She should be used to this by now.
Dawn didn’t know why she was so shocked by what Carlos had overheard. This was Sunnydale. This sort of thing should be mundane.
But it wasn’t.
She was cold inside. She couldn’t quite digest the full implications of what she now knew. She was trying to, but between the revelation about Jack and the revelation about herself… Well, right now she was all about the wigging.
This couldn’t be happening. Not again. When Buffy threw herself off the top of that tower, it had ended. All of it. The Key was no longer the Key. Just the girl formerly known as the Key. Giles had said that she could only be used at a particular place and time. After that… She was as human as Jack and Buffy.
Yet here she was, two years later…
God, this couldn’t be happening!
She took a deep breath and looked to Carlos almost pleadingly. “Are you sure you heard right?” Not just about her and what The Creeps wanted to do to her, but about the poison…
About Jack.
At the thought of his name, her eyes immediately went back to her new… friend. In the two hours since Giles had given him the medicine, she hadn’t been able to do anything but watch him. She was being silly, she knew that, but somehow she’d gotten it into her head that if she looked away from Jack, even for a second, something would happen to him.
He hadn’t moved, screamed, or flinched. But she now knew, thanks to Carlos’ report, that it was only a matter of time before he started reliving his torture again. If he was lucky, he had four hours…
It wasn’t enough time.
God, no wonder Jack had been so scared! The people who were after him had captured him before. He had been terrified because he didn’t want to be tortured again and now… now he was.
Because she was The Key.
It were times like these that she wished –
“Yeah, I heard right,” Carlos’ reply interrupted her thoughts. “Buffy’s wigging big time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so freaked.”
Dawn was glad she was studying Jack. She didn’t want to see Carlos’ expression.
“Giles did say that he didn’t know if he was right,” he said, in a bid to make her feel better. “He doesn’t know for sure if The Creeps were after you. Buffy seemed to think they were after Jack.”
No. They weren’t after Jack. Dawn was absolutely certain of that now. Jack was obviously scared of being captured by the people who had tortured him. If The Creeps had been behind, Jack would have freaked out back at the Bronze when it all started.
No, Jack feared something – someone – else.
“What about a cure?” A cure that the Council had found, maybe?
“Sorry, man.”
She closed her eyes.
“Willow will save him,” Kit said reassuringly.
Dawn couldn’t swallow past the lump in her throat. Soon Jack was going to wake up and start screaming again. Tears stung her eyes. “What if she doesn’t?” she asked quietly. “What if it requires her to go all black eyed and veiny again? She… She won’t do it.”
All the fear Dawn had been holding at bay came crashing in on her. She wished Carlos hadn’t heard anything. She didn’t want to know this.
She didn’t want Jack to die. She didn’t want anyone else to die because of her. If Giles was right, then it was going to be Glory all over again. Who else was going to die because of what she was? How many people were going to have to sacrifice themselves to make sure The Key didn’t fall into the wrong hands?
Would she lose everyone she cared about? Xander and Buffy, Giles and Willow, Kit, Carlos… Was this what her life would always be like? Everyone dying for her one by one?
“He can’t die,” she said finally. No one could die. She couldn’t allow it.
“He’s going to be all right,” Kit promised her.
Dawn shook her head. “You don’t know that. We don’t know anything.” No. That wasn’t true. Giles had told them a lot. So much that it was almost overwhelming. Her mind was going a million miles per second. It felt like her head was going to explode. She didn’t know what to worry about first.
No. She did know what to worry about first. Jack. The rest she could panic about after Jack was cured. IF he was cured.. “He’s going to wake up soon, and if Will doesn’t have an antidote…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence.
She never wanted to hear Jack scream again.
That was it! She’d had enough. Dawn was never going to date anyone again. She wasn’t going to talk to boys! She wasn’t going to make any more friends… She was going to become that creepy loner all the cool kids made fun of.
If this was what the rest of her life was going to be like then she didn’t want to have any part of it.
Now she knew how Buffy had felt whenever something happened to Xander, Giles, or Willow. At times, she’d thought Buffy was being dramatic whenever she tried to keep her friends safe. Dawn used to silently accuse her of always wanting to be the hero.
Now, she understood.
When friends got hurt, it hurt… It hurt worse than any other pain. “I shouldn’t have asked him out.” She felt Kit’s hand on her shoulder. “I should have known something would happen. My last name is Summers… Something ALWAYS happens.”
“Not always,” Kit protested.
“How did we first meet?” Dawn reminded her.
“Hey, that wasn’t your fault!” Carlos argued, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed.
