Dispatches from the War: the First Battles: the Taming of the Hart (3/3)
Continuing a story of Rulesverse future: ensemble, PG13, this part featuring Dawn, Illyria, Faith, Spike and with a cameo appearance by Major Finn.
If you wanted to read this as a non-WIP, this might be the moment to do so. There will be more, but this is complete as far as it goes.
Prologue, Part One, Part Two
Slayer Central, January 2016
Dawn was bored in the midst of horrors. She felt, deeply, that boredom and wartime shouldn't go together, at least not for those supposedly in the command structure of one of the opposing forces. There were people out there dying because of this war. Some of them were people she knew. One of them had been Dilly.
And she did care. She truly did. It just felt like a horrible thing happening to other people.
Thing was, Dawn had been left here to oversee R&D, because you couldn’t just drop the business of prophesying doom and inventing hot new weaponry on account of global warfare. But all the R&D Slayers were off Slaying, including Vi, and they'd taken most of the SSOs with them. So Dawn was lonely and without her lover as well. And scared. And also pissed. Why she had to be the one to stay behind… Just because no one could afford for the Key to become part of the prize for either side of Big Evil… Huh.
So Dawn stayed, and lived, and other people died far away. And yet she was still bored.
It was so dull, she was thrilled when Illyria turned up.
Surprised, mind you. "Thought you were supporting the North American battalions?"
Illyria blinked, noticeably. "I have come for an important discussion with you."
"Really? No phone calls allowed?"
"I have an idea."
That was… not common. Illyria did many things, but she was reactive. You had to press her buttons, and see what came out. Whatever this was, it was a new thing.
"Tell me."
"I believe I know how to save the world."
There was a long, long silence. Illyria blinked again, probably for emphasis. For a woman who rarely managed a spontaneous suggestion, this was certainly a big one. Dawn couldn’t help but wonder what prompted this. Wesley's devotion? Proximity to humanity? Boredom? Something darker?
When she heard the plan, she was nearly sure it was something darker. "You want us to free Willow's magic?"
"There is no alternative which will ensure victory over all the opponents you face. The Hart is trivial. The Wolf and the Ram, renewed, will not be so."
"Yuh. Good luck convincing the guys you're the answer to all their problems."
"Wesley will do that. With your help."
Great. So we have some kind of inner circle making secret plans. There's no way this one goes badly. Except, Xander was already onside, and there were other rumblings. This wouldn't actually have to be a secret cadre. Not if it would work.
It was the second part of the plan that had Dawn really worried. "And then you use me to get into her head and stop her going insane?"
Illyria almost made an expression of annoyance. It was in the extra intensity of her eyes. "And then we two, together, assist the Witch in retaining her balance. You will act as the Key to her mind. We will use the wisdom of ages-"
"Tchuh. Yeah, that's gonna be the tough sell, you know. No special reason for the Council to trust you. Or me, the Key, really. Nobody understands us. No way Willow's gonna want us in her brain either."
"And yet we are their only hope," said Illyria. She seemed to mean it quite literally.
Dawn looked idly down at her fingers. Seriously? This was going to take a whole lot of convincing before the rest of the Council would bite. Or else things would have to get bad really, really fast.
*
Still in Borneo, February 2016
In the end, it wasn't Riley who turned up. The Major Finn on Buffy's speed-dial was a woman; tall, dark, beautiful, extremely pleasant.
"Faith! Spike! It's incredibly good to meet you. I've been hoping it would fall out this way now we're all in this together. Thank God for sensible alliances, right?"
Sam asked about Buffy. Didn’t even blink when she heard Buffy was taking the ‘strategic overview’. “Good for her! Not easy to step out of the field, but her experience is needed right at the top, right?” Sam appeared to be completely genuine about that, too.
Faith and Spike tried so hard to hate her. But she'd brought extra weapons, and useful positional intel, and she was so impressed with their progress so far… and she had no superpowers, but she fought like a particularly awesome demon. You couldn’t even wisecrack about her damn not-here husband; it would be like kicking a friendly, efficient seeing-eye dog that was trying to save you from drowning. Sam Finn was evil, or a magic robot. Or something.
*
With the Initiative's extra firepower - and a strictly temporary truce Gunn and Wesley fought out in heavy diplomacy with the Wolf and the Ram - they did see the Hart crushed within three months.
Victory.
For a while.
The war had been an earthquake. Four hundred-and-some portals opened to demon lands, and who knew what came through they hadn't dealt with yet. Cleanup would be long. Five towns largely destroyed, and a great handful of murdered villages no one would remember except those who'd known and loved those who had died with them.
Two Slayers lost. Two Support Officers and one part-trained volunteer. Eight thousand, four hundred and thirty eight other human beings, who'd never know quite what they had died of.
Not such a big price? Didn’t feel that way to the survivors.
And the bigger war was still to come.
