| Intro - The demon Anyanka, trapped in the form of high school student Anya, enlisted Willow to help her summon the Amulet that is the source of her power from 'The Wish' created reality it was lost in. Willow is shocked at the hellish images she sees during the spell and botches it, instead summoning her evil vampiric double to the factory, where she was destroyed. Meanwhile, Faith has turned to the dark side, although she is still pretending to be friends with Buffy and the Gang. She has just discovered that Willow is trying to access the Mayor's personal computer files and has reported back to her boss. Doppelgangwar "Let's kill your little friend." Faith spun to stare at the smiling, friendly man before her. Faith knew his mild-mannered demeanour hid a ruthless heart; but it took a little getting used to. Mistaking her shock for reluctance he quickly added, "Don't worry; I wouldn't ask you to do it, not this early in our relationship" "No, I want to do it. Prove my loyalties, so to speak." "I must say I find your eagerness refreshing. You're obviously not one of those slacker-types we get so many of nowadays, but I am surprised. I thought you would need more time to get adjusted to your new job." Faith thought back to when she had decided to betray her friends. It had been Buffy's doing: Faith had killed a man, tried to strangle Xander, and Buffy had come after her. Faith had tried her level best to push Buffy away, and then when Trick had attacked, who had pushed Faith out of the way of a falling crate, almost dying in the process? Buffy, of course. Faith had killed Trick, but looking at the hope in Buffy's eyes afterwards she had realised that, however long she lived, she would always be compared to Buffy. It wasn't the accomplishments. Killing the Master, saving the world. In time Faith could match, that but everyone would still look to Buffy. Everyone would look at Faith and Buffy, and Buffy would be seen as better. Faith would just be white trash. So screw good, screw doing the right and moral thing, screw the Watchers, screw Sunnydale and screw Buffy and her little Slayerettes. Especially Willow. She had been so friendly at first: open, eager to learn about Faith, and then gradually she backed off. She became cold, guarded. Who the hell was she to judge Faith? Stupid computer geek with her stupid little witchy spells and her stupid jumpers and her red hair and green eyes and... "Faith, I'm still not sure that you attacking her would be the best plan. A vampire attack might look less suspicious." "Well, I can take a vamp with me, but I'll be the one that feeds her to him." "Well, OK, but first let's finish looking round your new place. I believe one lucky girl's got herself a Playstation." "No way" she said happily. Act one The phone rang "Hey." "Faith, Tony just saw Miss Rosenberg leaving the Bronze on her own. She's heading downtown." "'Tony... that's your vamp security guy?" "That's right. He said she should be going down York Road in 10 minutes. That would be the best place for an attack." "Abandoned shops, no people, too perfect. Maybe this is a trap." "Now, Faith, I don't want you to let negative thinking get in the way of you doing your job. You've just got a bit of stage fright. You just get out there and show the world what you can do." "Sure thing, boss." "Oh, and Faith? Break a leg." * * * * * Faith slid up behind Tony and looked past him at the figure walking down the road. She saw the flash of red hair, but the girl moved all wrong. "You sure that's her?" The vampire jumped slightly, but didn't let any fear enter his voice. He was smooth, and Faith liked that. "She's the girl. She matches that photo exactly, and I got into the Bronze in time to see her with the Slayer. They were having an argument." "Well, ain't that the icing on the cake. Just think how Buffy'll feel when her sidekick turns up dead." Faith moved up behind Willow, jogging slightly to catch up "Willow." The figure turned. It was Willow, no chance of any mistake, but she looked so different: her lips were redder, her clothes were tight-fitting leather, and my God, she had cleavage. Willow glanced appraisingly at Faith with a slight smile on her lips. She moved towards Faith with a sensuous swaying walk. "I was just thinking I needed a treat." Faith regained her voice. "Willow, what's up with the dominatrix act, not that it doesn't suit you." Faith looked Willow up and down, making no effort to hide her approval. "Who says it's an act?" She said, seductively. Willow walked around Faith, and then resting one hand lightly on the Slayer's hip, brushed Faith's hair out of the way and licked the side of her neck. Faith gasped in