DTLS Works are PG-13 - The images they invoke        are all in your mind.

..  The Works of Dawn the Last Slayer (DTLS) The immortal Key-born Slayer

Narrative Works of 'Dawn the Last Slayer'-  # 4
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Isabel & Tess - Three Days in Sunnydale, Part 3 of 4"

  [Transcribed from the truly awful to-translate handwritten documents provided by
  'Dawn the Last Slayer' in her fall of 2001 and later from the "Buffy-is-Real"
  dimension (corresponds to summer and later in the "Buffy-is-TV"  dimension) -
  -Editor" Glory (Gloriana).
  - Dawn's original title for this work was "Designer Blood"

  Comment: There   have been provided several versions of what actually  happened
  at the portal tower 5/22/01, Apparently the  portal-driven  mergings caused some
  confusion  in the initial months that were later sorted out as new  information was
  uncovered and incorporated into  "Dawn the Last Slayer's" narratives.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Narrative Works of 'Dawn the Last Slayer'-  # 4
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
- Previous Narrative Work: "Dawn -  Three Days in Roswell" # 3
- Next Narrative Work: "Isabel & Tess - Blood Road"-  # 5
- Primary Focus: Isabel & Tess
                            Spike & Buffy-Anne Harding (the girl once trapped in the Buffy-Bot)
                            Buffy &  Glory
                            Dawn
                            Lonnie/Vilandra,
                            'The Other Dimension' Isabel/Vilandra/Lonnie, Maria, Liz
                            Clare/Glory, Curupira, Pat
                            Holly (the 'woman on the tower'), Ben
- Primary Locations: Isabel's car
                                   Lonnie's stolen car
                                   streets of Sunnydale
                                   cemetery
                                   Spike's lair
                                   hotel in Sunnydale
                                   Holly's Villa
                                   Glory/Clare's apartment
                                   Dawn/Curupira's apartment
                                   Park behind Glory/Clare's luxury apartment building
                                                                             (i.e., 'Sigma Gamma' house)
                                   Summers' home
                                   Roswell
- Initial Date/Time: Fall 2001  ('Buffy-is-real' dimension time)

[Source:  "Three Days in Sunnydale, Parts 1,2,3,4 " are transcribed
                   from copies of  pp. 534-610 of DTLS Notebook-D.]
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
[...Continued from Part 2...]
...
Tess let the thoughts about Buffy-Anne pass from her mind for the moment.

"I still worry about someone eventually tracing the cell phone calls. If we could get a couple more, I'd like to toss mine.
Maybe the latest ones, with text and stuff. I could diddle the paperwork and IDs so they left no trail to us after they were
filled out and input.They'd keep adding charges and inaccurate records randomly to other valid phones and accounts.
I know I can do it."
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
She was remembering her own phone the first time Nasedo had had her manipulate the records and paperwork for it.
"Never assume that someone isn't looking for you," he'd cautioned. Later of course, she'd gotten another in Roswell
that used her real address and records, after the incident at the other base.

With that tentative plan, they walked out of the residential area and found a phone with a reasonably intact phone
book outside a convenience store. Using their Sunnydale map, Tess looked up some of the cell and satellite stores
Isabel called out until they found one not too far away. She casually dumped her cell phone into the trash can
nearby as they waited.

They'd called a cab to take them there.

After getting the cell phones Tess' way, they walked out and called one another. It was pretty stupid, since they
were standing beside each other, but it was still another thing they were doing together. "What about a car?
Tess asked, turning to see Isabel's face. "We're going to look conspicuous standing there on the street. Look at
how we draw attention here."
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Lonnie was getting annoyed chasing the girls all over Sunnydale.

She'd realized that they were close to the Summers home earlier and had looked it up herself at a phone
booth - 1630 Rivelo. After she saw Tess discard her phone, Lonnie had gone trash can diving and retrieved
it. She mind warped the bearded guy in the store and a customer to avoid any questions.

Her scheme of trailing behind the duo and getting her own supply of Key blood now seemed unworkable.
She wasn't going to become an independent player in Sunnydale,

She'd used her own speciality,  a totally passive sensory probe into the house as she drove by and immediately
comprehended that this Glory was so far beyond the one she'd seen fighting Isabel that it was hopeless.
Even the Buffy Slayer-girl was a seething sea of god-supplied magics.

The two Roswell girls were about to commit well-deserved suicide.

Oh, well. Couldn't happen to a nicer pair of idiots. Served them right for all they'd done to her.

The two Roswell girls were about to commit well-deserved suicide.  Oh, well. Couldn't happen to a nicer pair of idiots. Served them right for all they'd done to her.

