Disclaimer: I don't own them, would that I did. The characters herein belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, Greenwalt, Fox, etc. I'm merely using them to tell my own little story.

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Part Six: I Know The Truth, And It Mocks Me

"Xander..." Angel hissed, hearing the sound of ripping fabric. The temptation to see what the boy was doing was almost overwhelming, but the need to stay vigilant kept him from looking.

"Just a few more seconds. Angel, did you ever play sports?"

"What?"

"Baseball, basketball, cricket, anything?"

"We're about to die here, Harris."

"Wait! You didn't by any chance throw shot-put?"

"Damn it, Xander!"

"Okay, okay, just...hold this. And when I say go, throw it as hard as you can towards Big Momma over there," Xander said, handing Angel something heavy. Looking down he saw that it was the rock that Xander had picked up earlier, now covered completely in white cloth.

"Xander, what are you doing?"

"Hold it out to me. Stop asking questions and do it!" The note of command in the last two words made Angel automatically hold the rock where Xander wanted it. Xander hastily poured the remaining blood over the rock and without even waiting Angel threw it. It smacked into the neck of the emerging dragon and fell into the cave.

"You didn't let me say go!" Xander complained as he fell to the ground and covered his head. Angel did the same as the baby dragons flew over their heads. The small reptiles headed down into the cave, earning a welcoming snort from the adult that the two men found encouraging. Angel and Xander lifted their heads cautiously and both groaned in unison. The adult dragon continued to slowly rise, shooting blue flames that caused them to roll apart.

"Now what?" Angel asked. Xander looked at the dragon and back at Angel, no trace of humor left in his eyes.

"Now we die."

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If the dragon could have felt impressed, it would have been. It had been a long time since any mortal had made it as far as its lair. It mattered not. Unlike infants that needed mammal blood for sustenance, it regarded it as a delicacy. A rarely enjoyed treat, but one it was about to indulge in. Talons extended, it descended in triumph...and felt a sharp stinging pain in its side. Turning its head, it saw its own bodily fluids pouring down its side and something that looked like a mammal but smelled dead. The dead thing was moving, quite unusual for a dead thing, and it was the source of the dragon's pain. Enraged, the dragon forgot about its treat. It could wait until this odd annoyance had been dealt with.

Spike hollered as he swung the mace again, knowing he wasn't going to get another blow in before the monster blasted him to ash. All he could do was the Watcher some precious time to finish whatever he was doing and hope that it was something more useful than confessing his sins. He'd always expected to meet his end fighting. That he would be dressed as a knight doing battle with a dragon hadn't really entered his thinking, but...no matter. He raised the mace to the beast again, his expression resolute and defiant...and almost dropped it in shock, because Giles had begun to sing.

The melody was simple but haunting, and for a moment the music seemed to hang on the air as if waiting for something to happen. Then something did. A slight breeze suddenly became an icy wind. It felt to Spike as if a million tiny icicles were suddenly pricking every inch of him that was exposed to the elements. The Watcher seemed to feel nothing of it, his voice never faltering. After a long moment the wind died down, but Spike could still feel something wet and stinging on his skin. He looked up and swore softly. The dragon was weeping. With majestic sorrowfulness, it turned away from Spike and slowly headed back to its cage, the falling tears making an almost inaudible hiss as they touched ground. It lowered itself back into cave slowly. Spike was transfixed; it looked to him like some kind of post-nuclear sunset. The sound of footsteps made him jerk his head away. Angel and Xander joined Spike, and the three looked at Giles in amazement. The Watcher was still singing, a slight smile on his lips.

"Wow. That's just..." Xander trailed off.

"Yeah," Angel said. Unconsciously they were whispering.

"What should we do?" Xander asked, elbowing Spike, who almost seemed to be slipping into a trance himself. The blonde vampire shook his head slightly.

"Eh? What d'ya mean?" he said.

"Should we try to move him? Cause the extended play dance mix of the Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye Dragons is definitely in order here," Xander responded.

"He's right. We can't stay around here," Angel agreed.

"Okay. But what if touching him breaks the trance? Don't much fancy bein' back where we started," Spike countered.

"I am dutifully impressed, gentlemen, at the level of thought you've given this question. However, I think it's best we get going, don't you?" Giles' voice alerted them to the fact that he had stopped singing and was standing up. Angel and Xander went over to help steady him as he moved his legs gingerly, trying to restore circulation.

"Giles! Giles? What did you-" Giles waved an impatient hand to stop Xander's stammering.

"Not now, Xander. Let's go." The men nodded and hastily trekked across the dragon field, trying to give the crevices as wide a berth as possible.