surprise but a barely heard growl grabbed her attention. She jerked forward and spun to see Willow's face, morphed into vampire features. Willow grinned, showing off her fangs. "Don't worry, I don't bite. Well, actually I do, but I guarantee you'll like it." Faith was having a hard time thinking; too many thoughts were crowding for her attention. Willow, dead, a vampire, Willow, in sexy leather. She had a job to do. She was supposed to kill the redhead, but this was so much better. Willow, a vampire. Perfect. Willow leaped forward, knocking Faith to the ground. She straddled Faith's belly, holding the Slayer's hands down. "I can't force you to play if you don't want to. Well, actually, I can." Suddenly Willow was thrown off her as Tony's foot connected with her face. He looked down t her. He said mockingly: "Can't handle one little girl. What does Wilkins want with you anyw..." The sentence cut off as Willow's fist connected with his face, throwing him back. He slammed into a shop's wooden shutters. She kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over and grabbing his neck and throwing him down to the ground. "There's got to be some mistake. We were sent after a human." "You made me cranky" Willow picked up a piece of the shutter, broken to a sharp point. Faith grabbed her arm. "Sorry, Red." Willow looked up in time to see Faith's fist. Tony staggered to his feet. "We should kill her." Faith looked up him and smiled. She threw the stake so fast that Tony never saw it coming. "I don't care what you think." * * * * * Giles looked up as he heard the library doors open. "I thought you were going to the Bronze tonight." He stopped as he saw their faces. Xander had to tell him; Buffy couldn't speak. They sat on the stairs, each wrapped up in their thoughts. "I can't feel anything: arms, legs, anything." Buffy's thoughts were flat, her emotions deadened with pain. She couldn't feel any guilt at not protecting Willow or grieve at her loss. She sensed that if she let herself feel anything, then the tidal wave of emotion could destroy her. She felt a tear run down her cheek. It wasn't real; it didn't matter. If Willow was gone, nothing mattered. She heard someone enter the library but didn't look up. "Hey guys. Jeez, who died?" Buffy looked up, shock and amazement in her eyes. Willow's face fell. "Oh God, who died?" Buffy, Xander and Giles slowly got to their feet. Buffy slowly moved forward. Xander thrust out a cross. "Back, fiend." Willow looked at him, puzzled. Xander looked at the cross, shook it a bit, and thrust it forward again. "Back." Buffy was just staring at Willow: the colour in her cheeks, the rise of breath in her chest. It all meant... "Willow, you're alive." Her voice almost broke with emotion. "Aren't I usually?" The redhead was looking 'round at her friends, confused. Buffy couldn't stop herself. She grabbed Willow in a hug and held her tight. Willow was ok; her Willow was with her. She wasn't going to lose her Willow again. She felt Xander joining in the hug. "I love you guys, too. Okay, oxygen becoming an issue." Buffy regained a little self-control and moved back, but she couldn't stop staring at Willow's face. Willow turned to the Watcher. "Giles, what's going on?" Giles grabbed her in an unrestrained hug, before suddenly realising what he was doing and backed off, embarrassed. "It's really nice that you guys missed me. Say, you all didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs, did you?" Buffy suddenly realised the intensity of her relief. It had felt familiar when she thought Willow was dead; she had felt like this when Angel died. The same numbness, and seeing Willow alive afterwards was like waking up from a nightmare. The world was a good place again. Willow was her closest friend, her only real girlfriend, someone who everyone loved and wanted to protect. Buffy's gaze stayed on her friend's face. Finally Xander explained. "Will, we saw you at the Bronze. A vampire." Willow seemed offended. "I'm not a vampire!" Xander seemed flustered by her vehemence. "You are. Well, what I mean to say is, you were. Giles, planning on jumping in with an explanation any time soon?" Giles stuttered. "Well, uh, something... something very strange is happening." "Can you believe the Watcher's Council let this guy go?" Act two The vampire called Willow woke up, tied to a chair. She could feel the ropes biting tightly into her arms and legs. Looking around she could see a swanky apartment. From the next room she heard the voice of the sexy girl who had punched her out. "Seriously, boss, she's been turned into a vamp." A pause as the person on the other end of the line spoke. "Yeah it's a shame about