White Knight's War

The White Knight’s War

Author :~ pixel

Rated: R mostly, but maybe some NC-17 later ~ depends how it goes
Ship: xander/graham/oc

Disclaimer: I own nothing, claim nothing, they all still belong to Joss et al and I’m just
borrowing for a while.

Authors Notes 1: Ok this is probably going to have slash, bad language, character
death and buffy bashing ~ so if you don’t like ~ don’t read. I don’t have a beta
so all mistakes are mine ~ if you point them out I’ll try to fix them. There’s an
explanation etc in prologue.

Authors Notes 2: Please make an author happy and review and I promise
it’ll make me write quicker.

Authors Notes 3: for the purposes of this chapter everything in italics is a
flashback/memory

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How We Came To This ~ Part 3

The AI crew were becoming more and more disturbed with each story they heard,
Angel especially looked as though he was ready to burst, he wanted to know
everything all at once; but Xander and his friends knew that the worst was yet to
come and that the vampire was going to hate every second of it.


Dawn shifted slightly on the couch, snuggling closer to Xander and then began
to speak, “After Sunnydale Buffy and I went to Rome. It was like a dream come
true at first. We grieved for the people we lost,” at that her pain filled eyes
locked for a moment with Spike’s before she ducked her head and resumed
her story, “But it was like we were free for the first time ever, we had the life
she promised we’d have. Giles assigned a couple of Slayers to the city, so Buffy
didn’t even have to patrol. We weren’t the Slayer and the Key; we were just two
sisters enjoying life. We got this amazing apartment and we could do anything
we wanted. We could just be normal, and I hoped it would never end. We
shopped like it was the end of the world, maxing out all the Council credit cards,
explored the city during the day and went out almost every night. It was just the
two of us and, as much as I missed Xan and Willow, it was perfect. I don’t think
I’d ever been happier.


After awhile Buffy thought we should start planning for our future, so I started
studying for my GED and she enrolled at a local international college and began
looking into getting her degree. We hadn’t even seen a vampire or demon
since we got there and everything seemed to just fall into place, like the
universe was rewarding us by giving us some peace. We did make a few friends
but mostly it was just the two of us. It felt like we were connecting, you know,
being a family.


Then one night we were out clubbing and that’s when Buffy met him, The
Immortal. He isn’t that much to look at, but he’s charismatic, got that kinda
arrogance that makes him seem attractive, a sense of power and supreme
self-confidence I suppose. At first Buffy turned him down flat, she said she
wasn’t interested in any relationship; that it was our time, but he pursued
her, romanced her. He sent her beautiful gifts, kept showing up whenever
we went out. She was flattered and intrigued, we could tell he wasn’t human
but from everything we’d heard about him we figured he wasn’t evil, just
different. Buffy said that he didn’t set her spidey sense off the way a demon
would. After a few weeks he wore her down and she agreed to have dinner
with him. He pulled out all the stops; sent a limo to pick her up, booked
out the entire restaurant, had the chef make her favourite dishes and
even hired a bloody violinist to serenade her; it was like every romantic
cliché in the book and she loved every second of it. She fell and fell hard,
for the next few weeks he was all she could think about, when she wasn’t
with him she was talking about him. I didn’t really like him much but I
figured I was just a bit jealous that she had less time for me, and that
felt kinda petty. I was happy for her, she seemed like she was finally
living her life instead of just going through the motions, I missed what
we’d had but it was nice watching her be all giddy and girly.


Then he invited her to spend the weekend at an estate he owned just
outside the city. She was so excited; it took her the best part of two days
to figure out what to take with her and to get packed and ready to go.
She was so happy, I remember she hugged me just before she left, told
me that she knew this guy was special. She’d waited for years to have a
normal life and a normal relationship and now it looked like she’d have
it all. That was the last time she told me she loved me. The last time
she was herself.


The Buffy that had returned to Rome had been as different as the
one who’d left as night was to day. It had worried Dawn badly, gone
was the laughing, carefree girl Buffy had become in the months since
they’d arrived in Rome and in her place was ‘The Slayer’; all business,
cold and hard, like she’d been in Sunnydale in the run up to the last
battle. She’d swept Dawn’s concerns aside, told her that their vacation
was over and she’d decided to accept her duties and responsibilities.
She contacted the other Slayers and sent their watchers back to
England, saying she was all the back up they needed and the three
of them went out all night, every night. She stopped talking to Dawn
and only showed up at their apartment when she needed to fetch a
change of clothes, more often than not timing her brief visits to
coincide with one of Dawn’s classes so they wouldn’t see each other
at all. Any time she had left after patrolling Buffy spent with The
Immortal and there was nothing left for Dawn.


