Spike, Buffy, Xander, Anya, Dawn, Wesley and Tara aren’t
mine. They belong to someone else (sob). Other fictional characters are mine,
however. If you’d like to take any of them out to play, ask beforehand. I don’t
make money on any of them. Feed the writer. Review.
Many thanks to Chrysalis for listening, suggesting, reading, not hanging up on
me when I call for help and generally putting up with me. Love ya, mean it. Thanks also to everyone who has reviewed this
series as it has grown. Without all the comments, it would have been much worse
than it is.
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Stranger Music
···•••·•••·•••·•••···
In
Search Of
···•••·•••·•••·•••···
“Dawn, go see who’s at the door,” Buffy called out from
the kitchen. Dawn huffed but got off the couch to see who was trying to beat their
door down. When she peered out the peephole, she saw a frantic, crying Anya. As
soon as she opened the door, Anya came pouring into the house.
“Buffy!” Anya screamed. “Xander’s gone!”
Buffy came running out of the
kitchen. “It’s
Anya,” Dawn said to her sister. Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Xander’s gone!” Anya repeated frantically. “He
disappeared!”
“He probably went out. He’ll be back, though,” Buffy said.
After all, with what he’d been through the last few days, who wouldn’t want a
little fresh air.
Anya shook her head. “No, I mean gone like disappeared out
of the living room gone. Poof! No Xander!”
Buffy’s eyes widened in alarm. “Just gone?”
Anya nodded. “One minute he was there, the next minute he
wasn’t. What am I going to do?” She wailed. Buffy patted her back gingerly and
looked over at Dawn, mouthing ‘Willow.’ Dawn nodded and went to call the witch.
Maybe Willow would actually have her cell phone on for once.
As it happened, she did. “Willow?”
“Yeah, Dawn? Whatcha need?”
“We have a serious problem. Xander’s missing.”
“What! Um…I’m on campus. Lemme
think…”
Dawn thought quickly. “Meet us at the Magic Box, ok?”
“Sure. I’ll be there ASAP.”
Dawn hung up and went back the foyer, where Anya was now soaking
Buffy’s shirt in tears. “We need to go to the Magic Box. Willow’s going to meet
us there.”
···•••·•••·•••·•••···
When Buffy, Dawn and Anya reached the shop, Willow and
Tara were waiting for them. The store was closed, since Anya hadn’t opened it due
to Xander’s disappearance. She handed the keys to Buffy, who let everyone in.
“What’s going on?” Willow demanded. “Where’s Xander? What
did you do to him?”
Anya sniffled sadly. Buffy looked at her and said, “Maybe
you should tell Willow what you told me, hmm?”
The ex-demoness nodded and
slumped against the counter. “We were arguing, because Xander’s an unfaithful
male who left me at the altar and deserves to suffer for what he did. He was
cowering like a dog and I threw a paperweight at him. Then he disappeared.”
Willow and Tara looked at each other in confusion. That
wasn’t much information to go by. “Did you make a wish? Like to a vengeance
demon or something?”
Anya scowled. “No, I’d know if I did something like that.
There weren’t any wishes. He’s just gone!” She was regaining some of her
composure. After all, he had left her. Why was she crying so hard over it? Oh
yeah, she loved him. A fresh spate of tears started.
Tara frowned. “What about the paperweight?” Maybe the
thing had had a spell on it.
Anya waved toward a display. “It was just a cheap novelty
from Taiwan. I gave it to him as a token of appreciation. He seemed to like it
ok, though.”
Tara walked over to the display. Sure enough, there were
about thirty molded glass paperweights of different colors and styles. Most of
them looked cheap enough. She studied a red one, noting the seams in the glass
and the ‘made in Taiwan’ stamp on the bottom. They didn’t feel magickal, not at all. Still, she studied them a little
while longer.
Willow looked back at Anya. “What about the bad-ass geeks?
They could have done something to him, like make him invisible!”
Buffy shook her head. “Not unless they built a new toy.
But they could have done something else, and they’d know that hurting any one
of us would get to the rest of the group.”
“Guys?” Tara called softly. “Could you
look at this?”
They went over to where Tara was standing. She held out a
clear glass statue. “It’s not like the others. None of the clear ones are.”