She sat in the car. Racking her stolen memories for another way to get on one side or the other. The pregnant
Glory and her coterie were out. They'd collectively stomp her to death just to watch the grease spot spread,
thinking she was Isabel, because she had the stolen powers.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
The other god Glory and Buffy were a possibility, but both Glorys seemed to be unlikely to welcome any
Roswell supergirls into their circles. An immortal who was 'killed' needed a god to resurrect them, she knew
from the Crashdown.

Where was a god for her?

Then it came to her. There was a third way. The thread of the existance of a possible third, largely unknown
god in Sunnydale was becoming clearer from her chaotic stolen Curupiran/Tess, twice-removed, memories.
Something about a villa and Ben...Hall, one of the Glory's still around former hosts.

She did the obvious and used Tess' phone to call information.

There were 2 in Sunnydale. She called the first one and found it was for a married older family man, judging from
the voice and her own over-the-phone mind probe, something she'd never been able to do before acquiring
her new powers and immortality.

The other Ben Hall had an answeriing machine or voice mail, but it also gave a second number for a named clinic.

It was him.

She called back on the voice mail and said simply, "My name is Lonnie. I'm from the same dimension as
the Tess merged with Curupira. I was trapped by  the Granilith. I followed the current dimension Isabel and Tess
to Sunnydale. I want to help track them. I know about the 'woman on the tower'. I have superpowers acquired by
accident during the bestowal by Isabel on Tess under the Granilith chamber. Call me at this number."

That was how the wily Lonnie contrived to meet up with Ben and later with Holly, the other god in town. All involved
quickly understood that she was not that Lonnie,  but came to a tacit agreement  that day that she had value
working for them.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
While Isabel and Tess continued with their 'suicide plan' Lonnie was being entertained by Ben at the villa. She knew
she'd made the right decision when the tall auburn-haired god wandered in and she started a conversation thusly,
"You're not the correct Lonnie, but you'll do. You'll be generously paid - in cash."

She smiled a dazzling smile. "Ben, give her the keys to one of the new leased cars, some spending money, some
Dawn blood and get rid of the stolen car she's parked so conspicuously out front."

"Let's talk magic and Glory, Vilandra."

Neither one trusted the other.

My kind of god, Lonnie smiled back.

Tess was looking at Isabel as they talked on their new cell phones.

"Paperwork on a new car's a bitch," Isabel noted, remembering the jeep. "We could pay for a used
one with cash, but that's pretty suspicious."

Tess smiled slyly, "I'll just mindwarp a whole block. We can 'buy' a new car. Change the plate number
and alter the color easy enough."

"Good thinking," she slightly touched Tess on the cheek in a mock finger slap that Tess took as a
complimentary gesture.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
She laughed at her big sister's smile. They could do anything together.

Several hours later, Isabel parked their new blue car in the street down the block from Buffy's house,
where they could see all entrances to the house, including the alley behind a little. There was no car
visible anywhere.

"Does the god drive? Does Buffy?" Tess wondered aloud, remembering what Spike had said about the
Glory Express, their teleporting about Sunnydale together. "You said Clare and the pregnant
Glory drove and..."

"Maybe," Clare turned on the radio and found a decent FM station. "Maybe...the god just poofs them
from one place to the other all the time, like the vampire  claimed."

"Gimme the phone number you wrote down," Tess looked at it and keyed in the digits. Isabel admired her
taking action so typically. She was one hell of a little Warrior. And one sweet sister.

It rang and rang, but on the 4th ring, there was an answer. "Summers residence," was the female voice.
Tess mouthed silently, 'Buffy?' to Isabel and said aloud, "Buffy? This is Tess."

"Me," Buffy confirmed. "is Dawn OK? Here after the trip? Everyone got back OK?"

"Dawn's OK and lots of neat things happened," Tess replied vaguely. She held the phone away from her left
ear and leaned against isabel so both could hear the turned-up sound. Isabel had used one of Tess' expensive
perfumes, her senses told her. That made her happy.

Isabel was holding a forefinger on her lips to ensure caution. "Is Glory there?" Tess asked carefully, she hoped.

"You don't want to come here later. Glory still a bit pissed about having to clean up your mess. Not you
personally, she blames your Glory for not taking care of you," Buffy was suddenly sensitive. Tess made a face
and mouthed 'help' as Isabel tried to think of something.

Tess muted the phone for a few seconds and Isabel whispered into her ear, "They must've been there some
time after I was...bestowed...tell her Dawn probably needs to talk to her and Glory about it, so come on over.
Don't say where!" Isabel quickly kissed Tess on her ear for encouragement.