Things got worse when Andrew arrived, Giles had sent him over as
a kind of trainee watcher, he had all the book knowledge and Giles
had figured Buffy could keep him alive long enough for him to get
some practical experience so that he could become a field watcher.
Now Buffy, The Immortal and Andrew withdrew even further, they
began to disappear for days at a time, never letting Dawn know if
they were alright or telling her what was going on. She’d felt
completely alone, isolated. Then Andrew left town for a few days
alone and, when he came back, Willow was with him.


“She looked so bad, worn down, but Buffy didn’t seem to care.
She didn’t give Willow any time to get herself together, didn’t try
to help her at all. She just wanted Willow to perform these spells
they’d found. I didn’t know what she was going on about but I
heard Willow say that she’d rather have time to study the spells
first, so she could understand them better; but Buffy kept
pushing her, saying there wasn’t time for that, telling Willow
that more people would die if they waited. When Buffy said that
Willow looked so devasted, guilty, and then she just agreed to
everything Buffy wanted. Willow needed some special
ingredients for the spell and Buffy said she could get them,
whilst she was gone Willow and I had a chance to talk. She told
me about everything that had happened in Rio and all about
the rogue Slayers Andrew had told her about. She said that
Buffy had found two spells, one that would bind her to The
Immortal, make him her mate and fulfil some prophecy
about the White Knight, and the other spell would essentially
call all the Slayers in the world to the two of them. She said
that it would bind all the Slayers together, give them a common
purpose, so that even the ones they hadn’t been able to find
would be drawn to Buffy. It would make them loyal to the fight
and would make sure none of them could ever abuse their gifts.


She explained that the combination of the two spells would
require an enormous amount of power, more than even she
had, but that The Immortal had found a way around that.
He’d found a way for her to tap into my power, the power of
the Key, and that the best part was that she’d be able to
separate it. She promised that she’d be able to get all of the
Key out of me and just leave me a normal girl. God I wanted
that so badly I didn’t think about anything else; didn’t want to
look to deeply at any of it in case it went away. It was a chance
for me to be free and there was nothing I wanted more.


They’d all moved out to the Immortal’s estate and begun
to prepare for the rituals. Dawn had barely seen Buffy during
this time but she’d had Willow for company and the
preparations kept them both busy. Finally the day arrived and,
as the sun set, they gathered in the large courtyard they’d
chosen as the ritual site. Over the previous few days Willow
had prepared the area and set it up exactly as she needed
it to be. Two large altar stones dominated the space and set
between them was a stone pillar topped with a large crystal
that Willow was planning on using as the receptacle for the
power of the key. Willow and Dawn took their places on the
altar stones and Buffy stood at Dawn’s feet whilst The Immortal
took an identical stance in front of Willow.


After a brief check that everyone was positioned correctly
and was ready, Willow began to chant the initial stages of
the spell. At first it all went exactly as they had planned,
Dawn felt Willow’s presence inside her, touching that part of
her that she could never reach, slowly drawing the power of the
Key away from her. Then Andrew walked into the courtyard,
he was carrying a large book and chanting a spell of his own.
Dawn felt the change immediately, the feeling of peace and
connection with Willow was ripped away from her and in its place
she felt pain. She could no longer move her body and when
she forced her gaze to the left, so she could see Willow,
she realised that the Wicca was so lost in the magics that she
was unaware of her surroundings. Buffy had moved away from
her position and held a sword in her hand; she used it to
smash the crystal on the pillar. Then she and The Immortal
moved up and stood between the altar stones, she handed the
sword to her lover and he used it to make short, deep cuts,
first in Willow’s right hand, then both of his, then both of Buffy’s
and finally Dawn’s left hand. Dropping the sword to the ground
The Immortal grasped hands with Willow and Buffy, who then
reached for Dawn’s hand. When their wounds touched a
connection was formed at the deepest level between the four
of them and Dawn felt the Key’s power fully for the first time
in her life.