Buffy took the paperweight. It didn’t look special. It was
just a piece of clear, cool glass with bubbles in it. “I don’t see anything odd
about it.”
Willow took the piece and immediately gasped. It felt…odd.
It wasn’t exactly oozing power, but there was something about it. She turned it
over, looking for any clue. “You’re right, but what does it mean?”
Tara shook her head. “I don’t know. Anya, have you sold
any more of these?”
“I can check the inventory list.” She walked around behind
the cash register, booting up the computer. A few minutes later, she shook her
head. “The clear ones haven’t been selling at all. I cancelled that part of the
next order. In fact, other than the one I gave Xander, only one other has
moved, and it was stolen.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about too many of
them floating around, if they’re to blame,” Willow said in relief. “But still,
I don’t know what to make of this. I wish Giles were here.”
Dawn nodded. “But he’s off on some vacation and told us
not to try to contact him.”
Buffy groaned. “Figures he’d pull that
right when we need him. Damn.”
Willow shrugged and moved over to the books. “We’ll just
have to research this on our own, and quickly.”
···•••·•••·•••·•••···
“Still nothing?” Buffy asked Willow. The witch shook her
head. Four days had passed, yet they hadn’t found a thing.
“We need help,” Willow said. Tara nodded her agreement.
None of them had enough knowledge yet to do this. It didn’t help that she and Willow
hadn’t resolved everything between them, so the tension was quite high at
times.
“But who is there?” Buffy said, slumping in her seat.
“Angel?” Willow asked tentatively.
“No! I mean, we can do this without him. Besides, I don’t
think this is his specialty,” Buffy said hurriedly.
Willow thought for a moment. “Wesley? Giles mentioned once
that he was in L.A.. Maybe he left Wesley’s number
somewhere around here.”
Buffy looked up. “That geek? Ugh.
He’s so annoying.”
“But he’s a Watcher, and good with the research,” Willow
argued. “And, he’s not Angel, even if he sometimes works with him.” That was
what Giles had told them—that Wesley sometimes worked with Angel on hard cases.
They thought it a bit strange but said nothing.
“Fine. You call him, if you can find
him,” Buffy replied.
Anya proved to be a lot of help in that area. Wesley had
ordered a couple of books from them some time back and she still had his
information on file. “Do you think he’ll help?” She asked absently. That Anya
had gotten over Xander’s disappearance so quickly hadn’t really shocked any of
them. They knew she cared, but they were also well aware of Anya’s nature. She
would move on. To her, Xander was gone. Anya also had a greater knowledge of
things supernatural, and she held out few hopes that he’d be found. For Anya,
he was already dead.
“Well?” Buffy asked a few minutes later.
Willow smiled weakly. “He said he’d be here in a few
hours. He didn’t sound too busy.”
“What kind of snotty commentary did he make?” Buffy
inquired.
Willow shook her head. “He didn’t. Actually, he was sort
of quiet. He didn’t sound much like he used to.”
The girls continued looking through their books but found
nothing. When Wesley arrived, they were just finishing up dinner. “Hey, thanks
for coming,” Willow said as he stepped into the shop.
Wesley smiled weakly. “It’s not a problem. I hope I can
help, though. What exactly happened?”
Willow and Buffy filled him in on the story while Dawn
made a pot of tea, figuring he’d prefer that over coke.
“May I see these ‘paperweights’?” Wesley asked when they
were through.
Dawn handed him a cup of fresh tea as Willow led him to
where they had the glass objects stored. Wesley picked one of them up with his
free hand. A moment later, the cup of tea slid unnoticed through his fingers.
Buffy caught it before it hit the floor.
“Oh my sweet lord,” He whispered.
“What?” Buffy asked, watching Wesley’s eyes widen
comically.
“Where did you get these?” He asked frantically. “How many
are there? Where are they?”
Willow looked at him in confusion. “Anya got them with a
bunch of other paperweights from some sleazy middleman supplier in Taiwan,
There were six of them, but two are gone; one was stolen and the other was with
Xander when he disappeared. The remaining four are here,” Willow replied,
pointing at the box they’d stored them in. “What do you know, Wesley?”