Tess air-kissed her back in thanks. She repeated what Isabel suggested.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Ok," Buffy said. "But Glory's jumped over to Glory & Clare's to talk with Pat about her and Glory's
misadventure, plus Clare's surprising increase in power. Of the whole bunch, she seems to get along with
him the best. I agree that he's pretty sequacious toward her, like he is toward Clare's Glory."

'Sequacious?" Tess mouthed to Isabel,  Isabel shrugged. 'Obsequious?" she guessed and mouthed back.

Buffy continued and  briefly analyzed, "Glory needs to be understood. You all know she's just a girl, not an
adult, but she has great power and responds better if you don't even act like you know about that...without
me to love her, who knows what she'd be doing now?"

"So I can come over now? How long will she be away?" Tess asked.

"Yeah, but not for long," Buffy reluctantly agreed.

They waited impatiently for 5 minutes before Isabel drove down the street and parked their car one house
over from Buffy's after stopping briefly in front to look around one last time. "If Glory comes back via the
front door she won't realize we're  inside at first," Iabel explained. Left unsaid was whether the god jumped
from inside or ourside the house.

It was an imponderable.

"you're gonna be who?" Tess laughed nervously.

"Say I'm one of Clare's visiting friends, my name is..."

"Kara...Katherine...you seem like a Katherine," Tess christened her. "If you weren't an Isabel."

"Katherine what?...ah, Hill?" she pulled a name of one of the streets she remembered from the Sunnydale
 map. Isabel said it aloud several times.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Brazenly, both girls walked uo the sidewalk, mounted the steps to the porch and Tess rang the bell while
'Katherine' tried the doorknob once. Buffy answered the door, looking from Tess to the big blonde staring at her.
Isabel seemed transfixed at seeing Buffy in the flesh.

Tess quickly covered.

"This is Katherine Hill, one of Clare's friends. She wanted to meet the famous Slayer. I think she's overwhelmed.
She's sort of a Slayer fan," Tess laughed politely. "I think she wants an autograph, too." Tess grabbed
Isabel's hand and half-dragged her suddenly speechless Queen into the house as Buffy invited them with
a wave of her hand.

Buffy was flattered. She didn't know she had fans. "Come in," she said.

Tess noticed that Buffy was shorter than she'd expected, though taller than she herself was. Hell, she had
long ago realized, everyone, but little kids, was taller than she was. Buffy had the grace of a hunting cat.
Both assumed she was an immortal, since Dawn and Clare were.

In the living room Buffy looked at Tess, "Where's Dawn?" and sat on the chair across from the sofa.
She'd avoided sitting on it since she'd found her mother dead on it those many months ago.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Katherine" and Tess sat down on the sofa, watching the sudden shadows pass across Buffy's slender
face.

"Dawn had to do something. She said she'd be back there later. I wanted Katherine to see you in person,"
Tess was being careful in her cumulative lies.

"You two, you and Dawn, do actually seem to do things as a pair these days," Buffy smiled. "I'm really
proud of Dawn. She's grown up so fast since I...left...with Glory. You and Curupira helped make her stronger
and immortal, but..." she paused.

"...You keep annoying Glory, my Glory, by making so many immortals of people you barely know. I realize you
have good intentions..." she leaned forward in the chair.

"...You have no idea how pissed she was when we jumped back here. She fumed a whole day, then today
went to Clare and Glory's to talk to Pat to see if he, their husband, could do something."

This was getting too complicated for Tess to follow. She was having trouble sorting out all the threads of who
did what to whom. She was bound to give the wrong answer at anytime.

Isabel had recovered her capability to speak. To Tess' relief, she broke in, "Can I visit your kitchen to get some
water?  I feel a little weak. I'm pregnant, you know," Isabel lied convincingly. She puffed up her abdomen a bit
to help the lie.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Buffy immediately reacted, "Oh, I didn't know. I'll get it...Katherine..." Buffy was suddenly aware that she not being
a proper host to these nice girls. "Do you want something, Tess?" she asked her. Tess nodded 'no'.

"I can do it. I need to use your bathroom now anyway," Isabel got up quickly as if she had an urgent need.
Buffy pointed to the kitchen, then down the hallway. "Thataway," she said sympathically.

As soon as 'Katherine' left, Buffy asked, "Does she know? I talked about Glory and jumping?" She
was concerned.

"She and Clare were like this," Tess crossed her fingers on both hands. "She's one of the good girls," she added.

Buffy relaxed and slid back in the big chair.
"So what did you guys do after we left?" she asked innocently.

