Seeking Vengeance

 Chapter 9 - Sweet Honesty

I could see what was happening. Of course, they made me live through the bad bits over and over. It was only when I could put things together that I realised she was safe. The bit. My little bit. Her first real date, and it was with a vamp. Like me. Of course, I know only too well what could have happened to her. She survived, though, thanks to her sister and Giles.  Even managed to stake him in the end.

When they got the call from Janice's mum, they headed out - Rupert to find Buffy who'd gone on patrol, and the witches to the Bronze. The watcher found Buffy close to my crypt, and fortunately that wasn't far from where it was all happening. So, it was ok in the end. But, Buffy's reaction wasn't right. It was almost as if Dawn was just another victim of Sunnydale's other population. I mean, she said the words. She told her she was stupid, that she shouldn't have done what she did, but there was no feeling in it.

She left it to Rupert to do the parent job. That was what made him think about going home. What happened after just convinced him.

That night, the witches had problems. Again. They'd argued about using magic to help find Dawn, both of them saying things that hurt. When Tara made it clear that she didn't want to talk, Willow did what she always did. She had a problem, so she wiggled her fingers to sort it out. She made Tara forget about their disagreement.

Tara found the token of the spell next morning, but she didn't understand its significance at first. Well, they did have other things to think about. You see, Dawn had picked up the pendant Xander had dropped.

The world had become a Hollywood musical overnight. Thing about the demon, Sweet, was that his music made people's tongue's a bit loose. They couldn't keep secrets any more. First victims among the scoobs were the Whelp and the ex-demon. They were both having doubts about their still-secret engagement. Anya was feeling sidelined, and was only too aware of how much of Xander's attention was being taken by Buffy since she came back. And Xander's feelings about Buffy came out then too. Of course, stupid git hadn't actually made up his mind how he was feeling at that point, but his doubts were obvious. So, they weren't the happiest of couples after that.

And Rupert's doubts about being in Sunnydale were made clearer. After the way Buffy left him to deal with Dawn's indiscretions, and the way she leaned so heavily on him and the other Scoobies while trying to work out why they were all singing, he was persuaded that she'd be better off without him. Of course, that was before Buffy's bombshell. Not that it made any difference.

She nearly burned. That was the other side-effect of Sweet's music. People got so wrapped up in it that they started to smoulder, then burst into flames. Buffy sang about her time in heaven. They all stood and watched, stupefied. The witches cried a bit, Rupert was his usual stoic self, and Xander, well, I don't think he really understood the significance of what she sang.

She was smoking nicely before someone thought to stop her. It was Dawn. Dawn was the only one of the crew who wasn't shocked at her announcement that she had been in heaven.  She was the only one who could stop her going up in flames. Maybe it was because she was the only one of them who didn't feel responsible. Of course, Rupert wasn't actually there, didn't actually help with the spell, but he's always felt responsible for all of them. I mean, not a one of them had what you'd call a happy home life. Well, not since Joyce .. So, he thought he was the big daddy of them all, and he took a share of the blame. Still didn't change his mind about leaving.

Of course, the news that the Whelp was actually responsible for the whole extravaganza would've been funny if it hadn't threatened my girls. When it was all over, and Tara had worked out that Willow had been playing with her mind, and Rupert had decided to go, fly back to Jolly Old England, my girls were left. Left with two witches who were trying to come to terms with a relationship that was in serious trouble. Except, one of them didn't realise it yet.

Dawn needed Buffy that night. But Buffy .. she needed something too. Problem was, she didn't even know what it was. She left before the end of the group sing, and headed back to my crypt.

If I'd still been there, I'd have been happy to see how much time she wanted to spend there. As it was, it seemed to be the only place she could find peace. I'd have thought it was a bit close to her own grave for that, but then, maybe .. Maybe that was what it was. Maybe being in a crypt, she could pretend that she was still dead, and didn't have any responsibilities.

That night, she found the whisky again, and she fell asleep in my chair. The witches both went out early, Tara because she wanted time to think, Willow because she was annoyed at Tara being distant. She hadn't realised that the cat was out of the bag. She didn't understand why Tara was upset. Anyway. her conscience was clear, on the grounds that she'd acted to make Tara happy. So, Dawn was the one who found Buffy hadn't come home.

She called Xander, and this time he knew where to find her.