?”
Giles said yes, and Dawn could tell he was thinking the same as she was; that they were dead meat. All the books Dawn had read had said this was where the natives put up a stake to roast them all on. Oh, there might be a brief period where they were first worshiped as gods, but that never lasted long. Maybe they’d let her sleep a little first. Maybe she’d freak again and open another portal. Dawn imagined dragging the five demons and their horses, too, this time. She envisioned herself going from one dimension to the next. Picking up new beings at every stop. She almost could hear Giles sing about it to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Dawn tried hard to focus on what was going on. Another demon pointed a spear at her and bared his teeth. Her ears were starting to ring again so she was sure she misunderstood when the demon said in a concerned voice, “Do you need a place to crash? No pun intended, you know, but the one with the shiny hair looks sick. ”
Then everything got blurry and before she passed out Dawn said, “Well, at least there’s no green.”
Dawn was trapped; it was as if that potion Willow had given her hadn’t gotten rid of the nightmares, but had locked them in a closet. Now, Dawn was in there with them, and they were really pissed off. Every monster real or imagined reached out to grab her. Her mother’s corpse insisted she wasn’t real, and her sister called her a murder. Dawn would wake up now and then. Giles or Spike would be there making her drink from a straw that was really straw, a few times Anya was washing her like Dawn had a bad fever. She kept slipping back.
The nightmare became a dream when she followed the cat that turned into a cougar. It led her into the desert and as they walked velvety grass grew and the sun softened. Tara appeared beside the cat. “You’ve made yourself a soft, green bed, rest for a while.”
“But don’t I need to find the others and go home?” Dawn asked, but she did as she was told.
Tara said, “Don’t worry, you’ll get your sister back one way or the other.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“Some dreams tell you what to ask. Knowing the question is half the battle,” Tara said, and vanished with the cat.
Dawn wasn’t alone for long; Giles, Anya, Spike and Stephen came to lie down next to her. Spike said, “Look, that one's a bunny rabbit,” and pointed up. Something was wrong with the sky; it looked like the pages of a story book.
Giles said, “Shut up, Spike, you’re just trying to scare everyone. Besides, it’s clearly a cat; the story is all about cats.”
Anya said, “You’re both wrong; it’s a bunny effigy. See, it’s made of fabric and not a real bunny. You’re both reading Alice, but that’s not the true story.”
“I’ve lived the real story. I tried to play the skin-horse and no one listened,” Giles said.
Dawn asked, “Is the skin-horse like the drums? I’d listen, honest.”
“I know you would, but I’d rather read Alice. I will protect you from the rabbit, dear.” Giles said to Anya.
Anya said, “We’ll protect each other.”
“I’ve read that bunny story!” Stephen interrupted, sounding pleased with himself. “Doesn’t it end in conflagration?”
“Think I’ll pass on the fiery death, and Alice is a right nice girl. I say that it’s a cat,” Spike said.
Dawn was confused. “I thought it was reading Oz; am I completely lost? How do I get us all home?”
Anya said, “Well, there’s a good witch and a bad one; the metaphor gets a little stretched because Oz is gone. I doubt clicking your heels will do any good. You need to focus. Maybe you should try a crystal? Did I ever tell you about the time I met L Frank Baum’s mother-in-law?”
The first thing she noticed was her father’s worried face. She wanted to ask where she was. It wasn’t her room or a hospital room so she knew she hadn’t done a complete Dorothy. Her throat felt like a something furry had rolled in sand then crawled inside it to die. All she managed say was “Da-”
Giles held a drink up for her. “Dawn, stay with me this time, it’s time to wake up.”
Author: Appomattoxco
Rating: FRT violence and some strong language
Pairings: It will be Giles/Anya with Spike and Dawn friendships.
Summary: Very AU Post the episode “The Gift” The summer after Buffy dies, Giles and Anya find out more about Dawn and the Key.