Tess panicked. She tried to remember what Isabel had told her and the mixed memories she had inherited
about the day of the bestowal and Isabel's nightime visit. Buffy must have come the next day afterward.
"Clare put a basic protection spell on the house before then. That helped."
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
It was the best she could do.

"Didn't stop me and Glory from popping in," Buffy observed, watching the girl's eyes carefully.
"yeah, yeah - but she's a god," Tess was getting antsy now. Buffy didn't offer anything else.

"So I bet you went out on and made all the Roswell aliens immortal anyway, after we left, like the two
girls and the other guy were when we got there?"

Tess knew only of Isabel, Liz and Kyle from her memories and Isabel herself. The others would be Max,
Michael and Maria. "Sure," she answered confidently.

  Ed- Buffy was clever in her questioning of Tess. Giving her the rope to hang herself. None of the
         Roswell Alien males were bestowed in Roswell.]
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"I thought so. Glory's not going to be any happier when she finds out, and she always does," Buffy's
voice had taken on a serious tone now.

Meanwhile, Isabel had looked in the freezer portion of the refrigerator and found no blood bag or container.
She found only  food which seemed to be magically treated in some way. Looked like leftovers in ziplock
bags. Maybe some sort of preservation spell, she guessed, handling one. The magic was soft and tingling to
her fingers.

She stored the sensations and copied the spell as best she could.

There must be a freezer someplace else.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Isabel quickly drank a glass of water poured from one of the plastic bottles in the refriferator
and headed to find the bathroom.

She did and retured quickly to try the door she'd thought was a pantry. Buffy was unable to
see her, she realized, though she was seeing a rather panicked Tess trying to keep her
talking.

'Ahah," she was on a landing with stairs that led down the left side of a basement. She found the
light switch and spotted the chest-type freezer immediately to the right of the stairs, against the wall.

In seconds she was opening it and rummaging through the frozen packages and labeled leftovers.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Dawn," she breathed with relief as she saw it. A small bottle labeled in clear handwriting
'Dawn Summers  A POS. There was a scrawled addition, '6/26/2001 Spike had'.

The Blood of the Key, the Destroyer of Universes, the greatest weapon ever created, if used
improperly. Isabel easily defeated the magics swirling about the small bottle, being a near god
supergirl alien hybrid herself.

She held its coldness in awe.

Blood like this had allowed one Glory to go home with Buffy, another Glory to take a new host
and become pregnant. It had led to the creation of Dawn the Last  Slayer, one step away from
her own bestowal in Roswell. The power for her to save her sister, Tess.

What destinies did it yet hold in its dark redness? What futures yet coursed through the
living veins of the Key Herself, Dawn the Last Slayer?

Primary causes, she thought. In my hand. The Mother Blood.

But she knew also, from the bits and pieces of Curupira/Tess' memories, that, with the proper spell,
a drop of the miraculous Key Blood could allow one to move into other dimensions with a quickie
portal.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Katherine!" Tess called out loudly to warn her, "Where are you?"

Buffy was standing at the top of the stairs.

"What're you doing? What do you...? Dawn's blood...? Who...?"

Little Tess grabbed Buffy from behind in a powerful bear hug. "Isabel...Katherine..?." she managed.

"Don't hurt her, Tess!" Isabel cautioned. She deposited the precious little bottle into her under-the-
shoulder purse.

"Buffy," she said consolingly as she walked back up the stairs, "...we only want the blood..." Buffy did
something martial artsy and planted both her feet into Isabel's face, hard!  "Bitches," she said as she
squirmed somehow from Tess' arms, pushing the smaller girl backward with a crash.

Tess and Isabel were hamstrung by not wanting to even bruise Buffy, for fear of Glory's vengeance.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Buffy didn't realize this and was pounding on the big blonde with her fists as she tried to get up from
the foot of the stairs where Buffy's feet in her face had left her.

Tess waited, not sure what to do.

Buffy was no easy to kill vampire.

This was the legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer they were fighting. She was not even a near god,
but she was powerful and experienced in killing everything. And posessed of the mythical Slayer
powers. She was also an immortal, bestowed by the awesome god Glory herself.

Glory-magics swirled about Buffy like fleeting visions, reminding the two Roswell girls of the protector of
Buffy.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Isabel, get up," Tess begged, blurring down to the foot of the stairs onto Buffy's back to stop her
apparent punishing and brutal beating of  the fallen Isabel. She grabbed Buffy and pulled her off Isabel.
Buffy had been sitting atop Isabel and beating her in the face unmercifully.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Isabel was unmarked, just dazed from the powerful magics. Which Buffy was slow to realize, until Tess
dragged her away and against the wall. Buffy was immensely strong, but just how much had Glory
endowed her with?

