SquidgeWorld Archive

(This is original creative material copyright Chris Kenworthy, based on characters that he has no right to owned by someone else blah blah biddy blah...)
Author's note: The scooby gang is trapped in Limbo, a Hellish copy of Sunnydale in a pocket dimension of the Hellmouth. Angel is there, and he and Willow kissed last time. Angel's also pregnant, but don't worry about that right now. Buffy and Xander are an item, and Xander's been training with Buffy.

Prolog

Breakfast was in full swing in the Rosenberg kitchen when Angel walked in.

Buffy and Xander were sitting at one end of the kitchen table, all smiles and touches, Xander with his bowl of frosted flakes, glass of apple juice, and instant microwave bacon; Buffy eating toast with peach jam and sipping at a mug of Irish Cream coffee. Further down, Willow ate listlessly from her apple cinnamon porridge and drank her milk dutifully. And at the other end, Cordelia and Oz drank black coffee and shot blacker looks further up the table.

"Do you know there's a dragon stalking around outside?" Angel said as he came up to the table.

Everybody froze for a second. For one thing, it was the first time Angel had spoken to Buffy since they had first been brought to Limbo. For another, everyone had by now heard about Willow and Angel's kiss, and that Willow had told Oz she liked Angel. To say the least, it was a tense moment.

Of course, Xander came to the rescue with a *really* bad joke. "No, I don't think so," he rattled off, "but if you sing the first verse I'll pick it up."

"Heh heh," Buffy laughed hollowly. "A dragon? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Angel confirmed. "I saw it out the window."

"So there really are dragons?" Cordelia asked redundantly. "Is there *anything* that's just a fairy tale?"

"Happily ever after," Oz muttered under his breath, but Angel was already speaking again.

"I think most bestiarians say that dragons are extinct on the earth by now," the vampire said. "This one must have come into Limbo from Hell."

"Then how did you recognize it?" Xander asked.

"I saw one, quite a while ago," Angel said. "Angelus did, actually. He and Spike went to a dragon hunt in the black forest. A lot of vampires like to consider themselves the best hunters in the world, and so they hunt some of the most dangerous prey - like dragons."

"Um, okay," Buffy said. "You think we should take this one out?"

"Probably." Angel's face was downcast. "It probably knows there are people in here, and it might attack someone outside the house, or even try to burn us out. A bit of a shame, though - killing the last dragon again."

Buffy smirked. "I'd never have pegged you for a wildlife conservationist, especially not for wild dragons."

Angel shrugged. "Well, Angelus was a bit of a dragophile, and I think I am too. They're very beautiful and intriguing creatures... it's too bad they see humans as prey and vampires as competitors."

"They don't like vamps?" Willow piped in.

"Nope," Angel shook his head. "Some people say that they even recognize vampires by scent, that our smell drives them crazy with fury. I'm not sure about that, though."

"We'll war council after breakfast," Buffy decided. "See what the others have to contribute about dragons."

* * * *

"Dragons are among the most deadly demons that the Earth has ever known," Giles told them. "They have no conscience, no feeling, no loyalty. Only a passion for death and destruction that goes past 'predatory' heading towards 'diabolical.'" Buffy looked at him with a pensive expression. After a second, Giles added sheepishly "At least, that's what the Watcher's handbook has to say on the subject."

"I'm afraid the handbook might be right," Vanessa chimed in. "Dragons have been romanticized as icons of danger, mystery, and the allure of ages past, but the reality was probably considerably darker. They are strange beings, built incredibly well for fighting, and have a suspiciously mysterious origin." She turned to Angel. "How large was it?"

"Not very. I can't be sure of the precise dimensions, but I'd guess eight to ten feet from snout to tail if fully extended, which it wasn't. Maybe two feet more than that spanning the wings."

"Okay, well, I'd say that hanging around in here isn't going to help any," Vanessa concluded. "I'll cast a spell of fire resistance and we can go out and take a look!"

In a few minutes that was accomplished. There were ten of them now, including Darrell and Amy who tagged along with Vanessa. Buffy was in the lead, carrying a sword from Giles' old weapons collection. She had only just gotten out into the middle of the street when she saw it coming.

It was a sinuous slink of green scales, running across the asphalt on four legs and helping itself towards Buffy with wide wings. Patterns of red highlighted its many-taloned front claws and its reptilian snout. As it approached, it opened its mouth, and reddish-purple tongues of flame spread out towards her with frightening speed. The Slayer screamed in pain as the fire surrounded her body.