“Do I need to mention my first kiss?” she asked. “Or Buffy’s luck with guys?” Not that she had actually intended it to be a real date when she’d ask Jack out… God! Who was she kidding? She totally meant it to be a real date.
She liked Jack Peters.
She REALLY liked Jack Peters.
And look what happened! “He doesn’t even know why he’s lying here,” Dawn said. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him anything.”
“He doesn’t know about…”
She shook her head.
Carlos shrugged. “So? We’ll tell him everything WHEN he wakes up.”
“Yeah,” Kit agreed, nudging her slightly.
She gently touched the side of his face. “He is going to wake up.”
She would do anything to make that…
Wait! She had an idea. “Guys…” Dawn dragged her eyes away from Jack. “Do you think The Creeps have a cure? Like Buffy said?”
Kit made a face. “Probably. You know, in case they stabbed themselves.”
That was a good point. “Maybe we can bargain with them.”
“Bargain with them?” Carlos snorted. “I don’t think they’re the type to bargain with.”
“You never know,” Dawn said excitedly as a plan formed in her head. “We do have something they want.”
“What?”
“Me.”
The second she said it, she regretted it. Kit and Carlos’ freaked out expressions were enough to make her want to kick herself. Several times.
“I…I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.” She really didn’t… Well, not really. Maybe there was a tiny part of her that actually meant it the way it sounded. She was so tired of watching the people she loved died. She hated the pain, the grief, and she didn’t want to live through it again.
Maybe if she gave herself up, she’d be able to stop it from happening.
Not that she would give herself up. For one, Buffy would lock her in her room for the rest of her life if she even tried it but –
”You better not mean it the way it sounded,” Kit told her, her voice unusually harsh.
Dawn shifted uneasily under their horrified stares. If there ever was a moment Dawn felt completely desperate… This was it. She just… She had to do something! She couldn’t sit around here and do nothing! And it wasn’t like Buffy wouldn’t do the same thing. Buffy HAD done exactly that – sacrificed herself to save Dawn.
“No, really, I don’t mean it like that. It’s just that…” Despite how stupid the idea sounded, there was some merit to it. If they worked out a way they could pull it off safely… “Maybe there’s a chance we can spring a trap. Trade me for the poison and then Buffy can come and save me.” It didn’t sound nearly as suicidal in her mind.
“You’re nuts!” Kit exclaimed. “You do remember they want to turn you back?”
Yeah, she knew that… But the thought of being turned back scared her less than watching Jack being tortured to death. “I can’t let him die.” Not just die… but suffer.
”He’s not going to die!” Kit told her emphatically. “The Scoobies are on the case.”
“I know but…” Dawn’s words fell away when she heard a soft moan. It was barely audible, however…
Oh God! There it was again!
The three of them froze.
Slowly, they all turned to look at Jack. He didn’t look like he was in pain. He still looked peace. “J-Jack?” Please! Don’t let it be –
Another moan, this time louder.
Oh God, no!
No! It was too soon! They were supposed to have more time!
“Carlos, get Buffy!”
Buffy watched Giles carefully, looking for any indication of what Willow was saying on the other end of the phone. From the looks of it, whatever she was saying, it wasn’t good news.
If the news was good, Giles wouldn’t look so tense and the phone call wouldn’t be lasting this long.
They were talking about counter spells, mystical agents, and other magic-y stuff.
None of it making Buffy feel any better. “Xander…” She edged closer to her friend. “If Will doesn’t have anything… I have to go out. See if I can find The Creeps…” And beat the hell out of them.
Yes, she knew her plan wasn’t exactly fool proof. Both Xander and Giles had pointed this out to her when she suggested it twenty minutes ago – for the fifth time. They had no idea where The Creeps were hiding, or even if they were still in this dimension, but logic wasn’t something Buffy wanted to hear right now.
Actually, she didn’t want to hear anything.
She didn’t want to think.
She wanted to hurt something.
“Buff…”
“Don’t say it Xander, I don’t care.” She needed to be doing something. “We have to save Jack.” And once they did that, they could start protecting Dawn.
Xander reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m scared too, Buffy, but Giles is right. We don’t know enough to be going off half cocked. Jack – ”
“BUFFY!”
Her body tensed at Carlos’ shout.
Then it went cold when she heard Jack’s scream.
No! No! God damn it, no!
Jack’s heart clenched with fear as Ba’al’s torture chamber swam back into view. The familiar pain invading every cell in his body. The room seemed almost unreal while he struggled to hold over the fog that was now lifting from his mind.
He wanted to shout out, to beg for the hazy sensation to return to his mind.