Isabel staggered to her feet, blurring briefly in the process. Buffy began to catch on that "Katherine"
was not the really a pregnant friend of Clare's. And that the little blonde was not the Curupiran Tess.

"You're the wall and ceiling runner from Roswell!" Buffy sprang out of Tess' arms once more, turning and
pulling the petite blonde's head down and kneeing her savagely in the face. Tess was flipped head over
heels and hit the ceiling, then the wall, with a sodden sound.

Isabel blurred to Buffy and tried to hold her, but like Tess, she found it was like trying to hold onto
Jello. Buffy seemed to have some sort of spell on her that simulated blurring, maybe even altered time
slightly. Add to that her Slayer strength and she was a real freaky handful.

It was like trying to catch and hold a mirage.

Isabel lost Buffy, but noticed that Tess was only shaken, not physically hurt, as she stumbled to her
feet from the knee to her face and her flying impacts on the ceiling and wall. Ceiling tiles were still
falling where she'd hit, and broken pipes were the remnant trail of her crashing path to the wall.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Tess shook off the effects, blurred and managed to dive and grab Buffy's legs anyway.

Isabel captured Buffy's arms and they spread-eagled her between themselves. Buffy's magics were
strong, but  the two girls quickly neutralized them with their own power and some generic counter-magic
spells of Tess' own invention that she called out for Isabel to recite with her.

Buffy was held above the floor between them. She was still squirming.

"Stop it, Buffy...please!" Isabel pleaded, looking around for something to tie her with.
What would hold her?
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Back up and toss her in the freezer if she doesn't calm down," Tess suggested, crabbing back
to the open freezer, not sure if that would work as a threat.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Buffy stopped struggling.

"Not the freezer, not the freezer. It'd be too much like a coffin," she seemed really terrified at the
thought. Even though she was an immortal and could probably break out in a few seconds.

  [Ed- Curiously enough, per the notebook dates, this was written sometjime between 7/4 & 7/6/01 in DTLS'
           dimension,   which is probably very early June 2001 our dimension time. This was long before
           the scripted,  and improbable, Season -6 'resurrection' of Buffy coming alive in her buried coffin and
           clawing her  way to the surface.]

Tess sighed in relief, as did Isabel.

They bound Buffy with as much duct tape as they could find, wondering how many minutes that
would hold her. "We'll call the Magic place as soon as we leave and get away. If you follow us we'll
use the blood. We know how to open a personal portal," Isabel lied, well, half-lied. They'd be portalling
as quickly as possible, regardless.

"We only want to use it to get out of this dimension to avoid trouble with the gods, either one. I've fought
the pregnant one. I don't won't to fight yours, if I can avoid it."

Buffy listened.

The taller blonde was obviously a new immortal and was totally power-aware. Both had blurred like
Curupira or either Glory. Dawn had some blur capability, Buffy presumed. Her Curupiran bestowal
lineage apparently.

"you're Isabel," she ventured, "But who's that posing as Tess?" Buffy fished for more information
and stayed still, not fighting the many yards of silvery duct tape on her arms, legs and around her torso
like a mummy. More still holding her to the old wooden chair.

"You're afraid of me, aren't you?" Buffy smiled securely.

"if I had my way," Isabel stepped closer to Buffy and looked down, "I'd beat that oh-so-superior smirk
from you for those feet in my face and for what you did to my sister Tess. But, I'll not get crossways
of your Glory."

"We will," she continued, "open quickie portals as necessary and vanish into the dimensions for as
long as the blood in the vial holds out. Just like the other supergirls have done."

Buffy was alert, remembering how easily she and Glory had moved from one dimension to another,
using Glory's vast powers to open personal portals anywhere, anytime. They had traveled to
hundreds of adjacent and non-adjacent dimensions for picnics, sightseeing  and  just being together,
during the five months on Glory's world.

She was not aware that the 'supergirls", which was apparently their term for Glory/Clare, Curupira/Tess
and probably Dawn, were using Dawn's Key blood for post-May 22 dimensional travel.

Glory would be interested, immensely.

"OK," Buffy said in a conciliatory manner.

Tess slipped silently over, looking like she didn't care about Glory. "I think I'll rearrange your
body parts a bit anyway..." Isabel, looking horrified, suddenly was between them, protecting Buffy.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"You don't want to do that, little girl," Buffy taunted. "Neither would Glory want you to. I'll ask her not
to hunt you down if you release me now. She'll probably kill you slowly and painfully anyway. Good
luck on finding a god to resurrect you. The only two in town are both named Glory. Tough luck, girls."