Xander launched himself towards Buffy with remarkable reflexes, flying through the dissipating cloud of flame to push his girlfriend out of danger and onto the ground, rolling around to put the flames out. But there were no flames! Their clothing, and their bodies, were whole.

"Whoops!" Vanessa said. "I guess the fire resistance spell doesn't cover pain... you feel like you're being burnt, but you're really not."

"Nice to know," Xander grumped, as he and Buffy lay there with the wind knocked out of them. The dragon's snout turned to look at them, centering Xander's face with one eye and Buffy Summers' with the other, and the eyes flashed with dark green magic. Xander felt woozy as something strange started to happen to him.

Act One

"Ice storm. Now!" Vanessa muttered as the draconic beast menaced the staggered Buffy and Xander. She grabbed Darrell's hand with one of her own and Willow's with the other, since they were next to her, and began the chant. Darrell and Willow joined in: "Frigidis, gelidus gelu tempestas..."

The dragon seemed to recognize the magic invocation, for it turned away from its fallen prey, swivelled its limber neck around, and glared at the three witches. With astonishing quickness it oriented on Vanessa and Darrell and did its flashing-eyes thing on them as well, dazing the two experienced witches. Willow, on the other hand, it menaced with a hiss of the tongue and a show of its sharp teeth, rather than any use of strange magic.

"Willow!" Angel cried out in concern, and he dashed forward past her to threaten the dragon back with the heavy mace he carried for a weapon.

Oz was running over towards Willow at the same time. "No!" he cried out, and interposed himself defiantly between the beast and his lost love. But the dragon's eyes flashed green again, knocking the vampire and wereboy back in shock. With a disgusted snort, the drake turned away from them and swung out looking for other prey. In only a few seconds it had locked onto a very nervous Cordelia. The beast gestured menacingly with its front claws and steaming drool slaverred from its mouth as it stalked towards the beautiful teenager, who stood frozen in total dread.

"No!" Amy stepped out, holding an outstretched hand into the dragon's path, and the beast seemed to bounce off an invisible barrier. It tried once again to pass through, with no better luck, and then gazed craftily at the two young ladies. Once more the green light flashed into two faces, and Amy and Cordelia wilted as the strength left their bodies. The dragon snuffled closer, the barrier now gone, and prepared to take a bite out of Cordelia's delectable body. At the last moment, though, it howled in pain and whirled around to face a new danger.

"Take that, dragon buddy!" Buffy crowed exultantly, gesturing dangerously with the sword she had just thrust into the dragon's behind with such effective results. The dragon whirled on her, but she cut at it with the sharp edge of her blade, scorring on the side of its snout and cutting a slice into its wing. The beast howled in pain and scrambled away. In less than fifteen seconds it had disappereared down between two houses.

"Yes!" Buffy called out, turning in place. "Round one to the humans."

"A little help please?" Vanessa called back to her. She was helping those who hadn't recovered as quickly from the confusion of the dragon's spell to their feet.

"Oh. Yeah, uh, sure," Buffy replied in a more subdued tone of voice, and went back over to assist.

* * * *

They sat in the Rosenberg living room again, cuts and bruises being treated. Angel scuttled quietly over to take the seat next to Willow. "I've been meaning to talk to you," he muttered, "about you know what. It shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have started it - I didn't mean to cause any problems between you and Oz..."

"Hey!" Oz called from across the room. "What are *you* taling to *her* about?" He said it challengingly, almost insultingly.

"Whatever Willow and I may or may not talk about is none of your business," Angel replied brusquely.

"What's that sup--"

Buffy decided it was best to interrupt this scene before it got any further. "Okay, people, we still have a dragon to deal with," she announced. "It doesn't seem too tough, except for that stun spell, and it couldn't use that on me the second time. Still, I may need some backup to kill it..."

"Hey!" Xander broke in. "Hold the phone. Who put you in charge? You can't just decide that you're the dragon slayer as well as the vampire slayer."

"And why not?" Buffy sneered back, making Willow gape in surprise. "One thing's for sure, you're not gonna do it."

Xander stared back in shock too, but soon rallied back. "I could do it."

"Fine!" Buffy shouted back. "Then let's make a hunt out of it. And just to make it fair, you can have your pick of backup.

"Okay!" Xander yelled back at her, and turned to look at his choices. "Angel, Willow, and Vanessa?"

"Um," Willow broke in, a suspicion forming in the very deepest reaches of her mind that she wasn't even letting herself think about yet. "I think I'd better stay on guard here. In case the dragon circles round and comes back after you've left."

"Okay," Xander muttered. "Amy, then."