Wesley sank into a nearby chair, still cradling the
crystal. “They’re not paperweights, you know.”
“Then what are they?” Dawn asked, picking one up.
“If I am correct, and I believe I am, they are the
Saádriel talismans,” Wesley said.
“What’s that?” Buffy asked, not recognizing the name.
“It’s a long story, if it is told correctly,” Wesley
warned.
“Then you’d better start, so we can find Xander,” Buffy said.
“If we even can,” Wesley said under his breath. “Once upon
a time,” He began, pursing his lips when Buffy huffed. “Several millennia in
the past, a tribe of humans wandered around the earth, following rivers
wherever they ran and living off the fruits of the earth.”
“Sounds like Clan of the Cave Bear,” Buffy muttered.
“They were constantly attacked by hordes of demons, and
were nearly helpless to fight back, because they were weak. This was, by the way,
before Slayers existed,” Wesley continued. “The only thing they had to protect
them was their shaman. He fought against the demons day and night, telling his
tribesmen where to move the people so that they would be safe, at least
temporarily.”
“What happened?” Dawn asked the Watcher.
Wesley smiled. “He knew that eventually the demons would
annihilate his people, so he began to look for somewhere else to go. See, this
shaman was adept at opening portals between dimensions. After years of looking,
he found a place that seemed perfect. It was sparsely populated, although not
by humans, and no demons or dark magic existed to poison the land. He saw it as
a sanctuary, and named it ‘Saádriel,’ the tribe’s word for asylum. It’s the
only word from their language we know, since it was used to describe the
crystals.”
“So he took his people there?” Buffy summarized.
Wesley nodded. “Yes, but he did more than that. He used
his magic to isolate the new dimension from all others, so that once his people
crossed over, no one could follow him. But, he knew that not all of his tribe
could go at once—they had been scattered by years of attacks. So he made these
crystals, and put very powerful spells on them.” Wesley held up the crystal he
had in his hand. “See, when he shut off that world from this one, and all
others, he set these crystals up as the only way to get there. The only people
that can use them are humans; the magic in them destroys demons. That way, no matter who tries to use the crystals, only humans end
up on the other side.”
“Oh,” Buffy said. “So, how did it make Xander disappear?”
Wesley shook his head. “No one knows how to activate the
crystal. If you had had any knowledge of how it might have taken Xander, we
would be the first to know. You said that there had been six crystals here?”
Buffy nodded. “That makes sense. According to the legends, demons found the
crystals, or at least all that were left after they finished destroying the
remaining Humans. Most counts put the number at seven. About a hundred years
ago, it was rumored that a magician in this country found one of these and
managed to activate it. Since he was never seen again, everyone assumed that it
either worked or he was a shyster.”
“Maybe Anya knows. I mean, she was there,” Willow said. The
ex-demoness might have forgotten something, after
all.
“Anya?” Buffy called. “Could you come here for a sec?”
Anya walked over. “Yes?”
“Did you notice anything odd about the crystal? Or, did it
do anything unusual?” Wesley asked.
Anya shook her head. “I hit him with it, and then he
caught it. A minute later, he was gone.”
Wesley frowned. “Did it draw blood, perchance?”
Anya shrugged. “I certainly threw it hard enough, but I wasn’t
exactly worried about Xander’s well being at that point. How would I know?”
“What are you thinking?” Willow asked.
“The most common hypothesis surrounding the use of the
crystals is that they involve blood magic—that they’re activated by drawing blood.
The problem is that until now, only one has ever surfaced and no one but that
one magician ever got to study it. All we know about them is myth and legend
passed down by demons from when they were made. What I’ve told you is what’s
considered most likely to be fact; all sorts of stories abound about their
magical healing properties, their ability to kill anything that touches them,
and whatnot,” Wesley replied.
Dawn looked at the crystal she held. “So why don’t we just
try one out and go get Xander?”
Wesley shook his head. “That’s not a good idea, Dawn.
First, we don’t know if it works. Second, we don’t know anything about that
dimension, or where Xander is in it. Transdimensional
travel is inherently dangerous. Third, there’s no way of knowing if we could
get back. Remember, that dimension is shut off from all others. We couldn’t
just use a spell, and I doubt the shaman left one over there. Fourth, and most
importantly, we don’t know if these are the Saádriel talismans. They could just
be paperweights, with a bit of magic in them.”
