Chapter 15—A Soul In Tension

A soul in tension that’s learning to fly—Pink Floyd, "Learning to Fly"

Once again, Dawn woke to faces gathered around her prone body. This time, she was on the couch.

She sat up, and everyone drew back as she did so. “I did it again, didn’t I?”

Spike touched her knee. “Yeah, you did, Bit. How do you feel?”

She listened to her body for a second, then shrugged. “Fine. Normal. What was it this time? Pronouncements of doom and gloom by the look on your faces.”

“Not necessarily, Dawn. You spoke of balance again. Just as you did when we spoke of Willow earlier.” Giles loosened his tie, and looked strangely at Dawn and Tara. “Tara, can you—read Dawn?”

Tara looked nervously at the group of faces. “I don’t know. I—I can try.”

Much as she had with Willow, Tara sat across from Dawn on the coffee table. They put their hands together palm to palm, and Tara looked directly at Dawn, holding her eyes. “Clear your thoughts, as much as you can. Imagine your mind like a blackboard, and a large eraser clearing all your muddled thoughts away.” She watched Dawn visibly relax, then continued in a soothing voice. “Let your mind drift like a leaf on the wind.”

Dawn's eyes closed, and Tara closed her eyes as well. After a few moments of tense silence, Tara began to speak, her tone eerie. “I see before me a key, a key of mystical energy. The key had no task, no use other than what it exists to do—open the portal between worlds, dimensions, planes. She is the steward of the universe, the maintainer of symmetry and stability. She sees imbalance and rights it. Sees wrong, and corrects it. Fulfills need.”

“How? How does she do it?” Buffy leaned forward, and Spike pulled her back to keep her from breaking the connection, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned into him, and tried to maintain her control.

“She does not do it herself. It is the will of the Powers. The Powers correct it. She is just the conduit.”

“Can this have a harmful effect on Dawn? Her physical form?” Giles asked.

“The conduit can only be harmed while in her physical form. Once released from her physical form, she will revert to her previous state.”

Tara slumped, her hands falling to her lap. She was gasping for breath, trying to get enough oxygen. “That’s all,” she rasped. “That’s all I can get from her.”

Dawn fell back on the couch, limp. Buffy rushed to her side, grabbing her wrist and counting her pulse. Spike pushed her aside, and picked her up effortlessly. “She’s asleep, pet. I’ll take her up to bed.”

She watched him leave the room, then turned back to the others, her thoughts whirling at the speed of light. “Okay. So let’s recap. Spike and I were meant to be together by the Powers That Be. Anya says that we’re perfect complements for each other. Dawn says as the Key that we are to maintain balance. What does all this mean?”

Giles sat down on the couch next to Buffy, and patted her shoulder. Tara looked at her. “The planes of existence have to remain in balance, not only one to another, but also in themselves. How much do you know about chaos?”

“Not much. Missed that class, so refresh me. Chaos is…?”

“Chaos is the absence of balance.” Anya munched on the apple she grabbed off the dining room table. “Takes forever to balance things out again. That’s how the universes were created. Creating balance from imbalance. I hear it was a really delicate process.” She took another bite, and asked nobody in particular, “So, how long has Dawn been holding the stewardship?”

Puzzled looks ringed the room, and Anya sat down on the couch next to Giles. “So you don’t know anything about that either, I take it?” He shook his head in negative, and Anya rolled her eyes. “How do you people do your jobs if you know that little about the demon world and the Powers?”

Giles loosened his tie further and cleared his throat. “The Council has very little information about the demon world, Anya. To my knowledge, there is very little mention of the Powers That Be in any literature.”

“Any human literature. There are whole books on the subject in the demon world. D’Hoffryn has a dozen or more.”

Buffy looked at Giles. “Remind me again why we never used Anya's demon contacts for information before?”

Giles looked uncomfortable. “Perhaps because we didn’t know that she maintained those demon contacts, Buffy.”

“I’ve never been coy about my demon days, Giles. I was always getting shut down. Not by any of you. You were all very nice to me and let me speak. I never felt superfluous or ignorant or too brash. You’ve always treated me well.” Tears beaded on her lashes, and Anya dashed them away. “When we first started dating, Xander demanded I stop referring to demon things. It made him uncomfortable.”

“Still does, or I’d wager it does, Anya.” Spike sauntered to the corner of the couch and sat down on the arm, curling his upper body around Buffy. “The Whelp has funny ways. He’s never been right,” Spike said, tapping his temple with his finger.

Anya giggled and nodded, then was suddenly sober once again. “I really don’t want to divulge this, but I feel like I need to at this point. Buffy, Xander is more than just obsessed with you and Spike being together. He is obsessed with you, personally.”

Buffy frowned, and Spike growled above her head. She slapped his knee, and said, “Obsessed with me? How? He’s one of my best friends.”

Anya leaned forward holding the apple core and pinned Buffy to the couch with her serious look. “I’m not kidding here, Buffy. He is obsessed. What you wear, where you go, who you date, what you’re doing with your life. If he wasn’t your friend, I would be worried.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Xander was still holding a limp hand, talking a mile a minute. “Willow, we did everything we could to be her friend, and she constantly throws us aside for the evil dead. I can’t understand that. I never could. First Angel, now Spike. At least we don’t have to worry about Spike turning evil. He already is. We can only hope that Buffy will notice he hasn’t changed, even with the chip, and stake his sorry ass. If not, we’ll take matters into our own hands.”