"Whatever," Buffy almost spat out at him. "I guess that leaves me with Darrell, Oz, and, oh." Her face fell. "Cordelia." Rather suprisingly, Cordy was sitting up straight in her chair and smiling expectantly, as if not about to let anyone forget about her, no matter how hard they might try. "You still don't have a chance, Xander Harris," Buffy crowed. "Angel or one of your 'backup' might kill the dragon, but never you."

"Put your body where your mouth is, honey," Xander shot back. "Let's move out, team X!" Before too long, both his team and Buffy's had made their way back out the door.

Willow looked up at Giles. "What just happened there?" she complained out loud.

"What do you mean?" The ghostly watcher settled down into an uneasy sitting alignment with the recliner.

"Buffy, and Xander, acting like... well, I'm not quite sure what they were acting like," Willow admitted. "But it wasn't normal. And don't try to tell me that it's just Xander going through his usual insecurity complexes about Buffy's superstrength and Buffy getting annoyed at Xander's insecurity - it's *not* normal. Something is wrong."

"And what would that be?" Giles asked softly.

"I have no idea."

"Dragon-hunting now? What next?"

Willow recognized the voice coming from the top of her staircase, and called back up. "Good morning, Mrs Summers??"

"Willow?" Sure enough, fairly soon Joyce Summers reached the front hall, accompanied by the ghosts of Jenny Calendar and Jesse. "Is Buffy really trying to hunt down a dragon?"

"Yeah," Willow admitted. "Again, we just ran into it about a half-hour ago inside. That's not what's bothering me, though."

"It's not??"

Willow shook her head at the Slayer's mother. "No. Buffy was just acting really strange before they all left... arguing with Xander. And Oz with Angel, come to think of it..."

"Well, there's a perfectly good reason for Oz and Angel to be at each other's throats," Jesse quipped, winking at Willow. "They're both interested in the same pretty girl."

"Angel's not, well, uh, maybe," Willow replied, blushing.

"And maybe Buffy and Xander had a fight," Joyce continued. Willow realized suddenly that Joyce was both rather relieved that her daughter was doing something as completely normal as dating a perfectly ordinary goof like Xander, and frustrated that Buffy wasn't exactly talking to her about it. Since Buffy had found out that her Mom was also trapped in Limbo, their conversations had been marked either with stiff politeness or flaring tempers. Buffy had told Willow that she no longer blamed or resented her mother for what had happened between them, but she wasn't quite sure how to let her in or make things right. It was a difficult situation.

"Uh, yeah, sure maybe," Jenny replied, promptingly. Willow realized that they had been expecting her to comment on Joyce's theory, while she had gotten herself lost in her thoughts.

"I don't think so," Willow objected. "They seemed perfectly okay at breakfast, and it was right after breakfast that we headed out to take our first look at... at the dragon," she finished with a closer understanding of what it was she had suspected before.

"Yeah?" Jenny replied. "And that means..."

"Huh? Oh, nothing," Willow replied, quickly deciding not to tell anyone else about her realization yet. "Jenny? Giles? Have either of you got any good books on dragons?

* * * *

"All right now," Buffy called out at her ragged squad. "The enemy, I believe you know. Team X." She scoffed at the mere thought. "They are going to try to beat us to the target - nine feet of the toughest fighting reptile the worlds have ever known."

She hefted her sword, and looked closely at each of the others; Cordelia, carrying a solid club in one hand, Oz, who had armed himself with an old favorite of Buffy's, the bipennis axe, and the warlock Darrell, who was keeping his arms free for spellcasting but wore a long knife in a sheath at his hip. "Are we going to let the enemy keep us from our prize?"

"No!" the three others called in unison.

"Then let's go!" Buffy called out, turning away and leading the way down the street, tracking the signs of the dragon's passage. As her team members followed, it almost seemed that a faint gleam of green light shone in the eyes of all four.

Act Two

"Hello?" Jesse called into Willow's room.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, come on in," she said, and Jesse did. Right through the door, of course. Willow was sitting at her work table, which was piled high with several books that Giles and Jenny had told her where to find: _Micchelsson's Comprehensive Reference of the Beasts Fell_, _A Profusion of Drakes_, and _The Watcher's Guide to demonic monsters and beasts_. Willow was reading intently from a fourth huge book, balanced precariously in her lap.

"So, how're you doing?" Jesse began awkwardly.

"Fine," Willow replied absently, not taking her eyes away from the page.

"No, you're not," Jesse told her. As if for emphasis, he waved his hand between Willow's face and the book. She brought her own hand up as if to push it away, and their hands passed through each other without contact. "You're seriously wigged about something," Jesse asserted. "Why can't you tell me what it is?"