···•••·•••·•••·•••···
Dawn watched in frustration as two more days went by.
Wesley had helped speed up the research, she supposed, but that only meant that
books were discarded more quickly. She wanted to help, but they shoved her
aside. That made her mad. Xander was her best friend and she wanted to help get
him back. She didn’t understand what was taking so long. They knew where he
was, they knew how to get there—well, maybe—so why didn’t they just go?
“We’ll find him, don’t worry,” Tara said, looking up at
Dawn. Dawn smiled back at her, knowing that the witch knew she was angry at the
lack of progress.
Dawn silently screamed. It seemed that the desperation and
fear that everyone had felt when Xander had first gone missing was absent from
everyone but her. Buffy was resuming her patrols, Anya had gone back to
business as usual, and Willow and Tara were splitting their time between
researching and making up. Wesley was definitely invested in the research, and
was more effective than all of them combined, but it was more of an academic
thing for him than any real concern for the guy he’d never particularly liked.
He was cool, though, so Dawn didn’t mind.
“Well, I think we should call it a day,” Willow announced
an hour later. “I’m tired and hungry. Wanna grab a
bite, Dawn?”
Dawn shook her head. “Nah, I’m supposed to wait here for
Buffy.”
The witches and Wesley put away their books and left soon
thereafter. The Watcher had been at the store since early morning and obviously
needed rest. Dawn wandered around the back of the store, flipping through books
here and there. She wanted to help, but didn’t know how. She was messing with
the crystals in their box when Buffy came to get her.
“Come on, shorty,” Buffy yelled
from the front of the store.
Dawn rolled her eyes and moved to obey. Out of habit more
than anything, she pocketed the crystal in her hand.
···•••·•••·•••·•••···
“You don’t care that he’s gone, do you?” Dawn said coldly.
Buffy shook her head in denial. “Of course I care, Dawn.
Some things take time, you know. There isn’t another way.” Dawn had been like
this ever since she’d picked her up at the shop.
“Isn’t there?” She asked her sister.
“Look, you know there isn’t. Dawn, we’re trying as hard as
we can, and we’ll get him back as quickly as possible. We miss him, too,” Buffy
said soothingly.
Dawn nodded jerkily. She still didn’t believe her sister,
though. “I’m staying over at Kim’s this weekend, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. I’ll drive you,” Buffy said.
“Don’t bother. It’s only a few houses over and across the
street,” Dawn replied, heading upstairs to pack.
Buffy watched her sister go, wondering if she ever had
control in her own house. It certainly didn’t look like it.
Dawn sat on her bed, looking around her room. She didn’t
really want to go to Kim’s at all, not when Xander was still missing. A wild
idea started in her mind, and she began to rummage through her closet. After a
few minutes of digging, she found the sturdy, army-issue knapsack Spike had
given her. It had been a gag gift, one he’d found at a thrift store. The joke
was the name on the bag,‘PFC
Dusk’. They’d both laughed at the stupid joke and she’d thrown it in her
closet. Now, though, the bag, with its enormous capacity, would come in handy.
She had no idea what she’d need in the other world, but
she was taking no chances. Clothes, both light and heavy weight, were carefully
put in the bottom. She loaded up on knives, stakes, and a cross or two, just in
case it wasn’t as garden-of-edenish as Wesley made it
out to be. She also put in a few journals and some pens. After all, who knew? A
bunch of granola bars she’d hidden away were stuffed here and there, along with
two blankets.
Picking up the bag, she hefted it on her shoulders and
looked around. Oh, yeah, she should call Kim and tell her she wouldn’t be
coming. That didn’t take but a minute, though.
Finally Dawn stood in the middle of her room, crystal in
hand. If it didn’t work, nothing was lost in the effort. Drawing in and holding
a deep breath, she held up her free hand and brought it down hard on the sharp
points of the clear crystal. She winced as they stabbed into her palm, drawing
blood. Nothing happened right away. “Oh well.” She looked at the crystal in
disappointment. Then she looked closer. Was it glowing?