Giles wearily rubbed his eyes and wished he could rest, just for a little while, but there was no time. Everyone in Champion's Vale was exhausted, right down to the children.

More than half of the young Gryphons in the Vale had been struck down by a mysterious illness and the reports pouring in from the rest of the land told their own tale. Whatever this disease was, it was wide spread, infecting more than half of the fledged generation and all of the newest generation.

Everyone now spent their days caring for their stricken friends, most of the afflicted were even too weak to feed themselves at this point. Luckily, none of their patients had succumbed, yet, but Giles knew it was just a matter of time now.

Angrily, the newest mage of Champion's Vale threw his teacup across the room and watched it shatter against the wall. Even when they'd been fighting Glory he hadn't felt this useless. At least with Glory there had been an enemy they could see, but this...this...disease left no traces, no signs pointing to an origin or a cure. No one had come right out and said out loud, but if something weren't done, and soon, Urtho's Gryphons would soon be just a memory.

*****

Dawn curled into a ball on her tiny cot and cried into her pillow, again, like she'd done every night since her mother had died and Buffy had put her in this awful place. Dawn still had trouble believing that Buffy would do this to her, but she had. 'I'm sorry, Dawn, but I can't take care of you. Don't worry, these people are really nice and they'll make sure you're safe. I'll come visit, I promise.'

Of course, she never had. Willow and Tara had come a couple of times, but she hadn't seen the two witches in over three months. There were times Dawn almost wished that Glory had killed her, or Giles had taken her with him when he left.

Dawn slid a hand under the thin mattress and carefully removed the utility knife she'd managed to hide from the guards. Pushing the blade from it's housing, she stared at the way the weak light coming in from the barred window reflected off the sharp metal. If nothing else, there was always this. And maybe then, she'd finally find some peace.

*****

Spike crushed out another cigarette and waited patiently for the guards to finish their rounds. He'd only have one chance to break the Nibblet out of this Hell hole, and he couldn't afford to muck it up. It'd taken him weeks to find out where that bitch of a Slayer had stashed the girl, and when he'd finally found out where, the blasted chip was the only thing that saved the bitch from him. The Hope House for Girls, bloody prison was more like it.

The entire building was surrounded by a fence, there were bars on the windows and armed guards patrolled the grounds. Spike knew things had been tough since Joyce had passed on, but this? There was no call for this. Dawn was a sweet kid, not some kind of hard-case delinquent. And even if she were, there was no reason to have her locked up in such an awful place.

It was pure luck that Spike had been in the right place at the right time to hear Red arguing with the Slayer over the Nibblet. 'Buffy! That place is horrible! The people are mean and it smells bad and the food is terrible! You have to get Dawn out of there!'

'It's none of your business, Willow. Besides, it's not like she's really my sister, is it? She's not the Key anymore, so my responsibility to her is over!'

'Buffy, I know your hurting right now, but please, don't take it out on Dawn, she doesn't deserve this.'

Spike shook his head, trying to dispell the rage he felt trying to overtake him. He'd get Dawn out of here and hide the chit until he could figure out what to do. For a second, Spike wished the Watcher were still here, he'd have straightened out the Slayer in no time flat. Come to think of it, he knew a Chaos demon that owed him some favors, maybe he could find a way to get Dawn to the Watcher. And once Dawn was safe, the Slayer was dead. One way or the other.

*****

Arlen refused to look at Jade, he knew he'd only see disappointment in his friend's eyes. "No. It's not my problem, Jade. They have everything they need to figure it out and fix it. There's no reason for me to get involved."

"Arlen, you should help them. Or do you want Urtho's children to die out for all time?"

"Urtho's children? What about his other children? He never cared about his human children, so why should I care about his Gryphons?"

Jade closed his eyes, their argument was an old one, and while he understood Arlen's feelings, there was no need for the young mage to be so cruel. "Arlen...please? For us? We love you, and it hurts us to see you acting like this."

Arlen looked at the huge dragon, his dearest friend, what some would even call his son, and sighed, "All right! All right. I'll help. But I'm not going to do it for them! I'll send them the information they need to get started and that's it! And since you're so worried about your cousins...you can take it to them."

Jade reared up in shock, "Really? You'll help? And I can meet the Gryphons? And the Champion?"

Arlen burst into laughter, it was hard to remember that Jade was still just a juvenile, despite his size, but times like this reminded the Sorcerer Adept just how young Jade really was. The ebony dragon had been dying to meet the Gryphons since he'd hatched. And once the Champion NightHawk had suddenly appeared on the scene, Arlen had been hard pressed to contain the dragon's enthusiasm. "Tomorrow, Jade, you can leave tomorrow. I'll need some time to get everything from Father's journals together. Now go get some sleep, it's a long way to Champion's Vale."

Jade stepped off the tower without another word, snapping his wings open to gently glide down to his weyer. Arlen looked out over the towering trees that surrounded his keep and knew in his heart that nothing would ever be the same.

Next Part