"How long is this gonna last?" Spike asked tersely.

"I have no idea," Giles confessed, panting a little. "I would recommend we move quickly and quietly, however.

"Oh, that's brilliant," Spike answered, picking up the pace. He and Angel were taking the lead, and had begun to put a bit of distance between themselves and their human companions. Xander and Giles picked up speed, trying as hard as they could to keep up. The vampires came to a halt, stopping so suddenly that if Giles and Xander had been closer they surely would have run into their backs. Instead they flanked them on either side, all of their faces mirroring the same grim disbelief. In front of them was a crevice so large it could only be thought of as a canyon. In the depths of it they could see hulking jewel-toned shapes they knew to be dragons. The distance to the other side was far enough to make Giles and Xander both groan.

"This place just keeps getting more fun," Xander said sarcastically. Angel and Spike exchanged knowing glances, then whirled on their companions.

"You take Harris, I've got Giles," Angel barked. The two vampires swung the humans over their shoulders, then took a running leap, easily clearing the ravine. They deposited their charges none too gently back on the ground before either even had a chance to protest. The four looked at each other and started to chuckle, relief leading to laughter. They sprawled on the ground, waiting until their hysterics subsided.

"Is it me, or was that last part kinda-" Xander started to comment. He was surprised to be the first to quiet down.

"Anti-climactic?" Giles offered, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Well," Spike said casually as he carelessly wiped his mace on the ground to remove the dragon blood, "if you weren't traveling with vampires, you'd still be contemplating the other side, wouldn't you?" He was trying to pretend he hadn’t been laughing with the others.

"And if Giles didn't have such a lovely singing voice, you'd be a lovely shade of ash," Xander bit back. "Speaking of which, just where did that little trick come from? And what other secrets are you keeping, Giles?"

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"You did it, Willow! You got him to remember the spell, right?" Dawn said, hugging the witch enthusiastically.

"Actually, I never...that was Dragonsong," Willow said wonderingly.

"You don't know that one?" Dawn asked.

"No one knows Dragonsong...that was lost before I was even born," Anya said. "How could Giles know Dragonsong?"

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"I...I have no idea, really," Giles stammered. "It felt like...I'm at a loss to describe the feeling adequately, I'm afraid. Like I was tapping into some kind of ancestral knowledge."

"There's something bad going on here," Angel growled. "Someone's playing games with us, I can feel it. I don't like it."

"Ummm, guys?" Xander said.

"I'm not certain what you mean, Angel," Giles frowned. "I'll admit that what happened was odd, but I didn't detect any kind of consciousness involved. More like a race memory of some sort."

"Guys?" Xander squeaked.

"So you're sayin' you're descended from bleedin Merlin now, is that it? Cause according to legends only true wizards know how to sing to dragons." Spike said.

“Good Lord! Dragonsong!” Giles exclaimed excitedly.

"Dragonsong?" Angel asked in disbelief.

"Of course! Why didn't I realize...but that's simply not possible," Giles mused.

"Guys!" Xander stood up and yelled, finally attracting the others' attention. He stood up and gestured around him. "Where are we?"

The other three stood, seeing what Xander had already noticed. The dangerous ground they had passed through was gone. Now a thick forest surrounded them on all sides but one. A slight mist hung over everything, lending it a dreamlike appearance. They were in a small clearing. A path to a larger clearing lay before them. In the clearing they could see a pavilion of some sort, done in muted reds and beiges, with the same wand symbol Giles from Giles' shield embossed on the entrance in gold relief. A small human figure was standing in front of the entrance waiting. The four men exchanged glances, then began to approach cautiously. Spike was in the lead and was the first to recognize her.

"It's Buffy," he said to the others, and they ran the rest of the short distance to where she was standing. None of them approached her to touch her; instead they all dropped onto a knee as they had in the library. Buffy smiled at them, now dressed in a red and white kirtle, her legs bare and her hair loose around her shoulders. There was something regal and yet untamed about her, but when she spoke she was purely Buffy.

"Took you long enough. You know how boring it is to stand by a tent in the woods? Look," she gestured to a pile of stakes, stacked like firewood almost knee high. Seeing their apprehensive looks around them, she made a face. "Nah, there aren't any vamps here except for present company. I was making a point...hah! I was making a point, get it? Stakes? Pointy? I've been dead too long, haven't I? Oh God, I'm losing my edge!"

"Buffy," the four said in unison, identical tones of affectionate impatience in their voices.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop procrastinating. And I'll stick to the stupid script," Buffy said, addressing the comment to the air above her. She looked back at them and sighed unhappily, her eyes apologetic. Drawing herself up regally, she called out in a commanding voice, "Who seeks the Wand of Dragan?" Giles immediately stood, a small smile on his lips. It faded when he met Buffy's grim eyes. The others stood also, and she shook her head.

