Inescapable Me
Part 1
It was a dream. This much she
knew. The same as every other night for the past few weeks, it was a dream. Or a nightmare really. It always started out the same.
They would be talking,
laughing, dancing and she would be happy. Happier than she could ever remember
being. But, that was always the most frightening part, because she knew. She
knew that soon it would turn dark and terrifying. There would be screaming and
crying and death. There was something else, too. Monsters. Monsters that seemed
so real, looked so close to human, but their faces- their faces showed their
true identities.
Most nights it was pure
horror and pain. Occasionally, though, it was something else. Something closer
to heartache and loss. None of it was good. She knew it wasn’t real. Just a
dream. After all, the things she saw at night, while her eyes were closed, were
nothing like the reality she lived in.
Here, in the dreams, she and
these strangers fought and struggled. They averted dangers and saved people,
and sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes they died. There was someone, a boy, she
felt such love from. And then, suddenly, there was nothing but pain and
betrayal and loss. She could almost FEEL her heart rip in half as she watch
from a window as the young man climbed into his van and pulled away, but none
of it was real.
Her life, her actual life,
held none of the peril and danger that lurked in her dreams. She was a simple,
quiet college student. She had a close circle of friends and was born to
parents that loved her. Granted, they had both been killed a few years earlier,
while traveling abroad, but still, she knew how much they loved her.
Life was simple for the
redhead. Go to class, study, breathe in, breathe out, daily habits. There were
no monsters, no fighting, no pain like this and no passion either. Just simple
thing, breathe in, breathe out. This is how she knew. She knew it was a dream,
and thank the heavens for that. Dreams didn’t mean anything, really. They
didn’t predict horrors to come, they didn’t foretell the future, and they
didn’t remind of memories lost. Dreams were nothing more than manifestations of
happiness or stress or the cause of eating cheese too close to bedtime. These
dreams, she was sure, meant nothing, and yet, she never seemed to be able to
escape them.
This night was the same as
every other. She was sitting with a young man, dark hair, badly dressed. He
seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite seem to place the face. They were
watching cartoons and laughing. It was as if she was outside of her body,
watching, just a member of the audience.
There was someone else
there. A blonde, bleached blonde, actually. She’d seen him before, though
again, couldn’t quite recall a name or place where he was from. He was usually
dressed better than this. Tonight, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and short
pants in place of his usual black pants, black shirt and long leather coat. He
still looked as dark and tough as usual, but the hint of danger that usually
came from him seemed to have dissipated. She supposed it was due to the bad
outfit and wondered if he was taking fashion tips from the other guy and how
she could kindly tell him to refrain from that in the future.
Before she had a chance to
ponder that further, the images shifted and she found herself in a building
that looked to have been demolished. She wondered why she could never just stay
in the happy, comforting place. Why did she always end up in some abandoned
building fighting evil things that…
There was a feeling in the
air, familiar, but much stronger than she’d felt before. Evil. It was all
around them. Suddenly, she found that she was back in her own body, no longer
watching, but now actively participating. This was never a good thing.
She was holding something.
It was important. That much she knew. Turning, she saw some sort of monster
coming at her and turned away, tossing whatever she was holding to the blonde.
She yelled something out, but apparently this was a silent movie and she
couldn’t hear what it was that she yelled.
Suddenly, the ground was
shaking and the walls were crumbling around them. They were shouting things and
running. She couldn’t understand what they were saying, where they were going,
but she felt an arm grab her and pull her along. Once they reached the outside,
she felt strong arms wrap around her and there, again, was the comfort and
protection.
Looking up, she found
herself staring into crystal blue eyes and caught a glimpse of bleached blonde
hair. She supposed that if she had to go through all this terror every night,
at least it usually ended with this handsome stranger’s arms around her or with
his lips on hers.
Again, she felt the images
shifting, though she was still looking into his eyes. Blinking once, twice, she
noticed that suddenly the eyes were not blue anymore, but yellow. Taking a step
back, she saw his face morph into that distorted face she’d seen on the
monsters before. She was trying to scream, though no sound would come out and
she felt his fangs descending upon her neck.
Jumping up in bed,
"It was just a dream.