Buffy  formed her lips into a sarcastic kiss directed at Tess. "Say bye-bye."

Actually, she was activating one of the clear crystalline 'call home'  tracker marbles in her mouth.

She'd palmed two of them fairly early in her battle with the two girls, thinking she might need to call
Glory in. After finding out that they intended to jump dimensions, she simply turned on the tracker
and magic event modes on one, using her tongue and lips.

Tess looked pained at not getting a whack at Buffy now that she was immobile. "What about
getting her not to follow us, at least?" she suggested, in deference to Isabel's palpable fear
of either Glory.

Buffy laughed bitterly. "You two geniuses are thinking that the pregnant Glory you...Isabel...
fought in Roswell is maybe a few times less powerful then the Glory that's going to slaughter you.
You're a bit off by a few zeros, girls. Multiply your concept of Glory by a thousand, a million...
and, I'm thinking, someday soon, billions...maybe more..."

She let that sink in.

"...Billions?" Tess' voice faltered.

"She's lying," Isabel said half-heartedly.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
"Wherever you go she can  follow you. And she'll kill you for just touching me. Even if she has to
she'll destroy the planet you're on - or maybe the entire dimension," Buffy thought she was
wildly exaggerating, but later events would shock even her.

""She can do this...?" Tess was almost ready to burst into tears at the thought that she might not be
able to protect herself and Isabel from dying after so promising a start as immortals. She would fail
as the Warrior and her sister Queen would be dead.

"...but we're immortals and invulnerable..." Tess started.

"I still was able to toss you both around. Maybe not hurt you permanently, but Glory's a real
god, not one trapped in a pregnant girl's body. Nor a near-god like Curupira... as you two
appear to be also. Remember the NEAR part, girls. There's no adjective in front of my Glory's
godhood."

Buffy then looked at Tess again, "Who are you, anyway?"

"...I'm the Tess Harding from this dimension. I was in a stasis chamber when the dimensions merged.
I guess that kept me from merging." Tess was glad to talk about anything but dying. "I'm also
the Warrior and sworn to protect my sister, the Queen, at all costs. even my life..."

Buffy wondered if their Tess was also a Warrior. Interesting. In a sense, this Tess was sort
of a Slayer herself. For the first time in a long time, someone worthy of facing a retired Slayer.

Isabel was desperate for a way out without Glory following them. She had assumed that this
Glory was not going to be able to do so without some effort and time delay. "What can we do to
end this peacefully, Buffy?" she offered.

"Untape me so I won't bruise myself when I break out. Glory won't like it and I really wouldn't either.
Then let me have a go alone with the 'little Warrior" here for awhile. See how good a Warrior she
really is. I'd trade that for the blood and not telling Glory for awhile," she didn't smile.

"She can bruise me all she wants -  if she can,"  Buffy added.

"No penalty and no telling Glory for as long as I can hold her off your trail. She'll eventually sniff
your presence out here, and see the damage," Buffy looked past Isabel and Tess to the ceiling,
the broken pipes and the dented, cracked concrete wall. "The little Warrior's pretty tough, I'll
admit. Makes a good soccer ball, too."

Unable to resist any more insults, Tess took a few steps to be behind Buffy and casually ripped
the duct tape off most of her in a sweeping motion of her fingers. "Take me if you can," Tess
broke the chair over Buffy's back as she stood up, driving her to the floor.

Shaking her head, Buffy calmly peeled the remainder of the tape off her and swept a leg through
Tess, bringing her to the floor also. But Tess blurred and slipped away before Buffy could get there.

Isabel watched the battle with great trepidation, She feared for both being hurt in some way that
wouldn't allow them to heal. Glory would slay her if that happened to Buffy. Isabel would kill Buffy
if she permanently hurt Tess, regardless of the penalty.

Only a god could resurrect a dead or dying immortal, as the pregnant Glory had done in the
Crashdown. Buffy was right, she and Tess were outsiders in the game of who's knows a god.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
She wished it hadn't come to this.

Now that Tess had used powers, Buffy did something magical and was simulating blurring again.
She and Tess sparred a bit, with Buffy seeming to be the more agile, hitting Tess glancing
blows on the legs, shoulders and head. Tess seemed to be trying to get close to Buffy, but
was having trouble doing so.

Then Tess got a fierce look on her face and ran at superspeed to hit Buffy before she could shift
out of the way with her magics and Slayer skills. The impact was similar to what had happened
to Isabel and the pregnant Glory in their fight. It was not like the exploding vampire kills in the
cemetery, though.