Tony. Guess he should have waited for me. Yeah, I thought that too. I think I can persuade her to join our side. No, I'm just going to use my natural charm. I'll bring her ound to see you tomorrow, boss." Willow shifted her arm and managed to loosen the ropes: one hand was free, but as she heard Faith put the phone down, she slid it back into the ropes and slumped her head, trying to look like she hadn't woken up. "Not very good at faking it, are you?" The vampire looked up to see Faith leaning against the doorframe. "Usually I don't have to; I'm the one that does the tying up. Still, I'm always up for experimentation." Faith walked around the room looking at her captive. She was loving the control. "You know, I think we could be great friends. I'm sure you want some new friends. You know that if Buffy gets you she'll kill you." "Buffy...the Slayer?" "Which Buffy did you think I meant? But hey: She's not the only Slayer 'round here." "I thought there was only one at a time." "What do you mean? You know I'm a Slayer too." "Bet you try that line on all the vampire girls." Faith looked into the other girl's eyes. "You really don't know who I am, but you are Willow." "Should I know you?" "I'm Faith. What is this, some kind of trick? Because if I were the one tied to a chair, I would be trying to play nice." Faith pulled a knife and leaned forward till she was inches away from Willow's face. The knife gently scraped across the vampire's cheek. "You want to play nice don't you?" Willow's free hand darted out and grabbed the back of Faith's head. She pulled the Slayer closer and kissed her fiercely, then grabbed the knife and sliced off the remaining ropes. "I just like to play." Faith smiled a feral smile. "Who are you?" "I'm Willow, the meanest of all the Master's disciples" She stood up and stretched sensuously. Faith was really confused now. "The Master? But he's dead. Wait a second; I think I can see what's going on here. I've dealt with this before. A vampire I fought once tried to summon alternate versions of himself to help become head vampire. Course I dusted every one of 'em, but my old Watcher explained that there were hundreds of parallel dimensions. You must come from a different dimension. Man, that explains everything." Willow yawned and pouted. "Everything's different here. In my world there are people in chains, and you can ride them like ponies." Faith laughed. "Wow, I find it hard to believe that the Willow of this reality could ever be like you." "Another me?" Willow's lips curved into a slow smile as she considered the possibilities. "Yeah, she's one of Buffy's cronies. I was supposed to kill her tonight. Would have if I hadn't been pointed at the wrong redhead. Wonder what the boss is going to want done with her now." "Who is your boss?" "The real power of the town: The Mayor." "Wilkins?" "Yeah. You know him from your reality?" "He tried to make a deal with the Master, but the Master didn't like the deal. So he gutted him. The look on his face was priceless, he just said, "Golly."" Willow laughed cruelly at the memory. Faith's expression turned dark. "Well, here in this reality, he's the top dog. So, if you wanna be on the winning team, you better roll over and let him scratch your belly like a good puppy." Willow, seeing that she was getting to the other girl, moved to Faith's side and whispered in her ear: "Does he scratch your belly?" Faith pushed Willow back into the wall by her neck. "It's not like that with him." Seeing the excited look in Willow's eyes, Faith backed off and laughed. "You really get a kick out of pushing people's buttons don't you?" "I told you, I like to play. You're fun to play with. The Mayor: What does he want to do with the town? I want it back the way it was." "I think he's planning to feed off most of the inhabitants and terrorise the rest into slavery and submission." "Oh goody, I like that plan." "We'll see him tomorrow and we can talk about your role in the slaughter. What should we do until then?" For the second time that evening, Willow jumped on her. * * * * * Buffy, Xander, and Giles were sitting on the stairs again; this time, though, Willow was with them. "I don't like to think that there's a vampire walking around that looks like me." "Not looks like, Will: is every detail. Except for you not being a dominatrix, as far as we know" Buffy looked appraisingly at her friend. "Oh yeah, me and Oz play 'Mistress of Pain' every night." Willow's tone was joking but everyone just paused. "Did anyone else just go to a scary visual place?" Xander commented. Giles raised his hand in acknowledgement. "Oh, yeah." Buffy said, a bit more hesitantly than she would have liked, that