"Stubborn Souls", BtVS/Dead Like Me, R, part 8
Once George said she'd helped as much as she could, she left, presumably with Lauren trailing after her. Buffy and Giles hung up, as well, saying that the Seattle contingent obviously had everything well in hand. Dawn didn't move from her seat on the floor. She kept paging through her notes, hoping for something useful to jump out at her.
"How are we going to convince him?" she asked, when Xander, who had been dealing with the phone, sank back against the sofa back with a sigh.
"I think we need to convince him that people he cares about are in danger," Faith said. "You wouldn't believe how far he went towards the end there, to save his friends. The plan he came up with to take down Angelus..." She put her hand up to her neck, where Dawn could see the marks of a vampire's bite. Apparently, even Slayer healing couldn't get rid of those scars. Buffy still had faint ones from when Angel had bitten her right before her graduation from high school.
"I remember," Willow said, putting her hand on Faith's arm. Faith jerked her hand away from her neck and leaned back against the sofa, trying to look nonchalant. "And he did say that he went to a very dark place, even though I never got the whole story there. Did you?"
Faith shook her head.
"We don't really know anyone he cares that much about anymore," Xander said. "Everyone's kind of dead. We need a plan."
"Shouldn't we find him first?" Bree asked. "I mean, the Theo Brown him."
"Good point, Bree," Xander said. "Any ideas?"
"We could set a trap for him," Liz said. "We know he'll show up when someone dies from supernatural causes."
Faith sat up at that. "You're saying we should let someone get killed. Fuck no."
"Not let someone get killed," Liz said, "but if we knew..." She trailed off, finally thinking it through.
"And he wouldn't necessarily show up," Dawn said. "He said he has four or five Reapers in his division, right? So it might not work anyway."
"We don't let people get killed," Faith said.
"Of course we don't," Xander said, nudging her shoulder with his. "We'll find another way."
"I wonder if he has a car?" Willow said. "I could hack into the DMV - or oh! - he must have an apartment or house. I could -"
"Why don't we check the phonebook?" Bree said. "He might have a phone."
Willow stared at her, then laughed. "Sounds like a plan," she said.
There turned out to be fourteen Theodore or T. Browns in the Greater Seattle phonebook. Kristin and Jen took turns calling them, but only one had a British accent. Jen, who was from Tennessee, exaggerated her own accent and explained that she was looking for her uncle, but that this T. Brown obviously wasn't him. After she hung up, she looked at the phone.
"He may have pegged me," she said. "Unless he always sounds that dry."
"Well, he is British," Dawn said.
"Then we'd better get over there as soon as we can," Faith said. "Let's go."
"We still don't have a plan for convincing him to help us," Willow said.
"How about we all sit on him until he does?" Faith said, obviously exasperated.
"That would work for me," Xander said, grinning at all of them and earning several elbows to the ribs and punches to the arm.
"Faith," Willow said, but luckily the doorbell rang before she could go on. Dawn almost sprinted to answer the door; she hated when people she liked fought.
Oz stood on the doorstep.
Dawn hustled him inside and slammed the door shut.
"Is it safe for you to be here?" she asked as everyone else came pouring into the hall. "What if Judith has this place watched?"
"She doesn't," Oz said. "I'm afraid I can't help you guys as much as I thought I could. She's not a very sharing person."
"You're not under mind control," Willow said. It was definitely a statement, not a question, but Oz raised his eyebrows at her.
"We had to check," Xander said.
Oz smiled a little, but shook his head. "I went to her voluntarily, so she didn't see the need. She thinks everyone should think the way that she does."
"I got that," Willow said.
"You can't tell us anything useful?" Faith asked.
Oz shook his head again. "What she told you was pretty much the truth. She's amazingly arrogant about her powers - she thinks you don't pose any threat at all."
"Not even Willow?" Xander asked, looking grim.
Oz shrugged. "She's got that magical shield, and she thinks it'll stand up to anything."
"I think so, too," Willow said. "What we need is to disrupt the source of her power so her shield drops - that power is not coming from inside her. We have an idea for that."
"Good," Oz said, relaxing just a little bit.
"But we need to convince Wesley to admit he's really him, so he can help us figure out the details. We're not sure just telling him what we know of Judith's plans will do that."
