Title: Gift of a Future
Author: Gileswench

(notes & disclaimer with part one)

Spike fumbled in his pocket for his lighter. Watching Buffy making cow eyes over her Watcher and small talk with the pretty boy doctor had soured his mood even more than he had expected. Bloody Rupert! Getting skewered just so he could hog all the attention. It was just like the ponce.

His hands were still healing from the wounds he'd received while bending that knight's sword back on itself. Trying to move them was painful. He hissed slightly and attempted to light the flame again. A small, gentle hand removed the lighter from his hand and started it easily. Spike looked warily at Willow. He took a drag on his cigarette.

"Thanks" he said at last.

"You do know smoking's bad for you, right?"

The vampire just glared slightly and took another long drag. He deliberately blew the smoke at Willow. She glared back and waved the smoke away.

Deanna sidled up to Riker and Captain Picard.

"It's awfully tense in here," she said quietly.

"I don't think empathic powers are necessary to recognize that, Counsellor," the captain said.

"I don't get it," Riker added. "Why doesn't Q show up and help us out. After all, he's the one who got us into this mess in the first place."

"He wants us to figure it out on our own," Picard surmised. "He's given us another puzzle to piece together. The amusement for him is in watching us work it out ourselves." The captain sighed. "But it would be a damn sight easier for us if he'd just give us a clue what he wants."

"He can't want us to just sit here on our thumbs. That isn't going to change what went wrong. We have to do something."

"I'm open to suggestion, Number One."

Riker looked around himself, but found no clue. He looked at Deanna for help. She shrugged and turned sympathetic eyes to him.

"I wish I knew what to do, Will. We'll just have to wait and see a bit longer, I'm afraid."

"So," Willow said to break the tension more than anything else, "how are your hands?"

"Nothing compared to the little bits we'll be chopped into when the Renaissance Faire kicks the door in," Spike sighed. "And here we bloody sit."

"It's not exactly like we've got a lot of choices."

"We could make a break for it. Use General Armor-All as a shield, get to the doc's car, and...and..."

"Yeah, great plan, Spike. And while they're hacking and slashing and making little dicey bits out of us, what're you gonna be doing, huh? Throwing migraines at them?"

"Look, if we stay here, we all die! At least this way some of us would get out."

"No."

They both turned to see Buffy standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest.

"We're all gonna make it," she continued. "I'm not losing anybody." She turned to Spike. "Check the supplies. See if anybody's hungry."

The vampire and the witch left together. From his post, Gregor chuckled nastily.

"Dissention in the ranks," he said. "Seldom a harbinger of good tidings."

Buffy scowled in his direction, then stalked over to her prisoner. She gave him a vicious backhand across the face.

"Shut up!" she ordered.

The general spat a bit of blood, but faced her boldly.

"Poor, frightened girl," he said. "You've no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

"Then why don't you tell me?"

"Would it make any difference?" When she simply continued to regard him in stony silence, the general began again. "What do you know of the beast?"

"Strong. Fast. Hellgod."

"From a dimension of unspeakable torment."

"A demon dimension, I know. She ruled with two other Hellgods, didn't she?"

"Along with the beast, they were a triumverate of suffering and despair, ruling with equal vengeance. But the beast's power grew beyond even what they could concieve - as did her lust for pain and misery. They looked upon what she had become...and trembled."

"A God afraid?" Buffy asked. Her confidence was shaken, but her face remained stony, impassive.

"Such was her power," Gregor confirmed. "They feared she would attempt to sieze their dimension for herself, and decided to strike first. A great battle erupted. In the end, they stood victorious over the beast - barely. She was cast out; banished to a lower plane of existance, forced to live and eventually die within the body of a mortal - a newborn male created as her prison. That is the beast's only weakness."

"Kill the man," Buffy said slowly, "and the God dies."

"Unfortunately, the identity of the human vessel has never been discovered."

"I don't get it. Now, I've seen Glory. Not a whole lot going on in the hairy chest department."

"You've seen a glimpse of the true beast. Her power was too great to be completely contained. She's found a way to escape her mortal prison for brief periods until her energies are exhausted and she's forced back into her living cell of meat and bone."

"What about me?"

Both looked over to the doorway. Dawn stood there. Her entire body trembled, but her need to know outweighed her fear of the answer.

"What about the key?" she asked.

"Dawn..."

"I want to know."

"The key is almost as old as the beast herself," Gregor answered. "Where it came from, how it was created...the deepest of mysteries. All that is certain is that its power is absolute. Countless generations of my people have sacrificed their lives in search of it, to destroy it before its wrath could be unleashed."

"But the monks found it first," Dawn said.

"Yes, and they hid it with their majicks."

"Why didn't they destroy it?" Buffy asked. "If the key is as dangerous as that..."

"They were fools! They thought they could harness its powers for the forces of light. They failed and paid with their blood."

"What do I do? What was I created for?"

"You were created to open the gates that separate dimensions. The beast will use your power to return home and sieze control of the Hell she was banished from."

Buffy couldn't help a harsh bark of mirthless laughter.

"That's it?" she demanded. "That's Glory's great master plan? To go home?"

"You misunderstand. Once the key is activated, it won't just open the gates to the beast's dimension. It's going to open all the gates. The walls separating realities will crumble. Dimensions will bleed into one another. Order will be overthrown and the universe will tumble into chaos. All dark. Forever." He held Dawn's gaze with a steely look of hatred. "That is what you were created for."

"Geordie?"

"Yeah?" He looked up at the Buffybot. "Hey, you don't look so happy. What's wrong?"

The bot sniffled and took a seat.

"Does being in love always hurt? Is there a way to make it stop hurting? Can you make me not love anymore? Please, I don't want to hurt like this."

The engineer moved to the robot's side and took her hand.

"It can't be that bad, can it?" he asked. "I mean, I know Data's not capable of emotion, but he's not treating you bad, is he?"

"No. He's very kind to me. It's just...he doesn't love me, and knowing that makes me feel bad."

"I did tell you that might be a problem," Geordie reminded her.

"I know. But I thought if I loved him enough, it would be okay; that I could love enough for both of us and it would be nice. Why doesn't it work? I've tried so hard."

"That's just...not how it goes. If it did, well, things would be a lot different. And a lot less people would be lonely."

"Are you lonely?"

"Yeah, sometimes. In fact, a lot of times. Women don't seem interested in me, and I'm not interested in men."

"How about robots?"

Geordie shook his head.

"It's not that I don't like you, but there's no...spark. But hey, I'll be happy to be your friend. Would you like that?"

"But you won't love me?"

"Not like a boyfriend, no."

The bot stood, shook her head sadly and left the room.

Dawn sat on the table, looking at her hands. If she stared hard enough, she was certain she'd see blood on them. So many people had died for her over the centuries. Still more might die before the end. The destruction of the universe might well end up being her fault. She didn't even look up when she heard footsteps. She knew whose they were.

"You think it's true?" she asked. "What he said?"

Buffy sat beside her sister and gave a small sigh.

"I don't know."

"Destroyer of the Universe. I guess cutting school doesn't seem that bad now, huh?"

"It's not you. You know that."

"But it's in me, isn't it? It's inside me." Both girls were silent for a while. "What are we gonna do?"

Buffy pulled Dawn close and held her. She needed the comfort every bit as much as her sister did.

"I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

She prayed that she was telling the truth.