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]

"Then maybe we can take her to another dimension?" April was not sure what to suggest.

"Well kids... Angel told me how to summon the Conduit. So Big ol' Vamp needs to play with some fire..." Spike chuckles to himself, heading into the back room to find some supplies. He comes out with a shallow cauldron, an armful of different crystals, holy water and a old book. Wes follows with the compass.

[thepizzalord]

"If worse comes to worst, we'll give it a shot. If nothing else, maybe the Nexus can help." What he doesn't say is that any other Keys won't be so lucky, if no one knows who or where they are.

Harry takes the compass from Wes, tucking both it and the crystal into his pocket for the time being.

[slayers_desire]

Spike sets up the cauldron, pours in the crystals (in a certain pattern), adds the holy water, and then lights a cigarette to burn a page out of the book. Throwing into the fire.

"Bring forth the Conduit..." He demands, and the fire turns from an ordinary flame to something brighter. More white-flames, than red and orange.

The flame moves, forming the shape of a person.

[thepizzalord]

Harry's eyebrows go up as he watches Spike summon the Conduit. No magic circle is a risky, risky business when it comes to summonings, but he sure hopes Spike knows what he's doing. "That easy, huh?"

[slayers_desire]

In this case, the cauldron is acting like a magic circle.

The flame dances, as if waiting for someone to speak to it.

[thepizzalord]

"What the hell, might as well ask first." Harry takes a step forward. "Hey Conduit, don't suppose you'd know how to stop what's happening to the Keys?" he says, pointing at Dawn.

[slayers_desire]

The flames change... becoming pictorial in fashion. It shows several flame people, and them disappearing one by one. It then shows Three bigger flame-people, and a flame-sword removing their heads. And then the flame people reappearing.

[thepizzalord]

"Yep, that part we know. Trio killing them and such. But how do we make it stop?"

[slayers_desire]

The flames repeat the last sequence, the Trio losing their heads, and then the smaller flame-people, the Keys, reappearing.

"We have to stop them..."

[thepizzalord]

"Delightfully nonspecific." But Harry rather expected that. Beings of knowledge tend to be cryptic. Well, except for Bob, although he was more easily distracted than pretentious. For the most part.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way," Harry says, unsheathing his sword again. "Everyone, think brainy thoughts and how much you really, really want answers."

[slayers_desire]

"Okay.... I know with most Demons, detaching their heads works. But I don't expect it is that easy with the Trio." Spike leans in, as close to the flame as he dares to get.

"What can kill the Trio?" April asks. The flames turn into a whirling vortex...

[thepizzalord]

As long as the Conduit might give answers, Harry holds off on opening the Way. It needs a lot of energy and concentration, and he can't do both that and watch for answers, so it makes far more sense to wait and see if they can get anything useful out of the magic pot.

[slayers_desire]

The flames then show a bright light fall into the Vortex, which then results in the Trio being killed. There are also ripples in the flame...

And there are several musical notes in the ripples.

[thepizzalord]

"So we have to play some magical tune and shoot them with a Care Bear Stare?"

[slayers_desire]

"Damn... all our Care Bears were made extinct during the last Apocalypse..." Spike chuckled wryly.

"It might actually mean a sacrifice..." April knows that is usually a common theme. "A Key was meant to be sacrificed to stop Glory."

"And Buffy threw herself instead..."

[thepizzalord]

Harry grimaces. "I'm not a big fan of sacrifices, 'specially the human variety."

[slayers_desire]

"No... they never go well..."

[thepizzalord]

"Well let's hold off on chucking virgins into volcanoes for the time being."

[slayers_desire]

"We at least have a few more answers..."

((sleep))

[thepizzalord]

Harry nods. "And while we have our toasty little friend here... let's see if we might be able to see which Way we can find 'em." He holds up his sword and focuses, channeling his will through the blade, imbuing it with the power he needs to cut a hole in the veil between the mortal and supernatural realms.

[slayers_desire]

"Should some of us stay behind?" Spike asks.

[thepizzalord]

"Yeah, probably. I won't need to go very far in but it's a bad idea to leave the Ways unguarded." He slashes the sword down, much like he did when he created the portal between his world and April's, but the land on the other side is very different, opening to one of the realms outside the mortal world of the Buffyverse.

[slayers_desire]

"Spike... Wes... stay behind. I will go with Harry."

[thepizzalord]

Harry peers through the portal. He's not sure where exactly he's opened the Way, but nothing big and nasty is looking back or trying to barge through to the other side, so it seems at least relatively safe. Still, he doesn't put away his sword. "Let's go then."

[slayers_desire]

They enter into a fiery meadow in the Way, however the flames do no damage. It is like walking in the flame of the Conduit itself.