Willow looked up at her long-lost friend. "You'd never believe it."

"Yeah I would!" he countered. Willow gave him a disbelieving look, but the teenaged ghost held his ground. "Yeah I *will*! I may not have had as much experience with these kinds of weirdnesses as you, Will, but I trust you. You're my friend, and so if you tell me something, I'll believe it."

"Maybe you shouldn't believe it," Willow told him. "I'm not even sure if I believe it."

"Then stop worrying about whether or not I'd believe it and *tell me about it*!" Jesse insisted, frustrated.

"Uh, okay," Willow agreed quietly. She paused a few long seconds, took a deep breath, and began, "I think that Buffy and the others are under some kind of a spell."

Jesse nodded calmly. "Yeah?"

"From the dragon..."

"Yeah, yeah," Jesse said. "Giles told me how it cast a spell on them."

"Except everyone else assumed that it was just to stun them for a few seconds," Willow continued. "I'm worried that there might be longer-lasting effects."

Jesse nodded more seriously. "Go on," he urged her.

"Buffy and Xander got hit with the spell at the same time, and they were acting all nasty and competitive with each other afterwards."

"And Angel and Oz..." Jesse continued. "Sounds serious. Shouldn't you have called off the dragon hunt?"

Willow smiled knowingly at Jesse. "And they'd have gone along with it, of course," she said with a dry smile. "People under spells generally aren't very reasonable, and all of them were very determined to continue the hunt."

"Yeah, I get your point. The last thing you want is to aggravate Buffy or the others," Jesse said. "Well, I can pop over to there and see what's going on as it happens. Meanwhile, you need help with this research. It has to be done, and it has to be done soon."

"Okay, Willow agreed. "I can tell Giles and Jenny about my theory; they may have suggestions as to where to look, even if they can't turn pages or call up files themselves. And maybe I should call in those two young witches from over at Cordelia's."

"I'll handle that, on my way over," Jesse assured her.

"Oh, and thanks," Willow said, just as Jesse was about to fade out. "For being so supportive."

"Any time, Willster."

"You know," Willow murmured to herself once he was gone, "death has really been a good influence on him." It took her a full minute to stop giggling at that thought.

* * * *

"Hey!" Jesse called out, popping in next to a sad-looking garage. "Xander? Oh, there you guys are." Team X was slowly stalking down the alley the garage was accessing, Angel leading, carefully looking from side to side as he crept along. Amy turned towards Jesse, shooting him daggers, and put a finger to her lips imperiously.

"Oh, hey, I got it," Jesse replied in a stage whisper. "Be vewwy vewwy quiet, we huntin' dwagons, is that it?"

"What are you doing here?" Vanessa asked him.

"Oh, I thought I'd do a ride-along with the big dragon-hunt; not much else goin' on. I can't really be of much help, I know, but you wouldn't deprive a poor ghost of a little joy in afterlife?"

"Okay, but *keep quiet*," Vanessa hissed in a whisper that was a good deal quieter than stage.

"So, what's the big deal with getting this dragon, anyway?" Jesse asked quietly as he fell in closely with the others. "I mean, why the big hurry to whack it?"

Xander shrugged. "I just want to get rid of the darn thing... there's enough monsters running around here, we don't need one more."

"And you want to show Buffy that you can be the one to kill the beastie and be the hero?" Jesse prompted.

"Oh, yeah."

"There could be other benefits to slaying this dragon," Vanessa joined in, "especially if we can track it to its lair. Dragons are said to possess magic secrets... if we can comprehend the secret of the dragon, it may help us defeat Queen Kaliya or escape Limbo."

"And they hoard expensive and gorgeous jewelry, too," Amy added.

Hmm... this was getting interesting, Jesse figured. Might as well ask the last member of Team X for his thoughts... "So, Angel... what would you wanna take if we kill the dragon?"

"One of its tears," Angel said shortly, still tracking intently.

"A tear? Why? What use is that?"

Now Angel turned and looked back at him. "I probably shouldn't tell *you*," he said simply, and then returned his attention to his work.

Stranger and stranger, Jesse thought to himself.

* * * *

"Hey, what are you all doing in here?" Joyce Summers said, knocking the door to Willow's room open.

"Uh, just..." Giles began, then ran out of steam on the way to a persuasive excuse.

Oh, sheesh, Willow thought to herself, why do we instinctively try to cover things up from Mrs. Summers? No wonder she doesn't hardly trust Buffy... or us. "Researching Dragons, Mrs. S." she said.