“I knew it was wrong, none of it was going like we’d planned,
I was screaming at Willow to stop the spell, but I don’t think
she could even hear me at that point. Her eyes were glowing
but she wasn’t there with us in the courtyard, she was lost
inside the spell. I managed to move my head a little and I
could see Andrew still chanting, I could tell he was interfering
somehow, but I didn’t know what he was doing. When I looked
down at my body I could see I was fading, I could see the light
of the Key, I was all green and swirly and I really started to
panic,” Dawn’s voice was becoming more broken and strained
as she struggled to continue her tale, “I was screaming then,
begging them to stop, begging Buffy to help me. I could feel
myself slipping away…….. I was losing myself, losing Dawn. I
screamed at her again, told her she was killing me. Buffy
moved then, closer to me, so I could see her face. She looked
at me, right at me, and her eyes. God they weren’t her
eyes…….they were black and cold and dead and she was just
looking at me and I was dying and pleading with her……….
And she just said she knew…..she knew I was dying and it
didn’t matter because I wasn’t real……….she said I wasn’t real.”


With that Dawn couldn’t take anymore and collapsed into tears,
Dana got up and moved to sit between Graham and Sam
allowing Xander to pull the weeping girl onto his lap and try to
comfort her. He whispered words of reassurance into her ears,
telling her that she was real, was loved, that she was Dawn that
she belonged; and eventually her sobs began to quieten down,
but she was still far too upset to talk.


Amy offered to explain what had happened, as she had
access to Willow’s memories, she was the only person who
really understood anyway, “When Willow arrived in Rome
Buffy told her about the spells, normally a witch would want
to study anything that powerful, make sure they understood
all the nuances, but Buffy kept pushing her, saying that
waiting would cost more lives and Willow was already feeling
so bad about Alena she allowed herself to be persuaded.
The idea of using Dawn’s power made her a little nervous,
but she knew how much it would mean to Dawn not to have
to be the Key anymore. She would have liked to discuss the
spells with the coven or with Giles but Buffy and The Immortal
never gave her the time.


When the spell started Willow had to reach deeper
inside herself then she ever had before, channelling that
much power was harder than she’d imagined. By the time she
realised things weren’t going as they’d planned it was almost
too late. She never felt Andrew come into the courtyard or
noticed him cast the binding spells. When she became aware
of her surroundings she wasn’t able to move at all, she saw
Buffy smash the crystal but couldn’t do anything to stop them.
It was taking everything she had at that point to keep the
power of the Key from destroying everything and if she’d
diverted even a little of her attention to stopping Andrew,
she’d have lost all control. Then they made their big mistake,
the blood connection, that allowed Willow a chance. They
thought they had it all under their control, but even after
everything Buffy had seen Willow do in the past, they still
completely underestimated her.”


As Buffy’s hand touched Dawn’s, Willow felt herself
pulled from her body, the magic streamed through her pulling
her first into The Immortal’s mind and then Buffy’s. She saw
everything; she knew exactly what they were trying to do.
She’d known that The Immortal hadn’t fit all the conditions
of the White Knight prophecy but they’d persuaded her it
didn’t matter, that the fact that Buffy was the senior Slayer
and he was her love, her choice, meant that they could
override the conditions. They’d lied to her and now she could
see what they really meant to happen. There was someone
who did fulfil all the terms of the prophecy and to make it
possible for The Immortal to take his place, they had to kill
him. The spell Andrew was chanting now would allow that.
Would reach across thousands of miles and into the real
White Knight, rip into his soul and steal everything that
kept him alive. This spell would kill him, would kill Xander
as surely as the original spell was now killing Dawn.