A/N: This story is dedicated to LJS and Zanthinegirl. It’s beta by the wonderful JaneDavitt and Agilebrit is as usual an invaluable sounding board.
Dawn’s first thought was that at least the landing was softer this time, and she really didn’t want to move. The grass was bright green and the blades were fuzzy like mom’s African violets. It was warm and soft here and it smelled good too, but everyone was yelling at her to get up for some reason. Pretending to be unconscious sounded like a good plan to her. It would be nice not to have to get up and face reality.
Anya said, “Dawn, I know you must be very tired but you can’t sleep here. I think we could be in Ghrub Reet, this is just the sort of place to have bunnies!”
A very young voice asked what a bunny was. He sounded pretty calm now for a kid who'd just seen his father killed by a bed and then been kidnapped by a green glow. Anya started to explain the horror of bunnies but Giles must’ve given her a kiss or one of his scary looks because she sort of huffed to a stop. Probably a kiss; Anya wasn’t scared of his evil eye. It was still weird that they kissed so much. Not that they groped each other all the time but that they felt that way at all. She’d been so mad at them both; Xander was like her big brother and now he was moving away. When she found out and blew up at them Anya had looked so sad and Giles had seemed so resigned. Dawn just didn’t have the heart to be angry at losing Xander. She just couldn’t join Willow’s ‘I hate Giles and Anya party’ it would only mean more grief, and she was up to her eyeballs in that already. Dawn felt like she was starting to drift off again for real. Maybe they would all just forget about her and let her sleep.
Spike said, “I don’t see any rabbits, but look over there; pastel colored bison!” That was enough to get Dawn up. Looking around her, she saw woods filled with velvety grass and bright flowers and weird trees but there wasn’t a bison in sight. Spike said, “Faker.” Dawn smacked him on the arm.
Giles said, “If Anya is right, the natives are relatively peaceful, wherever they are, but there could be some dangerous animals. Do you think you can walk, Dawn?”
“Do we want to go to the cooking fires?” the kid asked after sniffing the air like a vampire. Dawn couldn’t smell a thing, but Spike and the creepy preschooler both said there was a village or camp near by.
Dawn asked, “How do you know it’s not just a forest fire or something?” The sleeping might’ve been a little fake, but the shakes weren’t, and Dawn walked leaning on Giles and Spike for a few steps.
“I can smell bread and something like onions and cabbage; not my idea of a feast. It either means the folk are vegetarians or they’re very bad hunters,” Spike said, “You lot might not be on the menu if you drop in for dinner.”
“There isn’t meat,” the boy agreed after another freaky sniff.
Dawn noticed Giles trying to decide if the kid was something that was going to eat them all in their sleep. That was good, better than him thinking the kid was cute. She knew that it was her own fault that sniffy boy had gotten dragged into this, but she wouldn’t want to be tossed over for a younger model so soon. Maybe she should start calling Giles ‘dad’-- it might be worth the weirdness.
“We need to go faster. Going slow gets you eaten,” the creepy kid urged. Dawn felt really guilty over the fact that her bed killed somebody right in front of him, but the kid’s attitude was wigging her a little.
“So, do you have a real name, or will we just be calling you Pugsley?” Spike asked, as if he wouldn’t be calling the kid ‘Pugsley’ from now on anyway. It fit and was funny but now she’d have the darn The Addam’s Family song stuck in her head.
“I’m Stephen,” the boy said, which started introductions all around.
“We should sing.” Anya said. “If there are bunnies around they will hear us and hop away before we arrive. Otherwise, we could startle one unexpectedly and give it an excuse to attack.” Dawn wasn’t surprised to see everyone but Stephen mentally replace ‘bunny’ with ‘bear’, or ‘bear-like thing.’ She wasn’t even surprised that Giles was the first to see it was a good idea and sing. What surprised her was that he knew some of the words to The Addam’s Family theme song.