"Really? Why?" Joyce sat carefully down on Willow's bed, picked up 'A Profusion of Drakes', flipped it open to one of the thin ribbon-like bookmarks, and read aloud. "Legendary curses of dragons?"

"Uh, well, we're wondering if..." she faltered, not quite sure how to tell the protective mother that her daughter might be not only hunting down a dangerous creature, but already under the dragon's magic influence in some weird way.

"We're just seeing if we can find out anything useful," Jenny Calendar temporized for her.

"Uh, okay," Joyce said, unconvinced. She flipped back a few pages in the book and read aloud again. "From time immemorial, the dragon has been a mythical archetype for some of the worst of human traits, most noticeably greed and envy." She shuddered. "Eww."

"Hello all," Jesse called out, popping into the room. "Game warden reporting for... a report, or something like that."

"Game warden?" Joyce repeated blankly.

"Never mind," Willow assured her, getting up and heading into the hallway. "What up?" she asked Jesse.

"Definitely spooksville over with the hunters. They're obsessed with that dragon... and in very weird ways."

"Oh?"

"It's the same thing with one person from each team. Xander and Buffy seem to want to kill the dragon for its own sake, and to get, (or keep,) the reputation as the local hero. Vanessa and Darrell are talking about a dragon's mystic secrets, Cordelia and Amy keep going on about treasure and jewelry, and both Angel and Oz mentioned a dragon's tears, though Oz said he had no clue if there was anything special about them, he just thought they would be cool."

"Hmm," Willow muttered. "And those are the pairs that the dragon used its spell in, for sure. Something is definitely weird."

"Yeah," Jesse agreed. "The question is, *what*?"

Act Three

"Here we are," Angel said, leading the way into the burnt-out out warehouse. "That tricky little reptile is lairing somewhere in here; I'm sure of it."

"Figures," Xander said. "You can't track it down any further?" He hoped that Angel would say that he could do just that.

But Angel shook his head. "Its tracks lead all over the place."

"Vanessa? Amy? Any chance you've got a spell that could narrow it down? There's a lot of tricky territory to cover in here."

"Can't think of anything," Vanessa replied.

"Okay, then I guess we'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way," Xander said. "Buddy system, I'll search with Vanessa; Amy, you go with Angel. And be careful."

They had been poking gingerly around for several minutes when Xander heard something. Orienting on the sound, he decided that is was coming from the way that they had come in. Carefully readying the short spear he carried, he gestured for Vanessa to follow him and crept towards the sound.

There! It was just around the next corner. He burst around, letting out a short scream for surprise value, and waved his spear... in Buffy's face! She brought up her sword reflexively, and Xander screamed in surprise and jumped back.

"Hehe," Buffy laughed unsympathetically. "Next time, don't sneak up on me like that, ya little wuss."

"What are you doing here?" Xander said, his breathing only gradually returning to normal.

"Hunting the dragon," Darrell put in. Xander realized that the rest of Buffy's team was right behind her.

"Oh, yeah?" Vanessa countered.

"You followed us here, didn't you?" Xander asked challengingly. "You couldn't find the dragon yourself, so you watched us. Pathetic."

"Oh yeah?" Buffy countered. "How would you know? You didn't do any of the trailing for your team, I bet. What, did you let Angel do it all? Great reflection on you as a team leader, Xander." She laughed mockingly at him.

"Whatever," Xander shot back witheringly. "Anyways, we got here first, so stay out of our way!"

"And if I don't?" Buffy moved closer, threat evident with her every move and posture.

"Hey, not the point," Vanessa put in. "We're hunting a dragon here, not each other."

"Smart thing to say," Oz joked, "when your fearless leader's about to get his face smashed in."

"Shut your mouth, wereboy," Angel murmurred, appearing as if from out of nowhere. "Or I'll shut it for you."

"You just give it a try, fangface," Oz retorted with equal anger.

With a soft whoosh, Jesse appeared out of thin air. "Hey, guys, what's... hey!" He looked around at the tableau that seemed only one step away from being a brawl. "Why don't we take a deep breath and count to twenty, okay?"

"Who asked you?" Buffy snarled, swinging her blade through Jesse's insubstantial form.

Jesse looked down at the sword, taken aback for a moment. "Okay. First, I'm gonna assume that there was no real harm meant right there." He chuckled, knowing that he couldn't really have done any more than Buffy had if she *had* meant to attack him. "Now, no-one asked me to interfere, but I'm a friend to some of you, and not involved in any of this, so mediating when it looks like there's a fight about to break out sems like a good idea."