Oz blinked several times, then seemed to shrug off his questions.
"I can help with that," he said. "I'll convince him."
"Great," Xander said, then turned to Faith. "Now we can go."
"Thank you," she said, but she grinned at him as she said it.
Luckily, it was towards the end of rush hour, so the traffic wasn't that bad. It also occurred to Dawn on the way over that Wesley might have already left for his Reaping duties, but he opened the door almost as soon as Faith knocked on it, making her think Jen had been right, and he had been expecting them. He didn't invite them in, just stepped aside so they could all enter. They did rather fill the not-large living room of the apartment, and Wesley laughed as he looked around at all of them.
"Do sit down," he said. "I don't believe I have enough cups for all of you, but if some of you would like some tea...no? Ah." He sat down on a big leather armchair and regarded them all. "To what do I owe the honor?"
"C'mon, Wes," Faith said, dropping down into another armchair. "You know we know."
Willow giggled. "We know you know we know."
Wesley raised one eyebrow at her. "I'll tell you what you want to know if you tell me why Dawn looks like a pretty young woman one moment and a ball of glowing green energy the next. It's a very pretty green," he added after a few moments of silence.
Dawn sank down onto the arm of Faith's chair, crossing her arms over her chest. Once a Watcher, always a Watcher; Giles had been right. She should have known what his price would be.
"Dawnie?" Willow said. She and Xander had sat down on the leather loveseat that completed the little conversational grouping around a battered coffee table. The younger Slayers ranged themselves behind Dawn and Faith; Dawn appreciated the show of support, since she knew they didn't know what was going on.
"You tell it," Dawn said, knowing she was behaving badly and not caring. She was glad she hadn't sat down next to Willow or Xander; Faith wasn't someone who would reach out and pat her for comfort or anything like that.
Willow began the story of how Dawn had originally been pure energy, designed, or existing, to open the gates between all dimensions. How some monks had formed her out of the Slayer and sent her to Buffy. How the hell-god that Buffy had been supposed to protect her from had terrorized them for months, until they had managed to defeat her with the unfortunate side-effect of Buffy's death. Not that Dawn could claim any part of Glory's defeat; she'd been trussed up like the proverbial virgin sacrifice, not able to help either Spike or Buffy, not even able to prevent herself from being sacrificed. Hearing it all over again made Dawn want to squirm with embarrassment, but she forced herself to sit still. They had other - bigger - problems than her embarrassment.
"I never did hear the whole story," Wesley said when Willow had finished. "I remember when Angel went to see Buffy after she came back to life," and here, he looked amused for no reason that Dawn could see, "but we had other problems just then."
"We weren't advertising any of this, for obvious reasons," Willow said. "There are most likely other people out there who would like to use Dawn's power, so we don't want to let anyone know she has it."
"I understand, of course," Wesley said.
"So, Junior Watcher," Xander said. "We fulfilled our part of the bargain. Pay up."
"I'm a Reaper now," Wesley said. "Don't call me that." He sighed when Xander grinned at him. "What do you want to know?"
"When we visited Judith, she had a graveling in her study with her," Willow said.
"A graveling? How do you know - how do you know she has a graveling?"
"George was with us, and she told us," Willow said. "She said it looked sad, and like it wanted her to help it."
"I can't picture a graveling looking sad," Wesley said.
"She was a bit freaked out by it," Willow said, "but here's the thing. Judith uses magic in a very unusual way - almost sideways from the way it's normally used. She also has extremely strong shields against both magical and mundane attacks. We think she may be tapping into the graveling's power somehow and using it to fuel her magic."
"Interesting theory," Wesley said. "What do you expect me to do about it?"
"We expect you to help us," Xander said. "Judith wants to take over the world, and Willow thinks she can do it if we don't stop her. Is that what you want."
Wesley shrugged and crossed one knee over the other. "It won't affect me, one way or the other. People will still die from supernatural causes, and that's my, well, it's my life now."
"C'mon, Wes, you can't really mean that," Faith said.
Wesley studied her for a few moments. "I must, I'm afraid," he said.
"But it will affect you," Oz said. He was still standing over by the door, arms by his sides, like he'd never been more comfortable in his life.
"How so?" Wesley said.
"Judith wants to end death," Oz said. Dawn goggled at him, and she wasn't the only one.
