(Untitled)

[resurrected_b]

The fight with the loony calling himself "the opposite of a slayer" left me pretty damned bruised up, not to mentioned wigged out. It was like he knew all the stuff I'd been worrying about lately. Not being able to stop Maddie's death, how it happened on the spot where Glory's tower was, all of it. Except then I started thinking maybe he knew all

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[_dawnie_]

I plod down the stairs and sit down on the couch with Buffy. We haven't really talked that much in the last litle while. She's seemed distracted and well, I know I've been distracted.

"Whatcha doing?" I ask.

[resurrected_b]

I look up from the Big Book of Omens Giles gave me to look through for clues about someone connected to Glory and sigh. "Not getting very far with the research, that's for sure." I look into the dining room where the others are hunched over similar big books. "Wonder if they've found anything."

I give her a slight smile. "How are you doing, Dawnie? School and stuff going okay? I don't want everything to be about the slayage all the time."

Like it is for me I almost add.

[_dawnie_]

Well, let's see... my much older boyfriend who you don't know about is as hot as always, one of my best friends wolfed out and nearly ate one of my other best friends. Stuff's going about like usual.

"Uh, I joined Drama Club," I offer.

[resurrected_b]

"Drama club? Really?" I blink at her. "I didn't know you wanted to act." I always hated having to do stuff for the talent show--I felt like a total moron in front of an audience.

"Well, that's kind of cool, what play are they doing this year?"

At the same time I flip idly through the book, but nothing jogs my memory.

[_dawnie_]

"Well, you know, Jan is in it, and she kept bugging me... and Jordy and Sophie, a couple of other friends, are in it too." I tuck my hair behind one ear. "I dunno which play it's going to be yet."

[resurrected_b]

"Well, it should be fun if a bunch of your friends are in it, too."

I get the sense there's stuff she's not telling me, but I'm not up for trying to get it out of her. This Maddie thing is frustrating me enough.

I slam the book shut. "Grr, this is a waste of time." I look over at Dawn and hastily assure her, "I don't mean talking to you, I mean the research. I don't get why anyone would be avenging Glory now. It doesn't make sense."

[_dawnie_]

Glory. The sound of her name sends a chill along my spine. I think about the odd little man who cut me, up on top of the tower. It was the blood he drew that caused the portal to open... and then Buffy had thrown herself into it.

I wrap my arms around myself. "Buffy?" I say quietly. "Remember that man? The little old one?"

[resurrected_b]

I see her flinch, and I know how she feels. I hate remembering that night, maybe that's why I have such a block. I frown. "What man? I just remember the warty minion guys. Well, and all the crazy people who were blocking the tower."

Most of the fight is so clear, especially smashing Glory's face in with the hammer, the rage I felt. And then running to the top to get Dawn, only to find her already bleeding. "Oh god, you mean the guy I pushed off?" I hadn't even turned to look at him.

[_dawnie_]

I can see it all again; his face in the dim light on top of the tower. The knife. How much it hurt. I shiver. "He c-cut me. He--." I stop, shaking my head.

Worse than being cut was seeing her dead at the bottom... but I can't say that to her.

[resurrected_b]

"But who was he? It wasn't one of the minions? Was he some kind of demon, because if a person had fallen off of that it would have--" I look at her face and stop myself. A person had.

But my mind races. Could the guy have survived the fall, and only now decided to have his revenge?

[_dawnie_]

The look on her face tells me what she's thinking.

"Could it be him?" I ask her.

[resurrected_b]

I shrug, and haul myself up off the couch. "As good a guess as any. We may as well run it by the others."

I head toward the dining room, but a noise outside makes me turn. "Did you hear that, Dawn?"

[freckled_witch]

I heard Dawn's footsteps rumblin' down the stairs a second before she appeared in the living room, I look at her hopefully, but get a small wave as she enters the living room. Damn. I was hoping for some study-buddy action (why does that sounds wrong?). My eyes bleary, barely open, a tinge of sadness overwhelms me as I turn back to one of Giles' big ol' dusty books. Any other time I would have welcomed its company, but right now I seemed to be re-reading the same passage over and over with little to no result.

What was worse was I drank all of the coffee in the house, and I hadn't seen Tara all day, or Xander...

[_dawnie_]

Buffy has gone outside to find the source of the noise she heard, and I wander in and find Willow in the dining room. "Hey," I say. "How's it going?"

[freckled_witch]

"Pointlessly, I just, well, not pointlessly there'd be a point of it were pointless. I have no point. Just a rounded surface that keeps leading me back to the same conclusion." I sigh, slamming the book shut, "That I can't find anything."

[_dawnie_]

I smile at her, not very convincingly. Even thinking about that Doc guy totally creeped me out.

"Buff heard something outside and went to check it out, all Slayer-like." I shrug, feeling unsettled.