Dawn saw plenty of creatures crawl or fly out of their way as they walked along singing the whole TV land songbook. All of the feathered or scaly things looked more SciFi than Animal Planet but there wasn’t anything big or threatening. For the most part, she stumbled along too tired to care.
She had begun to wish that she was small enough to be carried when she heard the hoof beats. There were five demons with way too much skin riding big shaggy horses. The biggest one pointed a spear at Giles and asked, “Did you fall from the hole in the sky?”
Giles said yes, and Dawn could tell he was thinking the same as she was; that they were dead meat. All the books Dawn had read had said this was where the natives put up a stake to roast them all on. Oh, there might be a brief period where they were first worshiped as gods, but that never lasted long. Maybe they’d let her sleep a little first. Maybe she’d freak again and open another portal. Dawn imagined dragging the five demons and their horses, too, this time. She envisioned herself going from one dimension to the next. Picking up new beings at every stop. She almost could hear Giles sing about it to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Dawn tried hard to focus on what was going on. Another demon pointed a spear at her and bared his teeth. Her ears were starting to ring again so she was sure she misunderstood when the demon said in a concerned voice, “Do you need a place to crash? No pun intended, you know, but the one with the shiny hair looks sick. ”
Then everything got blurry and before she passed out Dawn said, “Well, at least there’s no green.”
Dawn was trapped; it was as if that potion Willow had given her hadn’t gotten rid of the nightmares, but had locked them in a closet. Now, Dawn was in there with them, and they were really pissed off. Every monster real or imagined reached out to grab her. Her mother’s corpse insisted she wasn’t real, and her sister called her a murder. Dawn would wake up now and then. Giles or Spike would be there making her drink from a straw that was really straw, a few times Anya was washing her like Dawn had a bad fever. She kept slipping back.
The nightmare became a dream when she followed the cat that turned into a cougar. It led her into the desert and as they walked velvety grass grew and the sun softened. Tara appeared beside the cat. “You’ve made yourself a soft, green bed, rest for a while.”
“But don’t I need to find the others and go home?” Dawn asked, but she did as she was told.
Tara said, “Don’t worry, you’ll get your sister back one way or the other.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“Some dreams tell you what to ask. Knowing the question is half the battle,” Tara said, and vanished with the cat.
Dawn wasn’t alone for long; Giles, Anya, Spike and Stephen came to lie down next to her. Spike said, “Look, that one's a bunny rabbit,” and pointed up. Something was wrong with the sky; it looked like the pages of a story book.
Giles said, “Shut up, Spike, you’re just trying to scare everyone. Besides, it’s clearly a cat; the story is all about cats.”
Anya said, “You’re both wrong; it’s a bunny effigy. See, it’s made of fabric and not a real bunny. You’re both reading Alice, but that’s not the true story.”
“I’ve lived the real story. I tried to play the skin-horse and no one listened,” Giles said.
Dawn asked, “Is the skin-horse like the drums? I’d listen, honest.”
“I know you would, but I’d rather read Alice. I will protect you from the rabbit, dear.” Giles said to Anya.
Anya said, “We’ll protect each other.”
“I’ve read that bunny story!” Stephen interrupted, sounding pleased with himself. “Doesn’t it end in conflagration?”
“Think I’ll pass on the fiery death, and Alice is a right nice girl. I say that it’s a cat,” Spike said.
Dawn was confused. “I thought it was reading Oz; am I completely lost? How do I get us all home?”
Anya said, “Well, there’s a good witch and a bad one; the metaphor gets a little stretched because Oz is gone. I doubt clicking your heels will do any good. You need to focus. Maybe you should try a crystal? Did I ever tell you about the time I met L Frank Baum’s mother-in-law?”
The first thing she noticed was her father’s worried face. She wanted to ask where she was. It wasn’t her room or a hospital room so she knew she hadn’t done a complete Dorothy. Her throat felt like a something furry had rolled in sand then crawled inside it to die. All she managed say was “Da-”
Giles held a drink up for her. “Dawn, stay with me this time, it’s time to wake up.”