"He's got a bit of a point," Cordelia asserted loftily. "I mean, why are we fighting with each other? Seeing who kills the dragon first was supposed to settle all this, wasn't it?"

All the hunters nodded. "Okay," Buffy admitted. "We all back off, we go back to looking for the dragon. Sound copacetic?"

"Yeah," Xander and Angel agreed.

Jesse shook his head. "Oh, my god. What is with them?" he muttered quietly to himself.

* * * *

"We got problems," Jesse announced without preamble as he popped in at Willow's room. "Both teams have traced the dragon to this burned-out warehouse, and they were nearly brawling amongst themselves when I got there."

"Oh, my goodness," Willow said. "This warehouse... down just south of the docks?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Spike's old headquarters," she muttered to herself. "Giles, you round up Kendra and go down there with Jesse to keep the peace. We need to stop them from hurting themselves before we can find a way to undo this."

"Hurting themselves?" Joyce echoed, not happily.

"It'll be okay, Mrs. S.," Willow assured her with a certainty she didn't feel.

"Okay," Giles said.

"Look at you takin' charge, huh Will?" Jesse said, smiling as he faded out with the ghost of the librarian.

"Hmm," one of the young witches, the quiet one, said out loud, startling Willow. Paula, her name was. "Of the dweomer marked by the green dragon eye..." she read musingly

"Okay," Willow agreed before she realized what Paula had said. "Huh? What does it say?"

"Huh?"

"Hurry!" Willow prodded her.

"Uh, okay. This subtle enchantment is apparently only possessed by 'Draconis vertis', the green dragon, whose name is derived from the coloration of both scales and eyes. Each casting of the spell afflicts two individuals with greedy or envious competition, focused on an aspect of the dragon itself, sublimating some competitive aspect of the subconscious attitudes of the victims. The magic is targeted using the dragon's eyes, each focusing on one victim and releasing the bewitching power in a manner that can be seen as a flash of light."

"This is it!" Willow said. "How do you get rid of it?"

"Uh, I'm not sure," Paula told her. "Um, ooh, that's no good. The purpose of this spell may seem strange, since it encourages its victims to hunt the dragon, but the hunters are all too likely to become the prey of the green drake, especially when the competitive drives of the spell degenerate into open hostility and combativeness, sometimes right in the dragon's lair itself."

"No! No good!" Willow cried out, agonized. "They can't let their guard down and get eaten by the dragon!!" She looked down at the page. "What's that?"

Paula looked where she indicated. "Known variations of the spell. Desire to kill the dragon springs from a wish to be seen as heroic and protective. Lust after the dragon's jewels is from a desire to be attractive and popular."

"Hmm," Willow thought, momentarily diverted. "What about the dragon's secret? Or the dragon's tear?"

"Dragon's secret - desire for magic knowledge. The dragon's tear...oh."

"What?"

"It's an aphrodisiac. Those who pursue it under the dragon's spell... are two who wish the love of the same person."

"Oh," Willow said, blushing. "None of this is helpful," she muttered. "How can the spell be lifted?"

"There's nothing here," Paula said, turning the page. "Oh, here we go. The effects of the spell may be attenuated by..."

"Just attenuated?" Willow said.

"That's what it says. What's attenuated?"

"To lessen the severity of," Willow quoted. "Just one of a few hundred words you'd better learn before your S.A.T's, young lady. Well, okay, how do we attentuate it?"

Paula returned to the book. "... Attenuated if the dragon is killed, by someone *not* already afflicted with the spell. The obsessive sublimation onto the dragon and irrational competition with the opposite number will pass, but the deeper drives underneath them will be permanently strengthened because of the exposure to the spell."

"So, they won't still be fixated on the dragon or each other, but Buffy and Xander will be more strongly driven to be heroes, and so on through the line," Willow concluded. "Better than nothing. I guess that means that I'll have to beat all eight of them to the death blow."

"What?" Joyce said. Willow didn't answer her, heading out of the room and down the stairs, and Buffy's mother followed.

* * * *

"Hey, this looks like it could be it!" Darrell called out. Quickly the hunters of both teams gathered close. A dark tunnel extended from the basement of the factory, the stone apparently clawed out. The clearance was about six and a half feet at the highest point, just high enough for a person to head in.

"Hey!" Vanessa protested as Darrell and Oz prepared to do just that. "This is *our* territory; we found this warehouse first."

"So? We found the tunnel first; that's what matters," Oz proclaimed.

"Look me in the eyes and say that, you little twerp," Angel snarled, reverting into his distorted vampire face, complete with fangs and, of course, yellow eyes. The three ghosts quickly scrambled to defuse the incipient brawl, the third to threaten since Giles and Kendra had arrived.

