Walking along the Sunnydale street to the Magic Box, I take a deep breath to just enjoy the fresh air.
I went out on patrol last night and it felt really good. I kinda had to after how good it felt to face off against Kennedy the other day. Something about it just got me so jazzed and full of energy that I had to let some of it go. Dawn tried to convince me to use the excess energy in a different, more fun way, but I decided that something else was better. As fun as it's been to explore things with her, this wasn't the kind of energy that would be satisfied that way.
Not that I found much in the way of actual vampires or demons to fight. There were only like 3 or 4 out there, which is way down from the usual 10 to 15 a night when the hellmouth was still open. But it was still good to get this type of thing out of my system. It's been way too long. I may have to do it a lot more often. But if I do then we might have less things for me to slay. Could become a problem. Better to keep it to a minimum and have a little fun from time to time.
I'm sure Dawn is more than happy to keep me focused on other things. It seems to be what she does these days. Not that I'm complaining at all. Things are good between us and I want it to keep going for as long as humanly possible. But if something doesn't happen to shake things up and give me a little fun, it might be a problem.
Maybe I could talk to Dawn about taking trips out of town so we can find some places with a few more vampires. We might get into a fun groove of going away on trips and having a great time. If the hellmouth stays the way it is, maybe all of us could do it as a group.
I turn down a corner onto another street.
It still feels weird to think of them as a group I'm a part of. For so long we were never in the best place with each other. Things were never simple between us. Plus with all the crap I did to them, I didn't really blame them for feeling kinda stand off-ish when I came back. Eventually I got them to come around though, which mostly has to do with the fact that we didn't have an apocalypse to handle after Dawn took care of it.
Then when things started happening between me and Dawn, I think they warmed up to me a lot more. They could see how happy I made Dawn, and how happy she made me. It was hard to deny with how things worked out. And now we're just happy.
The Magic Box comes up on me and I walk inside.
Now if only we can convince B to go along with Dawn's plan for the Potentials, everything will be great.
"Hey guys, how's..."
Getting a full picture of who's here, I notice that B's here and someone I don't know.
He looks really familiar. But I can't exactly place where. It's giving me that weird feeling that something's off. Why can't I shake this feeling? Even with all the great things in my life which are making me so happy.
"Hey B, back so soon?"
"Yeah, is Dawn with you?"
Dawn?
"No, she has a class to teach today. But I promised to give her an update on whatever this is."
"Good."
Why is that good? And who exactly is this guy? I guess I should find out.
"Who's your friend? Does Angel know about him?"
Angel coughs and I see him in the back where Giles is sitting, out of the way of the sunlight.
Wait, Angel wasn't supposed to comeback with Buffy. Obviously whatever it is must be pretty big if he's here. We don't usually get him to help us with problems if we can avoid it. If he's here, something big is going on.
"Guess he does. What's up?"
No one really says anything right away.
Okay, that doesn't seem like a good thing. Most of the time, they're all talking over each other and making jokes about it.
"Must be serious."
B eventually breaks the silence.
"It is Faith. We're just not sure how serious. Remember that whole paranoia thing I had which everyone told me I was crazy for worrying about? It turns out I might not be so crazy."
Why is everyone being so vague?
"Wanna vague that up for me?"
"Something's going on. We don't know what. I've only got bits and pieces so far. My friend here was just filling us in on some of the details when you came in. Apparently, someone is screwing with us and we don't know it."
That's really big if it's true. I get why everyone looks like the world is ending... assuming it is. But the most important thing right now is...
"And who is the dude?"
He stands up to meet me.
"Hi Faith, how's it going?"
Why does he seem so familiar? I can't shake the feeling that I've met him somewhere before but I'm drawing a blank. Could it have anything to do with whatever this big problem is?
"Depends... mostly on who you are."
He gets kinda hurt by that.
What the heck is going on?
"You don't remember me?"
Remember him? Am I supposed to know him? Is that what is wrong with the world that B's talking about?
"No, should I?"
It takes him a second to answer.
"My name is Pike, and... we used to know each other."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
B tries to add to it.