she hadn't found it so scary. "There must be some kind of explanation for this." Giles repeated. "Wow, your keen insight is an inspiration to us." "That's enough Xander." Giles tone was sharper than normal. "Now, there are several possibilities: time travel is rare, but has been documented in a few instances." "Wait right there," Buffy interjected. "You mean that, at some point in the future, Willow could become a vampire? We can't let that happen." "I was just considering possibilities, Buffy. She could also be from some kind of parallel Earth, or there are several demons that are known to shape shift, such as Azazel and Hurakhaj." "It was Willow, Giles: you didn't see her." "To be honest, a shape-shifting demon seems unlikely, since normally the purpose is to trick and seduce victims, and I can't see how a vampiric Willow could fit into any scheme." Giles's brow was furrowed, in thought. Xander summed things up. "So it's a toss up between time travel and parallel universes. Does anyone else feel stuck in an episode of 'Star Trek?' Hey, if it's any help, she seemed pretty confused by what was going on." Giles looked up to look at Willow. "If only we could determine why a double of Willow has appeared rather than of anyone else. Have you been doing any magic recently?" "Oh God. Yes, I have: I did a spell with Anya. Of course, I should have realised she wanted to summon this necklace of hers that had been lost, and when we started the conjuring I got these visions of another place. I saw a vampire me and a vampire Xander and Buffy fighting the Master; I can't remember most of it. It was a blur, but the shock of it made me botch the spell. We didn't succeed summoning the necklace." "Well, I think we can safely say this is the cause of this doppelganger. You must have summoned yourself from that reality rather than the necklace." "Wait, I was fighting the Master. Was it on top of the school?" Buffy questioned. "No, it was in this weird factory place, and you looked different. You had a scar across your lips, and I saw you stake Xander without hesitation." "It sounds like the parallel universe explanation is best. A universe where Buffy fought the Master after he had risen and turned some of the population. I would like to know more about this spell, though. You said that it was Anya, was it? She wanted to summon a necklace?" "Yeah, and she got really freaked when it hadn't appeared." "Could you describe what this necklace looked like?" Willow grabbed a piece of paper and quickly copied the picture of the necklace Anya had drawn. She showed it to Giles. "It rings a bell, let me just consult some books. I'm sure I remember something like this in the 'Meditations of the Furies.'" He skimmed through the book and soon shouted, "I've got it! I knew it was the name Anya that had bothered me." He held out a book with a picture of a necklace in it. "Is this the necklace?" "It looks the same, yes." "It's the symbol of Anyanka; she's a demon who grants wishes to spurned women. It says here that to undo the wishes you have to destroy her power centre. I think that pretty much explains everything." "Could it explain everything a little slower, 'cause I still don't see how this relates to Willow being a vampire?" "Quite clearly, someone made a wish that resulted in a world where Buffy failed to stop the Master's rise, and Willow and perhaps many others were turned. Someone in that reality managed to somehow destroy Anyanka's power centre, which was obviously the necklace, and their reality folded back into ours, and Anyanka was trapped without her necklace here." "That's a pretty big leap, but it does explain everything." "Hey, guys," Willow added. "It's probably not important, but Anya mentioned that she knows Cordelia. I think that we can guess who the spurned lover was." They all turned to look at Xander. "So, what did Cordelia wish for: me and Willow to be vampires?" "It doesn't matter right now. We've got to do something; there's a vampire Willow walking around, and we've got to find her." Angel walked into the library. "Hey, Buffy. I was looking for you." "Well, you found me." Angel frowned. Buffy seemed more distant, colder than normal. "What's going on?" "There's a vampire that looks like Willow walking around; we need to find her." "A vampire that looks like Willow? How?" "That doesn't matter right now." "Well, I've just been to the Bronze; I didn't see anything out of the ordinary there." "OK, let's just scour the town. Willow, do you think that you could tell where that factory was?" "Not really, but it looked kind of like the type out near the Reinhold Industrial Park." "Let's try there first." They set out and