That was something Willow refused to allow that happen,
reaching even deeper into Buffy and The Immortal, she
tried to see what had happened, tried to figure out a weak
point, a way to stop them. She saw them back when they
first met, saw them talking, saw Buffy explaining how she
felt resentful of the other Slayers, how she used to be the
One and now she felt like she was overlooked, saw
The Immortal telling Buffy she deserved more, he could
give her more, telling her she should have power, should
be the one in charge, saying that she’d sacrificed so much
she should be rewarded for it. Time skipped forward and
she saw them on their first weekend together, kneeling
in this same courtyard, The Immortal chanting ancient
words of magic, Buffy willingly accepting the power he
offered, giving up her humanity for a chance to be the
best again. Night after night of patrolling, fighting, killing
and, after awhile, the deaths became more vicious, more
cruel, more bloody; and some of the victims weren’t just
evil any more, weren’t just demons, Buffy had started to
kill humans. First murderers, rapists, men who could be
considered evil, then the deaths became random, she
just killed anyone, demon or human, that got in her way.
Willow saw that with each new kill, with each drop of
innocent blood shed, Buffy lost another piece of her soul,
‘til in the end, there was nothing human left in her; just
the power and the demon and the connection to the
Immortal. At that Willow realised that her friend, the girl
she thought of as family was already gone, already dead
and there was nothing she could do to bring Buffy back.
She’d lost yet another member of her family but she was
damned if she was going to lose Dawn and Xander too.


“Dawn had almost completely gone by then, you couldn’t
even see her any more, but Willow wrenched control of
the spells away from Andrew and started to repair the
damage, she couldn’t stop any of the spells, they’d gone
too far for that, so she had to try and use them herself.
She reached into the link between The Immortal and
Xander and reversed the flow, They hadn’t thought she
was capable of that, it shouldn’t have been possible,
once she was sure Xander was going to be ok she
switched her attention back to Dawn, Trying to reverse
the damage was so hard even for Willow. She had to
concentrate every last piece of her mind and her power
just to stop Dawn from fading completely. The binding
spells Andrew had cast meant that she still couldn’t
move her physical body and with all her attention on
fixing Dawn she was completely vulnerable.


When The Immortal and Buffy realised what she was
doing they tried to get Andrew to intervene, but he
simply didn’t have the power, when Willow had pulled
the control from him, the pain from the backlash had
left him incapable of being able to help magically. They
knew that if Willow was given enough time she’d not
only be able to restore Dawn, but that she’d also be
able to stop them, they were no match for her magically
but while she was working on Dawn she couldn’t protect
herself.” Knowing how hard this last piece of the story
was going to be on everyone there, Amy paused for a
second before steeling herself to finish, “Buffy stepped
right up to Willow and started to hit her, I guess she
was trying to break Willow’s concentration, if that had
happened the power of the Key would have flared out
of control and killed her, but Willow didn’t stop, didn’t
even really register the blows. A second or two later
and Dawn was almost fully restored although she was
still unconscious, they must have realised they were
almost beaten, The Immortal forced his mind into
Willow’s trying to distract her, and while she was
blocking him, Buffy ripped her throat out.


If Willow hadn’t been channelling so much power she
would have died instantly, as it was she was left with
a choice. She could use the power she held to heal
herself, in which case the spells would revert back to
the way they had been intended before she intervened;
which would mean Xander and Dawn would die and Buffy
and The Immortal would have access to immeasurable
power; or she could allow herself to die and protect the
people she loved. For Willow it was never really a
choice at all. The first thing she did was use the
connection to Xander to activate the White Knight
prophecy so that she could be sure he was beyond
their reach and that he’d have the knowledge we’d
need to stop them, then she used some of the power
of the Key to rip open a portal and send Dawn to Faith,
so that she’d be safe from Buffy. Her final act was to
come to Kennedy in Rio and we’ve already talked about
that. When she left us I felt her slip away, I was
connected to her to the end, she didn’t regret what
she’d done, she just wished she’d been able to stop
them permanently so we wouldn’t have to. I know she’s
at peace now, she made the only choice she could and
trusted us to finish this”


Her tears under control now Dawn was able to finish the
story, “ Faith told me I gave everyone quite a scare, just
popping out of thin air in the middle of the living room. I
was out cold for three days, when I first woke up…… I
didn’t even remember what happened, how I got there.
Then when Amy and Kennedy arrived it all kinda snapped
back into place. I know what Willow had to do for us and
we’re not going to let that be in vain, she left me with
something, a way I can help, I’m not just going to sit this
one out. We will stop them, with or without your help.”
Dawn sat up straighter on Xander’s lap and stared at
Angel and his friends, enjoying the look of shock on their
faces as her eyes bled from brown to green and sparks
danced across the outstretched palms of her hands.


tbc……..