"Why be ya so determined to fight amongst yerselves?" Kendra asked, interposing herself immaterially between Angel and Oz. "What does it accomplish?"

"It'll get this little snot out of my face for good," Angel snarled.

"Willow!" Oz called out.

"Oh, what, do you think I'm gonna fall for the old 'look at that routine?' Angel snarled."

"Hi, Oz," Willow said, taking the steps down to the factory basement two at a time. "Can I borrow this, Xander?" she said, putting her hands on his spear, but Xander wouldn't let his weapon go.

Buffy's attention was fixed on another figure entering the basement. "Mom? What are you doing here?"

Willow turned on Joyce Summers too. "You followed me here, Mrs. S??"

"Why, yes, I..." As Joyce crossed the floor, a reptilian shape jumped out from behind the stairs, knocking both her and Willow to the ground.

Everything seemed to be moving slowly for Willow. The dragon's head was swinging around to orient on her and Mrs. Summers. *Remember the spell*! a voice screamed in her mind. If she and Joyce were hit by the dragon's enchantment, there would be no-one unaffected to kill the dragon and reverse the spell. Drawing on the acrobatic techniques Buffy had taught her, Willow tumbled away from the great beast. It was only after she was away that she realized that Joyce Summers was still under attack by the dragon; defenseless.

Act Four

"No!!" Buffy cried out, charging forward with sword in hand, one single thought clear on her face... Protect mom! She slashed at the dragon's head, but it snapped forward to bite at her face, and the Slayer had to duck down to avoid the attack.

"Hyiy!" Xander called, jumping forward to join the melee. Somewhat belatedly he realized that Willow had finally gotten his spear when the dragon had knocked her away from him... he was unarmed. Nonplussed, the teenager grabbed Oz's axe and pressed the attack.

That quickly, the tide turned. The savage ferocity of the attack on Mrs. Summers and Willow had turned the hostility of the hunters away from each other and towards the drake. The seven of them, (not counting the now unarmed Oz,) charged it from all sides, weapons working in co-ordinated assault and careful interdefense. In seconds Xander was readying the axe for a death-stroke.

"No!" Willow called out. "Xander, you can't do it!"

"I *have* to do it!"

"No!" Willow countered. "I know you can't understand this, but it has to be me." She took careful aim with the spear. "It *has* to be." And she plunged the spear into the dragon's head, aiming for the brain.

The weapon didn't plunge through like she had imagined it would. It cracked softly against hard bone. The dragon stiffened, turned to look at Willow and moaned with pain.

"Ohh," Willow couldn't help but moan herself in sympathy. Suddenly the dragon wasn't a fierce monster anymore, just an animal. An animal in a lot of pain.

It might have been Willow's imagination, but she could have sworn she saw consideration, and then decision run over the dragon's face. Then it slumped to the basement floor, dead.

Confusion passed over the faces of the eight original hunters as the dragon's spell attenuated. "What's happ- Mom!" Buffy called out, mortified.

For Mrs. Summers was lying on the floor too, not far from the beast. The dragon's claws had been trampling her for much of the melee.

"Let me look, Buffy," Vanessa said, bending over to examine the woman. In a few moments she began chanting; "curatio medicor sano sospistas..."

* * * *

"How's she doing, Vanessa?" Buffy asked anxiously as the senior witch as she left the den that had become Joyce Summer's bedroom, and now, perhaps, her private infirmary.

"I won't lie to you, Buffy; it's not great." Buffy squealed in involuntary anguish and hugged Xander to her more closely. "She's got cracked ribs, which I was able to heal, but also some internal bruising and possibly bleeding. In the absence of hospitalization, well, I just can't say what her prognosis is. She may recover fairly well on her own, she may remain stable until we can get back to Earth, or she may deteriorate. I'm so sorry, I really wish I had better news for you, Buffy."

"Okay." Buffy nodded numbly at her.

"For now, we've done all we can, and she's resting comfortably."

"Thanks," Buffy said, and led Xander away. She didn't say a word until they were up in his room.

Whereupon she screamed out loud and kicked at the door. "Dammit! This shouldn't have happened."

"Hey, come on, Buffy," Xander said in an effort to comfort her. "It's not your fault."

"Oh, no? I shouldn't have been out there, chasing after that thing like I hadn't a care in the world. I mean, it's all very well and good to cry 'spell,' but after this many spells, I should know better! I did know better, but I was foolish enough to not care. So Mom comes chasing out after me because I was hunting when I shouldn't have been and she gets hurt. Tell me, doctor Harris, in *exactly* what way isn't this my fault?"