looked all through town, but they never found the vampire. They found Anya in the Bronze and confronted her, but after she admitted freely that she used to be a demon of righteous vengeance, there wasn't a hell of a lot they could do about it. They eventually agreed to go home and meet back at the library the following day to discuss what to do. Willow dreamt of being a vampire, Xander dreamt of vengeance demons, Giles dreamt of people he had lost, and Buffy lay awake all night, thinking. * * * * * Faith was still aching when she got to the library the following morning. She was covered with bruises; luckily, the bite marks weren't anywhere that would show. She pushed through the doors and saw that all of the Gang were huddled around the table, talking quietly. "Hey, what's up in Sunnydale today?" "You're in a good mood." Buffy sounded quite annoyed. "Hey, what's not to be happy about?" "Well, I think we can all guess who got laid last night." Faith frowned for a minute and then laughed. Normally she would be pissed at Buffy's attitude, but the irony was too good this time. "I asked what was up?" Xander chipped in. "Last night at the Bronze, Buffy and me saw a vampire that looked just like Willow." Faith turned to look at Willow, sitting there in a flowery jumper. She said in mock puzzlement, "You're not a vampire are you?" "It wasn't me. We think it was a me from a different reality. A spell that went wrong." "Aren't you just dying of curiosity to know what a vamp you is like?" "No, I've already heard more than enough about her. I can't believe I would ever dress like that" "Like what?" "Tight black leather." "Doesn't it turn you on?" "Back off, Faith." Buffy shouted as Willow's eyes narrowed. "Just curious. Give me a shout if you need me for anything." Faith sauntered out of the library, just looking back in time to see Buffy lay a comforting hand on Willow's shoulder. * * * * * "So this is the Willow my Faith's been raving about?" Wilkins sat behind his desk, eyeing up the leather-clad vamp. "So boss, can I keep her?" Faith draped her arm around Willow, who leaned forward and picked up a sharp paper knife off the desk. "I see you're admiring my paper knife." "Actually, I was just trying to remember what your insides looked like." Wilkins spread his arms. "Go ahead and look." Willow frowned, and then in a blur of movement, threw the knife straight at his chest. The Mayor put his hand out in front of him, and the knife imbedded in it. "Hmm, good shot." He pulled the knife out and wiped the blade with a moist towlette. The slit in his hand closed up in seconds. "You see, Im whats called impervious. Can't be killed." "You're less fun than the mayor in my reality," Willow pouted. "Yes, Faith mentioned my alternate selfs less than savoury exit, but it would do you good to remember that in this reality I am the master." Willow smiled at the edge in his voice. "What do you want me to do, boss?" she said with just a hint of mockery. "I want you and Faith to find that Slayer that's been giving me so much trouble, and kill the heck out of her." "Can I torture her?" Faith could see Willow almost drooling at the thought. "Sure, make it a slow one though; we don't want another Slayer around anytime soon." "C'mon, we've got some time to kill before sundown." Faith and Willow almost ran out of the room, hurrying back to the tunnels that took them back to Faith's apartment. In the office, Wilkins smiled. "It's so good that Faith's got a chum. Now all she needs is a boyfriend." * * * * * They had eventually decided a divination spell would be their best shot. Buffy had volunteered to go get supplies while the rest fine-tuned the details. She just had to get away from Willow for just a little while. She needed to get her head sorted out, and recently she was having difficulty thinking around Willow. "Buffy." She turned and saw that Willow was behind her. She was smiling. "Buffy, there's something we really need to talk about." Buffy looked at her feet. "Shouldn't we be concentrating on finding the vampire you?" That shouldn't be too hard," Willow said with a smile. "Buffy, behind you." Angel suddenly dove from a nearby alleyway. Willow turned to see him her features morphing into a vampire's. Buffy spun and saw Faith coming at her with a crowbar. She ducked and punched upwards, knocking Faith back. Faith recovered quickly and soon they were trading blows viciously. Angel couldn't believe how tough Willow was. He had expected a pushover, the only real difficulty being that he knew Buffy would have problems fighting her friend, but he found himself fending off a dazzling barrage of punches and kicks. Willow was laughing gleefully. "Bad