Just another silly, stupid, horrible, nightmarish dream," she told
herself, trying to catch her breath.
Leaning down, she peered
under the bed nervously, just to be sure there was nothing hiding under there.
Sitting back up, she shook her head and chuckled nervously. "As if
monsters were real," she mused, wondering if she would get back to sleep
that night.
Part 2
"How did you do on your
test?"
"Perfect score,"
"Should have
known," Rosalyn replied with a roll of her eyes. "Always the perfect
student."
She was really the closest
thing that the redhead had to what she would call family.
Looking up and glancing down
the corridor,
"
"Yeah. I- sorry. I must
have just spaced out for a minute or something. I- I haven’t been getting much
sleep lately."
"The dreams?"
"Oh, right! The
computer conference. Leaving tomorrow, right?"
Her friend’s face fell as
her eyes widened. "Uh, where exactly in
"Some place called
Sunnydale,"
Her friend gave her a
worried look and nodded, but said nothing more and the pair continued on toward
their next class.
~*~
"I don’t understand
why, Giles."
"Because, Xander, I
told you. Buffy needs to patrol and we still don’t know how to kill this
thing."
"Right, so why am I on
book duty and the bleached wonder is out kicking demon ass with Buffy?"
Xander questioned.
"Because, moron, when I
go out on patrol, I actual do kick the demon’s ass as opposed to it being the
other way around."
"Yeah, well-"
Before Xander could finish, the phone rang and Giles silently thanked whoever
was on the other end as he jumped up to answer it.
"Hello? Oh yes, how is,
oh? Oh, oh, dear lord, yes, well, I, yes, I’ll be sure to tell them. Thank you,
yes." Giles hung up the phone and immediately removed his glasses. Never a
good sign.
"Giles, man, what is
it? Word on the demon?" Xander questioned as they all looked toward the
Watcher, waiting for an answer.
"Ah, no, I’m afraid
not. No, actually, that was a, uh, friend of mine. It seems that
At those words four jaws
simultaneously dropped open.
Part 3
"What do you mean,
"Does she know?"
Xander questioned.
"This can’t be
good," Anya mumbled.
"You said she would
never remember, we would never see her again. You said, Giles!" Buffy
shouted, stomping her foot.
"Does she remember
us?" Xander asked quietly.
"You know what they say
about prophecies," Anya muttered.
"How can she just be
coming home? And I thought you had someone watching her!"
"Should we go meet her
at the airport?"
"Try as hard as you
like but they always work themselves out in the end."
"What does this mean?
Was it all for nothing? Did the spell stop working?"
"Do you think she’ll
hate us? Do you think she’ll hate me?"
"Well, wouldn’t you
hate us after what we did to her?"
"What in the bloody
hell are you all talking about?"
All of the questions stopped
as everyone turned to look at a seething blonde vampire.
"
"That’s what you
get," Buffy told him with a smirk and a glare.
"How could you? How
could you know where she was and not tell me?" He asked, his voice holding
a sense of desperation that he despised.
"We had no choice. This
wasn’t the way we wanted it," Xander told him, surprised at the pang of
guilt that ran through him.
"You all lied to me. I
fought beside you day in and day out, and you knew how much it killed me that
she left, that she was gone and I couldn’t find her and you KNEW!!!"
Xander, Giles and Anya had
the good grace to look down at the floor uncomfortably. Buffy, however,
continued to glare at the blonde.
"We did what we had to
do, Spike, to save
"What exactly is it
that you had to do, and what was it that you had to save her from? Me? Because
you know bloody well that I would never have hurt her for…"
"Not you, Spike,"
Buffy interrupted, sighing deeply before continuing. She had hoped to never
have to have this conversation with him. "
"Not long after Glory
showed up, a few years back, we performed a spell. We removed all of her
memories of her time here and replaced them before sending her to
Spike just stood still,
staring at the Watcher, unable to say a word.
"We also bound her
powers so that they would not be detectable by people who might abuse
them."
"You took her memories
away and bound her power?" Spike whispered. "You sent her away from
the people that could protect her."