"Sssh, ssh," Xander said, reaching around her in an embrace. "It's not your fault because, well, because you're Buffy! *You* don't cause danger - you handle it!!"

"Then why didn't I handle it for her? Why didn't I protect her?"

"You tried... but you can't save everybody all of the time. You saved her life, at least... she'd have been dragon chow if not for you."

"Thanks," Buffy said, flashing a smile up at him. "I'm not sure how much of it I believe, but thanks anyway. So... how are we doing, you and me?"

"Us?" Xander asked, perplexed. "Uh, we're doing fine, I think. Why?"

"The dragon's spell," Buffy said. "Willow explained it to me on the way back. We were cursed with the desire to be seen as heroic, and that part of the spell can never be cancelled. So..."

"So, can I handle being with you, when it's clear that you'll always overshadow me and save the day?" Xander finished, a sparkle of laughter in his eyes.

A stray giggle escaped before Buffy could contain it. "Well, I wasn't gonna phrase it that way, but can you handle it?"

"Of *course* I can, Buffy," he replied. "I can handle anything if I'm with you. Besides, you've been overshadowing me ever since I met you, and I wouldn't want to leave you entirely just to stop that. For one thing, I'd probably end up dead without you to come to my rescue."

Buffy had to laugh at that.

"So," Xander asked. "What do we do now?"

"Hmm. Well, it probably isn't what you want, but I feel a burning desire for a new strategy session."

"Want to get us all back to Earth before it's too late for your Mom, huh?"

"OH yeah." Buffy agreed with a sigh.

* * * *

Oz was sitting on the Rosenberg's back porch when Willow found him. "So, you still love me?" she asked him.

Oz just looked at her, not quite sure what to say. In a distant corner of her mind Willow knew that she was beholding something rare... the most inflappable person she knew totally at a loss for words. "Well, yeah," he finally said in with his usual calm inflection.

"I still love you, too," Willow told him with feeling. "Can't that be enough?"

"Depends," Oz said gruffly. "What d'you feel for him?"

"What do you mean?" She knew better than to ask which 'him' Oz meant.

"Do you love him? Do you have feelings for him? Do want to be with him??"

"Uh, not sure, yes, and partly." Oz's face fell. "What??"

Oz stood up gravely, gesturing with his hands as if trying to get the thoughts flowing within him down to size. "I want to be back with you, Willow," he began slowly. "I want to be with you again more than anything. But," he paused for a long several seconds, "the idea of being with you, while a part of you is wanting to be with someone else..." He shook his head sadly. "*I don't know how to be okay with that*." He enunciated each word very carefully and distinctly. "Can you tell me how to be okay with that? Because... because there's nothing that I'd like better."

His plea hung in the air between them as an uncomfortable pause grew. "No," Willow admitted. "I guess I don't."

"Then, well, I don't think I can take you back right now," Oz concluded.

"I understand." Willow watched sadly as Oz opened the back door and disappeared inside.

"You should have told him you didn't feel anything for me," Angel said, appearing out of the shadows as was his custom.

"What?" Willow asked, totally taken aback by his declaration. "I... how could I say that, if it weren't true?"

"If you said it, it would become true soon enough," Angel argued. "If you deny me, Oz'll take you back, and you'll forget about me so quickly, Willow."

"Maybe I don't *want* to forget about you, Angel," Willow said. "Maybe I'd rather be with you than Oz!"

"You didn't look like a young woman who wasn't sure what she wanted when you first looked at Oz," Angel said.

Willow frowned at him in annoyance. "I don't think you're *that* good at reading people, Angel."

"So... you want to be with me?" Angel asked.

"Maybe."

"Well, you shouldn't." Angel declared. "Someone like me, a vampire, cursed, I'm no good for a girl like you, Willow. You deserve to be with someone better. Someone like Oz."

"I don't think I should let you be the judge of your own worth, Angel," Willow argued back. "In my experience, that's always been a blind spot for you. And you definitely don't get a say in what kind of guy is right for me. What about your own feelings, Angel? Leaving aside this, this concern you feel for my welfare, would you want to be with me?"

Angel thought for a moment. "Yes. But that doesn't change what's right."

"So that's it? After completely ruining my relationship with Oz, you're turning me over and telling me to go back to him? I don't get a say in this?"

Angel opened his mouth as if to say something, and then turned and walked across and into the garage.

Willow wilted to the porch step, suppressed a sob, and wiped a tear from her eye.