"That's not possible," Wesley said.
Oz shrugged. "I didn't really take her seriously when she said it, but if she has somehow tapped into a graveling's power, I'm having to rethink. Can you really take the chance?"
Wesley didn't say anything for a few minutes, and everyone else was silent, allowing him his time to think.
"I will consult with my colleagues," Wesley said, standing up. "I will contact you as soon as I have made a decision."
Everyone else stood up and headed towards the door, Willow and Xander thanking Wesley as they passed him. Dawn didn't say anything. Every time someone else found out about her true origins, it made her feel a little more exposed. Faith punched Wesley's shoulder as she walked by him.
"Not liking the new look, Wes," she said. "But it's good to see you."
Wesley waited until she was almost out the door before he said, "You, too, Faith."
****************
"What the fuck were you thinking?"
George crossed her arms over her chest, sank down onto her tailbone in the booth, and stared at Rube as he continued yelling at her. She didn't even bother defending herself. Rube needed to explode all over her before he could calm down and deal with this rationally. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mason moving his fingers like little villagers running from a volcano. She wanted to laugh, but instead made her face look sullen, which was more like what Rube expected. Besides, Wesley would be here soon, and he could explain. These were his type of people they were helping, anyway. Daisy walked up just then and slid into the booth beside her.
"Oo, what has Georgia done now?" she asked.
Rube obviously struggled with what to say to her. George suspected that he wanted to tell her to mind her own business, because that's what he usually said to Daisy in times like these, but he couldn't say that this time.
"We'll wait for Wesley," he said finally. "No point in going over it again and again."
Roxy seemed to appear out of nowhere and sat down next to Daisy. As usual, Daisy somehow managed to get most of the room in the booth, and George felt completely squished against the side. She didn't bother to complain.
"All of them?" Wesley said, also seeming to appear out of nowhere. This was really starting to annoy George. Why couldn't she do that? Wesley looked at Mason and Rube, then pulled a chair over, placed it at the end of the booth, and sat down. "Is that really necessary?" he added.
"Not at all," Roxy said, but Rube glared at her.
"Yes, it damn well is," he said. "I don't want this happening again."
Wesley looked amused. "I hardly think it's likely to happen again, but as you wish."
"Well?" Rube said. "Care to explain how you and one of my own Reapers have lost your minds?"
Wesley's smile deepened. "Now, how can I answer that? Obviously I don't think we've lost our minds."
"What the fuck is going on?" Mason said. He'd been looking back and forth between Wesley and Rube like a tennis match.
"You were there when George's Reap went missing, correct?" Wesley asked him. At Mason's nod, he said, "The reason her Reap has been recalcitrant is because she's a Slayer, and they're notorious for not doing what they're supposed to do."
George had no idea what 'recalcitrant' meant, but she wasn't about to interrupt him when he was taking the burden of explaining everything off of her.
"I don't see Lauren, by the way," Wesley said.
"She's over there," George said, pointing to a booth off in a corner. "Rube didn't -"
"She doesn't need to be here for this," Rube said, glowering at both George and Wesley at the same time, and since they were on opposite sides of the table, that was pretty impressive. "Go on."
"Slayers fight the things that go bump in the night," Wesley said, and went on to explain everything George had learned in the past few days about the supernatural world. Daisy seemed to take it all in stride, though it was always hard to tell with her, and Roxy just looked bored. Mason, of course, had already known about werewolves and vampires being real, though he listened avidly as Wesley talked. When Wesley got to the part about Judith wanting to take over the world, George felt herself becoming as sullen as she had tried to look. It just sounded so stupid, no wonder Rube was annoyed.
"Take over the world?" Daisy said, staring at Wesley with her head on one side. "You mean she wants to be president? That would be neat, a female president."
Wesley shook his head at her. "Much, much more than that. And we wouldn't like the world once she'd take it over; people who want to do that also want to make the world over into their image, and trust me, you don't want that."
"Not to mention that we'd all be out of a job," George said.
Everyone turned and stared at her.
"What does that mean?" Roxy said. "Even if some crazy-ass witch decides to take over the world, people will still die. She'd still need Reapers, even if she knew we exist. Which she doesn't."