puppy, play dead." She swiped his feet from under him and put her foot on his throat. Stabbing her stiletto heel into his windpipe, he didn't need air but the pain was intense. He managed to jump his body off the ground and grab her with his legs, pulling her to the ground. Buffy was technically the better of the two, but Faith had the ferocity of a wild thing. When a fist wasn't available she was quite happy to use knees, teeth, elbows, and forehead to attack. Buffy was fighting a defensive battle, and focused completely on keeping the other Slayer away, while she could think of a plan. Faith's taunting wasn't helping her planning. "Must kill you to see Willow like that. Guess what? She can be really friendly when you get to know her." Faith's lascivious grin made her meaning obvious. "Why, Faith?" "Why? Why the hell not? I can't be the good little Watcher's pet like you. May as well be on the winning side. I got to say: I like it so far." Faith shot a glance at Willow pounding her fists into Angel's battered face. "Should have known that you could only make it with a demon." "Look who's talking, girlfriend." Buffy glanced at the other fight and saw Angel getting pulverised. She glanced down and saw the crowbar at her feet. Flipping it up into her hands she threw it. It slammed into Evil Willow's head, and she went down. Buffy caught a fist in the face, but went back on the defensive again, blocking blows and circling around. Faith didn't realise what was happening until it was too late; Angel swung the crowbar into her head. She didn't go down because he was being too gentle, but Buffy took the opportunity and knocked her cold. Buffy looked questioningly at Angel. "I was passing." He had the grace to look embarrassed. "What should we do with these two?" "I think that we need to get Will back to the library. Could you take Faith to the mansion? Keep her safe till we can decide what to do with her?" "Count on it." They each hefted a body, and with terse goodbyes set off. * * * * * Angel chained Faith to the wall. He tested everything calmly, making sure it would hold even against a Slayer's strength. Then he sat calmly and waited for Faith to wake up. He couldn't help think now. He loved Buffy, but he was beginning to realise that Buffy didn't belong with him. She was discovering something that Angel had vaguely suspected all along: she was discovering a new love. He had to let Buffy go. He was bad for her. They could love each other, but they could never know true happiness. He had to give her a chance at happiness, even though he loved her. No. Because he loved her. * * * * * Buffy walked into the library carrying Vampire Willow. She was trying to work out whether it was better or worse that she hadnt worn the leather. Trying to trick Buffy, she had dressed like her Willow. Buffy wished she'd worn the leather; that would have been easier. The Scooby Gang started to their feet as she entered. Buffy put Willow's double into the book cage and locked the door. "What happened?" "She and Faith attacked me." "Faith?" "Yeah. Luckily Angel was nearby, so I didn't have to fight them both at once. He's got Faith at the mansion, but I thought I should bring the Vampire Willow here, so we could decide what to do." "Buffy, we can't kill her." "I know, Will, but what other choices are there? We can't release her into the wild: she's deadly. Angel was almost killed fighting her. She's more powerful than most vampires." "I can well believe it. Vampires vary in strength, mostly due to age and experience, but the strength of the vampire that turned them is also a factor. If Willow's sire truly was the Master, she would have quite a head start on most undead." Giles seemed ready to continue the lecture but Willow interrupted him. "I know that we can't let her go, but it's just that that could have been me." "I know Will, there but for the grace of getting bit." "Maybe we can send her back to her own world?" "That's definitely a possibility, but wouldn't that be the same as releasing her here?" "Er, guys. I may be the dumb one here, but why can't we use the curse on her? Restore her soul, maybe send her back afterwards?" The others turned to look at Xander. Then Buffy looked at Giles. "Could we really do that?" "I don't see why not. The spell we have is aimed at Angel but changing that to Willow should be a simple matter." Buffy looked down at the unconscious vampire. "I don't like it, but what other option do we have? We either do this or we kill her." "I think we have to do this Buffy; I know that I can do it. I just need the ingredients." "Maybe I should go this time," Xander offered. "I have less mortal enemies who try to ambush