"Only the Knight of Wands may proceed," she told them sadly. To Giles, she continued. "In order to prove thyself worthy of thy gift, thou must face thy greatest regret. Leave behind all weapons but truth; it is all that is needed. Prepare thyself and follow when ready."

Giles nodded, and handed his sword to Xander. Angel locked eyes with Buffy as Spike accepted Giles' shield with a curt nod.

"What do we do?" Angel asked softly. Buffy inclined her head as if listening to something, then nodded.

"Wait here." Buffy looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she turned her back and entered the tent. Giles walked in behind her and vanished from view. The other three looked at each other and shrugged.

"I don't like this at all," Spike complained, pacing a bit.

"None of us do, but there's nothing else to do," Xander said, settling on the ground with a sigh. "Unless you'd like to practice your stake whittling." Angel snorted and sat next to Xander. Spike huffed and settled on the other side. They looked at each other again, shrugged, and stared at the tent opening.

Within a minute they had all fallen asleep.

************

"They're sleeping?" Willow asked incredulously. "Giles is facing...something bad, and they're sleeping!"

"Well, they've had a rough time, with the dragons and such," Tara began.

"At least Xander's okay. But watching them sleep is boring. Can't you focus on Giles? And what the heck is a Wand of Dragan? I've never heard of such a thing." Anya asked. Willow shook her head.

"No, I can't see into that place. It's all dark...I'm having major Empire Strikes Back flashbacks. And I've never heard of a Wand of Dragan either...I wonder what it does."

"But...but we saw Buffy," Dawn said, her voice trembling in wonder. "It was...Buffy?"

"It was," Tara assured her, putting her arm around the girl's shoulders.

"They didn't seem all that surprised to see her," Anya noted. "I think they've seen her before. I bet she's the one who talked them into this."

"Whatever," Willow sighed. "I just hope she can help Giles. Maybe it‘s just the Star Wars talking, but I have a bad feeling about this."

*********

Complete darkness surrounded Giles and for a moment he felt claustrophobia setting in. Then he heard Buffy’s voice in his ear, her tone soft and comforting and a bit amused.

“Relax, Giles. Just think of the moment of your life that makes you feel the deepest regret. What you would do over differently if you could.” Almost immediately it was as if stage lights had been switched on, except that this wasn’t a stage and what Giles was looking at was all too real. The building under construction, the broken body...this was a moment he had relived over and over in his memory, and to see it here again was almost unbearable. Buffy‘s voice echoed in his head. “What do you regret here?” she asked softly.

“What do you mean? I failed you!” Giles said, his voice hoarse with pain. She appeared before him then, her hair and red dress lifted by the wind. She looked at him askance.

“I did what I had to do. What you taught me to do. You know that. You’re proud of me for it,” she said. Her blue eyes blazed so intensely that Giles almost felt seared by her gaze. “This isn’t your deepest regret.”

“No,” Giles whispered, and the scene shifted. Now they were in the library, and Giles was looking at himself, holding a needle over a younger Buffy who was staring in a trance. So young, so trusting...trust that he had betrayed. The Buffy in the red dress had vanished, but he could hear her tsk tsking him in his head and he felt deeply ashamed.

“Tell me. Why?”

“I...I knew this was wrong...it violated our trust,” he stammered, fear suddenly hammering his heart.

“No, Giles. That’s not it,” the voice said emphatically. Giles found himself fighting the urge to flee, though he wasn’t sure why. He was plunged into darkness again, the voice ringing in his ears.

“What are you hiding? You have to face what you‘re keeping from yourself. The truth. What is the truth? What do you regret more than anything?”

The lights came up again, and Giles felt as if his legs no longer had the strength to support him. He dropped to his knees. A slim dark-haired woman sat at a computer, looking up at his younger self. There was awkwardness between them, but chemistry, heat, love in those shy glances. He felt hands on his shoulders, saw the red skirt swirl around him, and tears began to roll down his face as he watched the scene play out.

“Rupert, I don’t want to say anything if I’m wrong, but I may have some news...I have to finish up. Can I see you later?”

“Yes, you could stop by the house,” Giles heard himself reply.

“No, you fool,” he moaned to himself. “Find out what she’s up to. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

“Still not the truth,” he heard from behind him, and he nodded.

“Tell her you love her,” he moaned.

“I love you too, English.”

Giles blinked once, then again, and then stood shakily and turned around. The woman in the red dress smiled. Giles could manage only one word.

“Jenny.”

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