Buffy somehow absorbed the hit.

But she was definately hurt. Her magics were weakened.

And Tess was where she wanted to be, close to Buffy.

She immediately broke both of Buffy's arms at the elbow with two top of the hand short chops.
Her style was totally different from Buffy's open hand sparring martial arts approach. It consisted
of quick movements in close that were designed to kill or maim at each point attacked.

None of her powerful blows was delivered more than a forearm's length from Buffy.
Each one broke either a major bone or drew blood.

What Isabel did not know was that this was a Warrior entanglement fighting style, a mode
specifically used in close-in combat with a powerful foe. It required never-ending attack until the
target was disabled or dead. Total combat time was measured in seconds normally, but
Tess was fighting an immortal Slayer protected by a god's magics.

This would take longer.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Buffy would be defeated in exactly 43 seconds from the time she was released.

Buffy would be defeated in exactly 43 seconds from the time she was released.

Freed of her restraint and hearing Buffy's arms snap back into place as she healed, Tess became
a whirling drevish as she rained short triple blows onto the bigger Slayer that were impossible for
even her to defense. Simultaneous hand and arm, plus a leg lift or shin kick at blur speed were
taking their toll on the immortal Slayer.

Isabel watched her deliver ten straight elbows, kicks and knees to Buffy's face, which was
now a mass of blood as her healling ability had fallen behind Tess' delivery rate. Tess methodically
worked her way down the Slayer's slender form when she realized that she was ahead of Buffy's
recovery cycle.

Buffy tried to defend herself, but Tess had now broken most of her hittable bones several times,
from her ankles to her face. Still, Buffy was healing, and managed to block some of the attack,
getting just-healed bones broken again.

The snap of breaking was followed by the slower popping of the healed bones back into place.

Spinning the bloodsoaked Slayer around, Tess broke her spine in three places, hammering
at each spot as it slowly healed, breaking it again. Buffy collapsed in a bloody heap. Tess was covered
with splattered Slayer blood from her face, down the front of her top and pants, plus her hands
and arms.
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Blood droplets and smears were in her golden blonde hair.

Which whipped around as she prepared to slay the Slayer by stomping her face after she slid one small
foot under Buffy's neck..."Say bye-bye yourself, Slayer-bitch," Tess raised her right foot as Buffy opened
her bloody eyes.

Isabel hit Tess at full speed, running both to the far wall where they left a big imprint and cracks.

Tess was immediately loose and blurred back to the supine Slayer, slipping slightly on the pool of
blood. "I want to kill her! " Tess was scary ."Let her god resurrect her after I pull her apart and scatter
her around the neighborhood for the dogs to eat..."

Isabel tried again to hold Tess.

It was no use, she was in some sort of Warrior frenzy.

At that moment, Isabel wondered the impossible. Could Tess take on Glory and win? Was she really that
powerful now? Had she more ability and powers than she realized?

Getting up from the floor herself, Isabel saw that Tess was looking strangely down at Buffy. Radiant fire
was beginning to glow around her face and head.

"Tess. NO! Not that!" she blurred between her and Buffy.
"Warrior, I command you to your knees, NOW!" Isabel held out her hands.

Tess stepped sideways. Isabel matched her movement.

"NOW, Warrior! Dare you disobey your Queen?"

Tess blinked her eyes and the fire began to dissipate. Slowly she knelt on one knee.

Looking up at Isabel, her face splattered with Slayer blood, she said in a soft voice,
"I'm sorry, Isabel, so sorry. She's just so infuriating. She thinks being a stupid Slayer
is such a big thing. She can't even protect her own self. She's a nothing."

"Well,"  Isabel pulled Tess to her feet. "I think you just proved that Warrior trumps
Slayer."
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Tess laughed incongruously.

"At least this particular Warrior, my beloved sister. I  could have taken her
without your bestowal. Even before,  I had even more powers that would surprise you,
powers far beyond the normal Warrior, beyond any you can conceive. But I couldn't always
control them. Now I can, exquisitely."

"So I've observed," Isabel kissed Tess in the only unblooded part of her face, her nose.
Tess laughed again. "That tickles."

Isabel put her arm around Tess' slender, blood spattered waist, "Now use some of these
powers to heal the poor girl."

Tess looked up at her taller sister. "Do I have to? I really wanted to kill her." Her eyes
were begging for permission.

"As I wish, so you must," Isabel ran her hands across Tess' face, magically removing the
Buffy blood. She continued the process untill all the Slayer's blood was cleansed from Tess.