Take a breath, Slayer Council. It might be your last.
*
Also available on AO3 if you'd like to read in complete chapters
If you wanted to read this as a non-WIP, this might be the moment to do so. There will be more, but this is complete as far as it goes.
Prologue, Part One, Part Two
Slayer Central, January 2016
Dawn was bored in the midst of horrors. She felt, deeply, that boredom and wartime shouldn't go together, at least not for those supposedly in the command structure of one of the opposing forces. There were people out there dying because of this war. Some of them were people she knew. One of them had been Dilly.
And she did care. She truly did. It just felt like a horrible thing happening to other people.
Thing was, Dawn had been left here to oversee R&D, because you couldn’t just drop the business of prophesying doom and inventing hot new weaponry on account of global warfare. But all the R&D Slayers were off Slaying, including Vi, and they'd taken most of the SSOs with them. So Dawn was lonely and without her lover as well. And scared. And also pissed. Why she had to be the one to stay behind… Just because no one could afford for the Key to become part of the prize for either side of Big Evil… Huh.
So Dawn stayed, and lived, and other people died far away. And yet she was still bored.
It was so dull, she was thrilled when Illyria turned up.
Surprised, mind you. "Thought you were supporting the North American battalions?"
Illyria blinked, noticeably. "I have come for an important discussion with you."
"Really? No phone calls allowed?"
"I have an idea."
That was… not common. Illyria did many things, but she was reactive. You had to press her buttons, and see what came out. Whatever this was, it was a new thing.
"Tell me."
"I believe I know how to save the world."
There was a long, long silence. Illyria blinked again, probably for emphasis. For a woman who rarely managed a spontaneous suggestion, this was certainly a big one. Dawn couldn’t help but wonder what prompted this. Wesley's devotion? Proximity to humanity? Boredom? Something darker?
When she heard the plan, she was nearly sure it was something darker. "You want us to free Willow's magic?"
"There is no alternative which will ensure victory over all the opponents you face. The Hart is trivial. The Wolf and the Ram, renewed, will not be so."
"Yuh. Good luck convincing the guys you're the answer to all their problems."
"Wesley will do that. With your help."
Great. So we have some kind of inner circle making secret plans. There's no way this one goes badly. Except, Xander was already onside, and there were other rumblings. This wouldn't actually have to be a secret cadre. Not if it would work.
It was the second part of the plan that had Dawn really worried. "And then you use me to get into her head and stop her going insane?"
Illyria almost made an expression of annoyance. It was in the extra intensity of her eyes. "And then we two, together, assist the Witch in retaining her balance. You will act as the Key to her mind. We will use the wisdom of ages-"
"Tchuh. Yeah, that's gonna be the tough sell, you know. No special reason for the Council to trust you. Or me, the Key, really. Nobody understands us. No way Willow's gonna want us in her brain either."
"And yet we are their only hope," said Illyria. She seemed to mean it quite literally.
Dawn looked idly down at her fingers. Seriously? This was going to take a whole lot of convincing before the rest of the Council would bite. Or else things would have to get bad really, really fast.
*
Still in Borneo, February 2016
In the end, it wasn't Riley who turned up. The Major Finn on Buffy's speed-dial was a woman; tall, dark, beautiful, extremely pleasant.
"Faith! Spike! It's incredibly good to meet you. I've been hoping it would fall out this way now we're all in this together. Thank God for sensible alliances, right?"
Sam asked about Buffy. Didn’t even blink when she heard Buffy was taking the ‘strategic overview’. “Good for her! Not easy to step out of the field, but her experience is needed right at the top, right?” Sam appeared to be completely genuine about that, too.
Faith and Spike tried so hard to hate her. But she'd brought extra weapons, and useful positional intel, and she was so impressed with their progress so far… and she had no superpowers, but she fought like a particularly awesome demon. You couldn’t even wisecrack about her damn not-here husband; it would be like kicking a friendly, efficient seeing-eye dog that was trying to save you from drowning. Sam Finn was evil, or a magic robot. Or something.
*
With the Initiative's extra firepower - and a strictly temporary truce Gunn and Wesley fought out in heavy diplomacy with the Wolf and the Ram - they did see the Hart crushed within three months.
Victory.
For a while.
The war had been an earthquake. Four hundred-and-some portals opened to demon lands, and who knew what came through they hadn't dealt with yet. Cleanup would be long. Five towns largely destroyed, and a great handful of murdered villages no one would remember except those who'd known and loved those who had died with them.
Two Slayers lost. Two Support Officers and one part-trained volunteer. Eight thousand, four hundred and thirty eight other human beings, who'd never know quite what they had died of.
Not such a big price? Didn’t feel that way to the survivors.
And the bigger war was still to come.
Take a breath, Slayer Council. It might be your last.
*
Also available on AO3 if you'd like to read in complete chapters