"We sent her to where
she would be safe, stopping- stopping her from being hurt." Buffy told
him. "We did the only thing we could do to keep
"You know why it’s
called a prophecy?" Spike asked, his anger growing. "It’s the written
word of divine inspiration. It’s DESTINED to happen. You can’t just stop a
prophecy!"
"He’s right, you
know," Anya added. "I tried to tell you all then, but would you
listen to me? No. And, now look what you’ve done. She’s coming back here. You
don’t know how much she remembers, if she remembers at all, and she has no way
to protect herself. The Hellmouth is calling her here and there’s nothing you
can do to stop it."
"We’ll just put her on
another plane and send her back when she arrives," Buffy said
matter-of-factly.
"Buffy, this is
"Well, we can’t let her
come here," Buffy told him.
"When are you going to
get this?" Anya shouted, startling everyone. "You don’t have a choice
here!
Part 4
The plane arrived at the small airport just after
sunset,
time. Finding her bags quickly enough,
headed toward her hotel. The town was small and quaint. It was
quiet, at least at night, something she wasn't used to. In the city
there would be people walking around at all hours. Here, the streets
seemed nearly deserted.
Driving along the small little town streets,
herself. It was like no where else she had ever been
to, yet it
seemed so familiar, though she wasn't sure quite why.
After checking into the small hotel, the redhead decided to head out
for a walk, needing desperately to stretch her legs and clear her
mind. She hadn't been walking down the street for more than five
minutes when she suddenly got the eerie feeling that she was being
followed. Turning around, she saw that there was no one behind her,
but couldn't shake the strange feeling. Turning back to continue
walking, she let out a scream as a figure jumped in front of her.
Looking up, she found herself staring into the yellow eyes of the
monsters in her dreams.
Backing away, into an alley,
head. "No, this isn't happening. It's just a dream, just a dream,"
she kept mumbling to herself over and over until she felt her back
hit a wall. Opening her eyes, she found that was still staring into
the face of the monster, his mouth turned up into a cruel grin,
long, sharp fangs gleaming in the moonlight.
She was cornered and had no idea what to do. It had never been like
this before, in any of her other dreams. There had always been other
people around, helping her, saving her. Now, this time, she was
alone and completely terrified.
"Please, please just leave me alone," she begged quietly.
The vampire simply laughed at her. "But, you look so tasty. I can't
wait to sink my teeth into you. Haven't had a good bite
all night."
"Yeah, well you're gonna have to wait just a little bit longer."
group of people standing at the opening of the alleyway. It was the
people from her dreams, but she knew, now, she wasn't dreaming.
"You picked the wrong girl to mess with," Buffy stated, holding up a
small cross bow and pointing at the vampire. "If someone were to ask
me, I'd say you were about to find yourself dusted."
"Oh yeah, Slayer?" The demon retorted with a
grin. "I'd say you were
wrong. Dead wrong."
"Dead wrong?" The slayer asked, rolling her eyes. "Yeah,
that's
original. Never heard that one before. You know, I
really don't
think guys are even trying any more…"
At that, several other vampires appeared and the fight was on.
Xander and Anya were fighting off one vampire while Giles and Buffy
each had their own. Spike was struggling with a forth, though he
didn't take his eyes off the terrified redhead the entire time.
She just kept muttering to herself, "this can't be real, this can't
be real, this can't be real."
Seeing one of the vampire lunge toward the redhead,
Spike yelled
out, "
coming at her and dodged out of the way. Spike quickly snapped the
neck of the demon he was fighting and was running toward the vampire
attacking
vampire reached out to grab the redhead, Spike gripped his arm
tightly and yanked him back, sinking a stake into his chest.
watched in wide-eyed horror as the creature before her turned to
dust.
Looking up, she found herself staring into the all too familiar face
of the man from her dreams, though now his eyes were yellow, not
blue. She backed away from him nervously and before Spike could
protest, one of the other vampires came up behind him, grabbing his
shoulders and spinning him around, sending a strong right hook into
the blonde's jaw.
Spike resumed the fight, leaving the redhead alone temporarily.
Seeing one of the crossbows lying on the ground, she picked it up
and backed away, climbing up onto a pile of crates and watching as
the last two vampires were killed by the group.