Reluctantly, Tess knelt beside Buffy, avoiding the blood about her as much as possible.

"It looks like I can't slay you, Slayer. But remember this, I could have, " she whispered into
her ear as she placed her hands on Buffy's face, spreading the blood. She had publicly
healed only once before, Max's minor wounds. Now there was no reason to hide her many
powers from anyone to conceal her Warrior role.

"She's dying, Isabel. I exceeded her ability to heal. Breaking her spine was too much.
She's paralyzed except for her eyes," Tess reported clinically. "I'll have to try resurrection.
Like you said that Glory did on the other Tess."

Isabel couldn't look at Buffy's sad, imploring eyes anymore.
She looked at Tess instead.

"But that's a god's prerogative. Like Buffy said, we're not gods, just near-god supergirls
on an alien base."

"I'm also an elite Warrior, which in our teachings makes me capable of rising to every challenge
to the level necessary. Maybe I can be a god for a few seconds."

Fascinated, Isabel watched Tess sing a short chantey song in a tongue she did not recognize,
though she somehow understood it. It was something about taking a step on a journey to
a golden city and standing at the edge of a gorge that couldn't be crossed. "I have no
limits. I'm a Warrior. I can do anything. I can change reality. I can change myself. I change.
I am become a god this moment."
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Tess kissed Buffy's bloody mouth in slow motion.
No. She'd altered time perception itself.
No. She was reversing cause and effect.

Blue light sprang like tendrils from Tess's face and around Buffy, encompassing her body
like a shroud of sky. The blood flowed back into Buffy from the floor. Her body writhed as
bone, flesh and nerves were made whole and new again.

Tess pulled away, shaking her head and licking her lips as if she'd tasted something sweet,
yet bitter at the same time. She pulled the Slayer to her feet. She twirled her around slowly,
touching her all over to be sure she was properly functioning.

Buffy said nothing.

She just couldn't take her widened eyes off the tiny little blonde.

Then she said quietly. "I don't think you really know who and what you are, Tess. Maybe one day
you'll find out."
Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
Tess looked at Isabel. "I also saw things in her destiny that shouldn't be."

She looked back at Buffy. "Sometime, when we meet again, maybe,  I may not be able to repeat this
near-slaying of the Slayer. When that time happens, remember this, Buffy, remember this."

Tess dropped to both her knees and kissed Buffy's bare toes in her sandals. One after the other.
First the left foot, than the right.

Isabel and Buffy watched her do this in wonderment. Buffy also took the opportunity to project the
one 'call home' marble she hadn't swallowed into Isabel's still open little purse,  with her tongue
and an expelling sigh of breath.

Tess stood up before Buffy. They looked at one another with gray eyes. "I'll remember, Little Warrior,
I'll remember," Buffy promised. "But when it happens, tell me my destiny."

"Only the gods can ordain true destiny. I was a god for a moment, now I'm but a Warrior, a
super Warrior to be sure." Tess held out both her hands palms up. Buffy hesitated, then did the
same. There was a brief sound of distant tinkling bells and and the fleeting fragrance of some
unidentifiable flower.

Tess and Buffy dropped their hands down.

Tess stood on her toes and kissed Buffy on one cheek, then the other. She said something in
a language even Isabel's new powers couldn't translate. Then spoke, "Warrior kiss of respect,
Slayer-not-Slayer," Tess said so softly that only Buffy heard her.

"Go," Buffy said quietly. "I'll think of something to tell Glory to give you time. But she will come.
And not just about me."

"I know," Tess said and turned, striding over to Isabel. "Let's go. We've overstayed our visit."

Buffy watched them leave.

She heard Isabel asking, "What the hell was all of that about..."

She didn't hear Tess' answer.

"It's about the game of who knows a god, I think. I'm losing the flashes I got. It was all so clear
for a few seconds. Now it's slipping away. "Got the blood?"

They walked down the sidewalk to the car and got in.

Isabel drove off as Tess watched the Summer's home get smaller in the side mirror. "No Glory,
no fireballs," she sank back into the soft leather seat, wondering why she'd done what she did.
This was going to be another one of these times when she couldn't remember how she did what she
did.

Like the first mindfire or the disappearance of Lonnie and Rath in New York.
pyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)
)
 

Continue to Part 4 of "Isabel & Tess - Three Days in Sunnydale"

 

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All things identified as being from the 'Buffy-is-real' dimension are derived from the original works of Dawn the Last Slayer, not the fictional Buffy character: These are Copyright © 2001 gloryisagod.com/DS/G(G)