When the fog controlled him, he felt nothing. No pain. Jack was pretty sure he couldn’t even think! But now… Now that it was leaving with him, he knew what was going to happen next. The pain had already started.
He was going to die, again… and again and again.
This was real.
It wasn’t some fever induced illusion. The pain had taught him that. What was happening to him was real. He’d worked it all out. The Creeps were working for Ba’al. They were why he was here.
And he hoped to God no one else was. He was pretty sure Dawn, Kit, and Carlos weren’t here, otherwise Ba’al would be using them against him. But if they were, Jack wouldn’t be able to help them.
Because they were on their own.
HE was on his own.
No one knew he was here. The first time he went through this hell, Daniel had been here. It was only because of Daniel that he had lasted for so long – and it was because of Carter, Teal’c, and Jonas that he’d escaped.
But he had none of that now.
He had no one. No SGC. No rescue. No Carter. No Teal’c.
“NO DANIEL…” he screamed in fury, pain, and desperation, as the dagger Ba’al released sliced into his chest.
Buffy froze as the two words filled the room. But the surprise at hearing Jack scream a person’s name was forgotten when he began struggling against them. She held his leg down, using more of her Slayer strength than she should be. His ankle would be bruised but, considering what Jack was going through, she didn’t think he’d care.
“Giles!” She turned to the watcher holding Jack’s other leg. “Call Willow back, tell her we can’t wait any longer.”
He hesitated.
She grabbed hold of both of Jack’s legs. “I’ve got him. Go!”
Jack screamed and a cut opened on his chest.
Buffy forced herself to watch as more cuts and burns started to appear. Wounds deeper and longer than any they had seen previously. She wanted to remember this. She needed to memorize every scream, every cry, every plea, because now she knew something she didn’t know before.
The name of Jack’s torturer.
Daniel.
She wanted to remember the way Jack sounded when she made him pay.
It was too much.
Jack had passed the point where he could bear. All he knew now was pain. He couldn’t…
He couldn’t hold on any longer.
This had to end.
It was worse.
Dawn gritted her teeth and pushed down on Jack’s shoulders with all her strength. Everything was worse this time; the screams, the wounds, his struggles, the pleas. It was as though the poison was exacting revenge for short reprieve Jack had just had.
“GOD! PLEASE STOP!”
“Don’t let go of him!” Buffy ordered as Jack tried to buck himself off the bed.
Dawn used everything she had to do as Buffy asked and tried, unsuccessfully, not to stare at the new cut that appeared on his chest. It was the biggest wound so far. It stretched from the top of his chest, right down to his stomach. Blood was everywhere. The sheets beneath him were soaked with it, Jack’s upper torso was covered in it, and when Dawn looked down at her hands she didn’t think she would ever be able to wash it off.
“Please… Please…” he begged. “I swear I’ll do anything! I’ll tell you everything! Just make it end!”
Yes! Stop it please! “Jack…” Her own voice was full of pleading. “Jack! It’s okay, help…help is on the – ”
“HELP ME!”
”We’re trying Jack!” she yelled, tears sliding down her face.
As much as Dark-Veiny Willow scared her, after seeing this, Dawn wanted to send Will after the people – man – responsible for this.
Or maybe a vengeance demon.
There were no words to describe how horrible this was. The torture seemed so much worse now knowing it was real. Dawn stared at the wound on his chest. It was killing him. She could see his… She could see things that weren’t supposed to be visible unless there was an operating table and a doctor present.
There was no way he was going to survive this…
“Just hold on, Jack,” Buffy’s voice was tormented as she tried to reassure him.
Jack howled in response.
Kit sobbed.
“Please… stop.” The words were no longer screams any more, but pleading whispers. Jack’s tone, the color of his skin… He was dying. “I swear I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Just don’t bring me back again. Kill me for good… Please”
Everyone froze.
”W-what did he just say?” Xander asked shakily.
“Please…” Jack’s plea trailed off as his entire body went slack.
“Jack?” She shook him gently.
She didn’t know why seeing Jack go slack like this made her so terrified. It had happened before – but his wounds had never been this bad. This time it seemed different. It almost looked like Jack was…
“Dawn, check for a pulse!” Buffy demanded.
A pulse? Unsteadily, she put her fingers against his neck. She was shaking so badly she was having trouble locating it. “I can’t…”
Buffy moved so quickly it was almost a blur. She roughly pushed Dawn’s hand out of the way and tried to find it herself. After far too long, Buffy removed her hand. “There’s… There’s no pulse.”
Dawn’s heart stopped. “No!” She grabbed Jack’s wrist. He wasn’t dead! No, he couldn’t be. It was –
“Wait!”