"Don't be so certain of that," Wesley said, and everyone looked back at him, making George sag with relief. She told herself not to speak up again. "Judith has a graveling tied to her - apparently, it's the source of her power. And we have it on good authority that one of her plans, once she's taken over the world, is to end death."
"That's not possible," Rube said.
Wesley shrugged. "I wouldn't have thought it possible that she could imprison a graveling and use its power for her own," he said. "I don't think I want to count on anything being impossible where she is concerned. We need to operate on the assumption that she can do exactly what she says she wants to do. How do we stop her?"
"That's not our job," Rube said. "Those people you knew when you were alive - it's their job. If you get a post-it for one of them while they're fighting this Judith, you'll fucking take the soul. That's your job."
Wesley sighed. "I know that, and I will, if it comes to that. But they can't figure out how to defeat Judith - and trust me, these are resourceful people. If they could do it, they would find a way. Judith's changed the game by using a graveling for the source of her power. My...my former friends can't even see it, let alone disrupt that connection. I think it's up to us."
Rube banged both fists on the table, making everyone jump. "We don't interfere in the lives of the living, and we don't interfere in their deaths. We're just there to take the souls. That's it, that's the natural order of things. End of story."
"But if she's going to end death, won't that interfere in the natural order of things?" Daisy asked. She actually looked serious for once. "I mean, having no one die would not be natural. The world is already overcrowded enough."
Rube looked around at all of them. "Do you all think we should help these people?"
George nodded immediately, and Daisy did a moment later. Mason and Roxy thought about it for a few moments, but then they both nodded, too.
"It isn't right, what she's trying to do," Roxy said. "I still can't believe it's possible, but if it is, who better to stop her than Grim Reapers?"
"I won't be part of this; I can't be part of this," Rube said. "Excuse me, Mason."
Everyone was quiet as he left. Mason slid over to where Rube had been sitting, and Wesley slid into the booth after him.
"Does anyone have any ideas about how to stop her?" he asked.
"It has to start with the graveling," George said. "You can't imagine how fucking sad it looked, and I never thought I'd feel sorry for a fucking graveling."
"No, I fucking can't," Mason said.
"I don't understand how someone is using a graveling, creepy things," Roxy said. "But then, I've never really understood gravelings, anyway. Where do they come from?"
Wesley shook his head and shrugged, but George, Daisy, and Mason didn't say anything. Or look at each other. Wesley narrowed his eyes at them.
"You three know something, don't you?"
George tried to look innocent, and could see Daisy and Mason doing the same, but it wasn't working.
"I'm not Rube," Wesley said. "I don't care if it you bent the rules to find out something, especially when that something could be useful. Spill, you three."
"It's really Mason's story to tell," Daisy said, and George could have kissed her.
"Fuck that," Mason said, but under the combined glares of George and Daisy, he gave in. "Gravelings are the souls of people who died without a post-it."
Wesley leaned back against the booth, looking intrigued. "I'm not going to ask how you know that," he said.
"I am," Roxy said, glaring at Mason.
"Later," Wesley said. "All right, if gravelings are actually the souls of people, it explains how Judith imprisoned one."
"It does?" George said.
"There are many ways to trap a soul," Wesley said. "It's all the darkest of magics, of course, and I have no idea how she found out that gravelings are souls, but once she did, she could trap it fairly easily. And souls have a lot of power; I don't know how to use it myself, but I'm fairly certain Judith would have found resources out there to tell her how to do it."
"Good," George said. "So, Willow can use this info to take Judith out, Lauren will finally move on, and my life can go back to normal."
"I'm afraid it's not quite that simple," Wesley said. "Soul magic is extremely powerful. Extremely dangerous to the practitioner, especially to his or her own soul, but powerful enough that I think Willow could disrupt it. I do know that it generally entails tying the trapped soul, and the practitioner's soul together so tightly that it's impossible to separate them this side of death. And Willow said that Judith's magical and mundane shields are so powerful that she wouldn't be able to get through them."
"But where does that leave us?" George said. "You keep saying it's impossible."
Wesley nodded. "It does seem that way, but then it often does. I hate to suggest this, but does anyone know how to kill a graveling?"
"George does," Mason said.
George put her arms down on the table and her head down on her arms. Damn it, she was a Reaper, not a super-hero. But somehow, she the world kept making her do things she didn't want to do.