and kill me, not counting Cordelia, of course." * * * * * Willow woke to the sound of chanting. She was in a cage and she could see her other self, sitting cross-legged on the floor with runes and herbs in front of her. Her other self was chanting in Latin. The vampire felt the magic course through her. The pain was incredible. She could feel the demon inside her fighting, trying to hold off the return of the soul, but the power flowing through her human double was too intense. The orb of Thessala glowed briefly; Vampire Willow gasped and collapsed to the floor. She couldn't remember anything; she didn't know where she was. She looked around and saw people staring at her: a pretty blonde girl, the new English librarian at the school, and Xander. "Xander, what's happening? I don't rememb . . ." The memories crashed onto her. She fell to the floor, curling up into a foetal position. She remembered dying, rising, killing, the pain and torments she caused, and the glee and pleasure she got causing it. She felt someone turn her so she was looking at them. It was the blonde girl. Willow remembered now she was Buffy, the friend of the Willow in this reality. "It's OK, Will. It wasn't you. It was just a demon; you're back to being Willow now. Everything's going to be OK." "You don't know what I've done; I'm a monster, cursed. I'm going to go to Hell." "You won't. I know it's bad now, but you've got to chance to make amends, start fresh." Xander knelt at Willow's other side. She clasped his hand. "I'm so sorry, Xander, for what I did to you." "All is forgiven; I know you didn't mean it." Giles quietly retreated, feeling that this wasn't his element. He looked over to their Willow, who was standing a little away, her expression unreadable. "Maybe you should talk to her. Forgiveness from herself might help." "I think I know how I would feel," Willow regarded him coolly. "If that was me, and it is, I wouldn't want to look at myself right now." She walked out of the library, not once looking back. * * * * * To Giles's great surprise, the Vampire Willow seemed to take great comfort in his forgiveness. It turned out that in her reality he led the, albeit small, element of resistance to the Master, and she knew him to be a good man. She was exhausted by everything. Buffy decided to hold off explaining the other aspects of the spell, such as it being broken when the recipient feels true happiness. This Willow wasn't going to be happy for a while, and she had enough to cope with. They took her back to Giles's house and she slept. * * * * * Back at the library, Willow hadn't gone far. She waited until everyone had left, and then picked up a couple of items. She walked to Angel's mansion and looked in through the windows. She could clearly see Angel sitting, talking to Faith, who was chained up. He was trying to reach out to her and bring her back from the dark side. Willow loaded the tranquilliser gun and shot him in the back. He was down before he knew what had hit him. Faith smiled as the door opened and she saw Willow. "You managed to get away from them then." Willow smiled and sauntered closer, not saying a thing. "Why did you trank Angel? You could have taken him easy last time if Buffy hadn't interfered." She paused, studying the other girl more closely. "You're alive; you're not my Willow." "Your Willow's got her soul back now. Just what we need: another soul-stricken vampire about, brooding and being mysterious." "What the fuck is going on? What are you doing here?" "I thought it was time to have a little talk to you, with you chained up. I don't like you, Faith." "There's a big surprise." "Actually, I pretty much hate you. You tried to take everything away from me: all my friends wanted to be with you instead of me." "I guess I'm just more fun to be around. Everyone loves a bad girl." Willow pulled out a knife from her jacket and slashed Faith across the face. Blood sprayed out. "Guess who just got bad?" "Jesus Christ, what's happened to you?" "That soul-restoration spell I mentioned? Guess it didn't realise the soul was still being used." "You've lost your soul, now you're on the dark side, like me. We could be a pretty amazing team, you and me." "Only one problem with that plan." Willow stabbed the knife deep into Faith's stomach and whispered in her ear, "I don't like you Faith." She left the knife where it was and walked off, picking up the tranquilliser gun as she did. She was pleased with her evening's work, but there was so much more to be done. Willow had often wished that she could be less repressed, wanting to release the wild emotions within her. Now she was free and just getting started. Next - Enemies Home |