Dawn jumped at Xander’s shout and quickly looked to where he was pointing – Jack’s chest. It was… healing. Just like it had before. Except this time Jack didn’t have a pulse.
Buffy’s fingers went back to his neck. Her jaw dropped open. “I don’t understand… He has a pulse.”
What? “He’s alive?” She scrambled to see for herself.
There it was! He had a pulse!
Dawn’s joy faded when she saw the look on her sister’s face. Jack had a pulse, but Buffy looked as though it was the worst thing in the world.
“Ah guys… I think it’s about to start again.”
“We’re not ready.” Willow closed her eyes when she heard the scream.
Her blood went cold at the sound.
Even over the phone line it sounded familiar to her. Not the voice, but the tone, the fear. If Giles hadn’t told her he was being tortured, she would have known by that sound alone.
It was a sound she had created once.
Willow opened her eyes and looked at the Coven. “Giles, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
He was going to heal any second now.
Up until ten minutes ago, Buffy used to think this silence was a reprieve. A break. But now, as she put her fingers to his neck once again, she knew it was anything but.
Please, please don’t let this be what she thought it was.
She knew it was, though. Jack’s words, the way his wounds heals, Giles’ confusion as to why Jack was surviving this long… It all made sense to her now.
“No pulse.”
Dawn didn’t cry out in horror this time. Nor did Kit and Carlos tense. They all stood silently, waiting.
Buffy didn’t move her hand away from Jack while he healed. She wanted to see… “He’s alive.”
Again.
The first thing Willow heard, when the room came into focus, was a scream. Unsurprisingly, it sounded worse in person than it did over the phone. Hearing it made her want to turn tail and run back to England.
In all truth, she wanted to have time to prepare. To speak to Giles, maybe see if he had any better idea but the continuing torture made it impossible.
There was no time to prepare.
“Willow…” Giles stepped towards her, his tone gentle, phone still in hand. He looked down to the two items she was holding. “Is that a cure?”
She made a face and looked at the dagger and the vial in her hands. “Not so much a cure; more like our only hope.”
Even with all the information the Council provided them it still hadn’t been enough to help them with a fully fledged antidote.
She handed Giles the dagger. “I’ve created a potion similar to the one that I think they used to produce the original poison. It took us a while to find all the ingredients, which is why it took me so long to get here, but theoretically this should fight the poison and reverse the damage it is doing.”
“Theoretically?”
Willow shrugged.
Focusing on the blade in Giles’ hand, Willow poured the liquid in the vial onto the blade.
Giles jumped as some of the potion touched his fingers. “This won’t…”
“Do anything at all,” she said distractedly. “Not unless you’ve been poisoned mystically. Plus, I’m not doing the spell that goes with it.” Once she was finished she took it carefully from Giles.
“Are you ready for this?” Giles wanted to know.
“Just about.” She looked up and smiled. That wasn’t what he meant. “I’m ready.” While she had spent the last two years in England studying magic, she had yet to test her power in anything but a controlled environment.
Taking a deep breath, Willow closed her eyes and started whispering the words to the spell the Coven had created. After the third incantation, she felt her power start to infuse into the blade.
There was a lot about the potion and the spell Willow wasn’t telling Giles.
Like the fact that it would be her power fueling the potion and it would be her will fighting for Jack’s life.
Everything around her seemed to disappear as she repeated the incantations over and over again. Without thinking, Willow found herself racing up the stairs and into the room where she felt – rather than heard – Jack’s pain.
She could hear the cries of joy from the other occupants in the room, but she didn’t acknowledge them. Willow couldn’t even see them. She was lost in the spell, in the magics, and the only focused was the boy lying on the bed.
Pushing the person sitting next to Jack away from the bed, Willow dropped to her knees. She could see the magic from the poison pulsating around Jack. It encompassed him completely.
When her eyes fell on the wound on his arm, she raised the dagger.
She heard screams of protests when she drove the dagger into his arm. One from the boy himself and the others from her friends behind her.
With a wave of her hand, she drowned out the sound.
Soon, the only thing Willow could hear was her own voice growing louder and louder, shouting the Sumerian words…
Something was happening.
Jack opened his eyes. The pain of his most recent gash, inexplicably, was beginning to fade. Ba’al had stopped moving and the dagger he had just released was frozen in midair. The Creeps weren’t doing anything either, they were just standing there. And Jack…
Well, he was beginning to tingle.
Using the last ounce of strength that he had inside him, Jack tried to free himself. Call it a gut instinct, but he was pretty sure this was his only chance. The second he moved everything started to bleed away, disappear.
The room. Ba’al…
Everything.