"Pike is someone I used to know back before I came to Sunnydale. Apparently, we met up recently just as things were about to go bad. He's part of a plan to help us get out of it."
This doesn't make any sense. How could I feel like I met him if this Pike guy is someone B knew before we met? Except I can't shake the feeling that I know him. Maybe that's where the weirdness is coming from that things don't feel right?
"When was this? While you were in LA?"
"No, Pike says that things aren't the way they're supposed to be. That things have been changed somehow and none of us know it."
I can't believe this.
"And you believe him? Why?"
"We were just about to explain when you walked in. Pike says that Will left a message for herself on his arm to fix whatever's going on. Willow was just about to check the imprint on him to figure out whether or not he's for real. Will?"
Willow stands up and closes the distance between her and this Pike guy.
This is crazy. There's no way that...
As she gets close, his arm starts to glow.
Whoa...
Cautiously, Willow reaches out and touches the arm. When she does, the glowing gets brighter to the point that I have to look away. It finally dies down and Willow is standing there, eyes wide in shock.
"Oh my god... I... I... I remember..."
She remembers? This is real? My bad feeling was real? What exactly is going on?
B asks the obvious.
"Remember what Will?"
"I... I remember what happened, or at least... some of it I think. I remember Dawn and what she did. And... some of the details."
Dawn? What does Dawn have to do with this?
"What do you mean? What did Dawn do?"
"She changed it..."
"Changed what?"
"The world..."
This is crazy.
"You're not making any sense Red. Dawn hasn't done anything. She's just a girl. She's my girlfriend and I know her well enough to know she didn't do anything."
"I know... I don't think Dawn could do it either. It doesn't fit with what I know about her either. I don't really understand it myself. It's all kinda jumbled right now. But I know that something is wrong with the world we're living in. It's... all wrong..."
That's... that's how I've been feeling all this time. How can she feel this way too?
Willow looks at the rest of us.
"Don't you feel it?"
Each of them seems to feel the same way.
"I do."
"I thought I was the only one."
Xander looks around.
"Wait, I wasn't the only one who felt that?"
As she gets to looking at me, I feel that thing coming back that I couldn't get rid of.
How does she know how I was feeling? This doesn't make any sense. The only way it would make sense is if it... it was somehow true, but... there's no way that Dawn could be behind all of it... could she?
"I... I don't know..."
B brings up the obvious.
"Do you think that you could do the same to the rest of us?"
She thinks about it for a minute.
"No, I don't think so, but... it feels like there might be another way."
That Pike guy speaks up eventually.
"You put that little reminder on me so you could do the same for everyone else with his help."
His help?
B gets to it before I can.
"Who's help?"
"Connor's."
Connor? That... it can't be... there's no way it could be the guy Dawn brought in for her experimentation... could it? Dawn wouldn't do that to me would she?
"Who's Connor?"
Angel speaks from the corner.
"Apparently, he's my son."
What? I... what the hell? There's no way that Dawn would do that. Especially if he really is Angel's son. The only way it would happen is if she didn't know.
Giles points out what the rest of us are probably thinking.
"I wasn't aware you had a son."
"Neither did I, but according to Pike, I do, or I used to."
It can't be the same guy. She couldn't know. She's being used by whatever force is doing this to do things she wouldn't normally do. That's the only way any of this makes any sense.
Xander asks the obvious.
"How exactly is this guy supposed to help?"
"Well, according to Willow, Connor has been at the centre of this type of mystical shift before..."
Willow clues in on where he's going.
"That makes sense. If things have been changed around him, he's going to be able to realize what happened and get his memory back easier than the rest of us."
Giles now sees it too apparently.
"And from him, we might be able to get our own memories back."
B has to ask.
"So the question is, where do we find him?"
There's no way, it just can't be true.
"He could be anywhere."
Or right under our nose, or my nose specifically... and other parts of me.
"No, if Dawn did anything to him, he'd keep him close. They have a history apparently."
It can't be. I don't want to believe it.
"So where is he?"
I should at least tell them.
"I know where he is."
They all look at me.
This isn't going to go very well.
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