Seeing the last of the vampires turn to dust, everyone let out a
sigh or relief. Suddenly, Spike jumped as he heard more than saw a
crossbow bolt fly past his head and embed itself in the wall next to
him. Everyone turned and looked in the direction from which it came,
startled to see the redhead standing up on a pile of crates, looking
down at them, pointing the weapon.
"Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on? Who are you
people, and why the hell I'm having dreams about you?"
Part 5
(Three Years Earlier)
"I'm just saying, I think it's rude."
"I wouldn't call it rude"
"Rude-ish. Rude-esque. Whatever you want to call it. When a person
makes a `destroy all vampires' date, it's simple courtesy to wait
for your co-destroyers. Am I right, Giles?"
Xander looked expectantly toward the older man who glanced up
looking uninterested. "I'm almost certain you're not, but to be
fair, I wasn't listening."
Xander scowled and
piled with books while Anya went to look at the new ad for the shop
in the phone book.
"Since you're all here, I could use your help researching Buffy's
mysterious woman," Giles told them.
Xander let out a groan. "Oh yeah, this has been fruitful. Trying to
look up something you never saw and don't know the name of."
"Just do what I do: flip through the pages and
look busy," Anya
advised him.
"It'd be nice if we knew where she was,"
was hiding out."
"No doubt lurking around some sewer or condemned church or rat-
infested warehouse," Xander quipped. "You know,
the usual haunts."
~*~
Glory was growing impatient. Well, to be fair, she never was really
good with the patience to begin with. Kinda one of the perks to
being a god, you could pretty much be as impatient as you damn well
felt like and who was going to say a word about it? Just the same
though, Glory was growing impatient. She was running out of time and
had to find her key, now.
"Just so we're clear, the spell's gonna work, right?" She asked in
annoyance, the minion nodding enthusiastically. Of course, this
affirmation meant nothing. The minions were always running around
spouting out any ridiculous drivel that they thought she wanted to
hear. What she needed was true, hard facts and she supposed that to
get them, she would have to use a little tactile persuasion.
"I mean, nothing worse than a gift that doesn't
work. Then I'd have
to get all mad and kill you! It's this whole big thing," she told
him.
"It will work, your extremeness," he assured her. "Provided you
have
the other items you need a-and a witch powerful enough to cast the
spell."
"Don't worry," the blonde replied, glancing down at the phone book
and ripping out an ad for a magic shop. "I'll have them, all right.
I'll have it all."
~*~
Riley walked up to the door and knocked lightly before opening it,
stepping into the small dorm room. Seeing a tattered blanket
sitting at his feet, he looked up, surprised to find Spike in
Buffy's dorm room, inhaling deeply as he held a sweater against his
face.
"What are you doing in here?" Riley demanded.
Spike spun around in surprise and quickly hid the sweater behind his
back. "What, me? I was um, uh, what are *you*
doing here?" He
stalled.
"Looking for the girl who's gonna rip your arms off when she finds
out you were in her room," the former soldier replied.
"Oh yeah? Well, me too," Spike lied.
Riley frowned and reached out, trying to grab whatever Spike was
holding behind his back.
"Were you- were you just smelling her
sweater?" Riley asked with a
mixture of amusement and disgust.
Spike let out a forced laugh. "No, well, yeah, all right, I did.
It's a predator thing, nothin' wrong with it. Just know your enemy's
scent, whet the appetite for a hunt." Pausing, he held the sweater
up, sniffing it again. "Ah, that's the stuff! Slayer musk, it's
bitter and aggravating!"
Riley reached out and grabbed the sweater. About to toss it onto the
bed, he stopped and looked down, making a confused face. "This isn't
even Buffy's sweater," he observed. "It's
"What?" Spike asked, trying to sound surprised, eyes wide, before
reaching out and snatching the sweater back, staring at it for a
moment and sniffing it again. "You know, I-I think you're right," he
said finally. "This is the little witch's." He tried to make a
disgusted face and tossed the sweater onto Buffy's dresser.
Riley rolled his eyes. "Alright, you, out," he told him as he
roughly grabbed the vampire and shoved him out the door. Just as he
was being manhandled through the doorway, Spike reached out,
grabbing the sweater off of the dresser and shoving it into his coat
pocket.
