When a key is not a key ((for Harry))

[slayers_desire]

It has started a few weeks ago, with the disturbing nightmares that forced April to wake up in the middle of the night. Nightmares that while connected to her voices, were so real and visual, that it was like she had been there in the moment.

In the moment of a death. It was not like most deaths that she saw through her voices... instead, it was like the person has disappeared. And April knew each time it happened it was like a little piece of the universe had been stolen.

Clark had advised her to go to the research library hidden in Lorne's bar. And that was where she was, when a commotion was raised from the meeting area of the Scoobies. Coming out of the library, she saw her father, Spike, placing Dawn onto a couch. The young girl was flickering... disappearing and reappearing... it was so shocking, she thought she was dreaming again.

"Someone help her! I am nothing without her!" Spike called out.

April frowned. Something was seriously wrong. And her intuition was telling her that whatever was going wrong, had to do with some serious magic. Returning into the library, April used her PINpoint to call up Harry Dresden. Hopefully he could provide some insight...

Comments

[slayers_desire]

Spike and Wes, who are not sure what Harry is doing, wait a couple of moments. Then Spike speaks. "You a'right mate?"

[thepizzalord]

"Yep. Gimme a second," Harry says, keeping his eyes shut. It won't help reorganize his thoughts, not when the image is seared into his mind the moment he thinks about it. "You can come back in," he calls out to April, and looks up again, blinking.

[slayers_desire]

April returns back into the room. "What were you able to see?"

[thepizzalord]

"She's in some kinda... self-protective state. There's some kind of darkness smothering her inner self." It's hard to sum up what he Sees in mere words. "It's still there, just... smaller."

[slayers_desire]

"So she is protecting herself from the darkness..."

"Can we stop the darkness? Help her?"

[thepizzalord]

"That's the question, isn't it?" Harry considers his options. "If she was possessed I could just do an exorcism, but I don't think that's the right call here."

[slayers_desire]

"We need to find out what it is... and why it is affecting her. And why the others..."

[thepizzalord]

"How many others have disappeared? Was it just like this?" He hasn't heard of anything like this before, but he's not going to simply give up and leave.

[slayers_desire]

"I have seen six faces in my dreams." April is an artist... and thus she takes out a sketch book. With each face drawn in detail.

[thepizzalord]

Harry looks at her sketches thoughtfully. "No one you know personally, I take it," he asks the room at large.

[slayers_desire]

Both Spike and Wes shake their heads in negation. "Sorry mate..."

"Love? If you concentrate, maybe you will get something..." He turns to April. She can tell that he really need to have Dawn protected.

So she kneels by the other woman's side. "We are connected... she and I. Her pain is my pain. If she died... I would feel empty. Much like the others..."

"Maybe they were Keys too?"

[thepizzalord]

That's something that hadn't quite occurred to him already. "How many Keys are there exactly?"

[slayers_desire]

"We have never found out." April answers truthfully.

[thepizzalord]

"Then that's a really good theory. You haven't started disappearing yet, right?" Harry asks, looking at April. If he can narrow down any differences between April and Dawn, something that might be shared with the others, it could be a lead on what's happening.

[slayers_desire]

"No." She is sure that Clark would have protested if she had... and if she had not even noticed.

"But Pet ain't really tied to our world... as much as Dawn is. Maybe someone hasn't noticed she is not here?" Spike adds his two cents.

[thepizzalord]

"You think this might be a deliberate attack?" And isn't that a scary thought.

[slayers_desire]

"It could be... we have to find out more."

[thepizzalord]

Harry nods. "Right now we need to try to stabilize Dawn, then we should have some more time to figure it out. Anybody have a piece of chalk?"

[slayers_desire]

It is April who finds the material he requested, simply by going through her art supplies. She has a six-pack of chalk, in various different colors, including white. "Here you go."

[thepizzalord]

Harry goes for the white chalk, more out of habit than anything else, and he draws a freehand circle around the couch. "Nobody cross the line," he warns them, and imbues it with a touch of his will. The magic solidifies in an almost tangible snap as it closes around her, and Harry crosses his fingers in hopes that this will cut her off from any outside influence.

[slayers_desire]

"Damn..." Spike hates not being able to go sit by Dawn... but he would not be able to stay put, and he knows that. So it is just more of a grumble than a true protest.

The disappearing is not as frequent as it was when Dawn was brought in... so the magic seems to be helping.

[thepizzalord]

He frowns a bit as he watches to see if her flickering disappears. "That should isolate her completely, but it isn't." Still, at least it's better, he supposes...

[slayers_desire]

"Wot is our next step?" By saying that, Spike is basically saying that he is going to help. Even if Harry doesn't need him.

[thepizzalord]

Right now, Harry will take all the help he can get. "We've got a couple options. If this is some kinda outside influence, I can try to scry for where it's coming from, but given that she's still doing the fading thing in the circle, I'm not so sure that's the right thing. But the other theory is that whatever it is, it's coming from inside the house, so to speak. Maybe some kinda... magical parasite, or time bomb."

[slayers_desire]

"Wot worries me is... I am starting to forget her in my memories." Spike takes a seat at the bar. Wes pours him a drink.

"I phoned Angel and Buffy about her... and they asked... Dawn who?"