~*~
"I just wish we knew what we were dealing with. It feels as if we're
going in circles."
had been researching for days on end about this woman that Buffy had
fought and still had nothing on her.
"Giles, the Dagon sphere. You said that was
created to repel…"
"That which cannot be named," Giles supplied.
"So I'm thinking maybe she..."
"Predates language itself? If that is indeed the case, there's-
there's no way we can determine her moves, her habits, where she'll
turn up next-"
Giles paused as he turned around and unwittingly came face to face
with Glory.
"Oh! I beg your-" He began to apologize.
"Uh-huh," Glory interrupted, handing him a few items. "I want
these."
"Yes, of course!" He told her as he quickly went to the register and
wrapped her items. "Um, you find everything all right?"
"No problemo," she told him.
"Come on, Wills, you're all big with the magic now. Haven't you
figured out some spell to just give us the knowledge we seek at this
point," Xander complained as the three of them sat staring at their
books, not bothering to look up toward the customer with Giles.
Hearing Xander's words, however, Glory's head turned and she glanced
at
"Your receipt," Giles said. Glory turned back to him, annoyed at the
interruption of her thoughts. "And thank you! If there's anything
else you need, please come by."
"I'll be sure to do just that," she said with a smile, before
turning and trotting happily away.
Giles turned back toward the others, completely unaware of whom he
had just helped. "She could be anywhere. But if she is as powerful
as, uh, Buffy says, I imagine it won't be long before she makes
herself known."
~*~
Later that afternoon, Anya went to the register and
began glancing
through the receipts. Stopping at one, she stared at it for a long
time before finally looking up.
"Hey. Hey! HEY!" She shouted.
again.
"HEY!! You sold someone a Khul's amulet and a Sobekian bloodstone.
Are you stupid or something?" She asked Giles. "You never sell these
things together, ever! Bad news! Don't you know about the
Sobekites?"
"Oh! I do,"
Egyptian cult, heavy into dark magic. A-and the Khul's amulet,
wasn't that a transmogrification conduit?"
"Damn straight!" Anya affirmed.
"Be that as it may, I still see no reason for concern," Giles told
them. "I mean, the-the Sobekian transmogrification spells were lost
thousands of years ago. And besides, the young woman to whom I sold
them would have to have had enormous power-"
"Young woman?"
"Oh, dear lord."
~*~
going. The redhead had never been one to skip class, ever, but
lately, with everything that had been happening, she had missed more
than her fair share of classes, and though she could keep up with
the work easily enough, she was sure her professors were beginning
to notice her absence. So, off to class she went. Walking briskly
across campus, the witch looked up to see the building she was
heading to not far ahead.
"Hey, you there!" She heard a woman calling.
Stopping for a moment,
she looked around and found a young woman with long, blond curly
hair standing behind her.
"Me?"
"Yeah. I was wondering if I could get your help
with something," the
blonde told her.
"Oh, well, uh, I was just on my way to class and I'm in a hurry,
but..."
"This won't take too long, and I'd REALLY appreciate your help,"
Glory told her with a sugary sweet smile.
"Oh, well, ok, uh, what can I do to, uh, help?"
glancing toward the building again for a moment. Turning back to the
woman, her eyes widened as she saw her raise her fist.
"Fall down," Glory told her, just before punching her hard, knocking
her out cold.
students walking around.
Glory looked around them, glad to see that no one was bothering with
them. She snapped her fingers and two of her minions quickly ran up
and grabbed
a town full of people THIS oblivious," Glory said to herself with
another smile.
Part 6
"I HATE all this waiting! It's like no one cares about what I want,
how I feel, you know?"
struggled to open her eyes. Her head was pounding and she could
hear someone talking. Her arms were throbbing. Trying to lift
them, the redhead suddenly realized that she was tied to the chair
she was sitting in.
"Do you know how much I hate waiting? Because I really, REALLY,"
Glory paused as she turned and looked at her little witch. "Oh,
goody!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together and skipping
over
to the bound redhead.
"You're finally awake!" Glory said, looking down a
quickly dropping into a disapproving frown. "Took you
long enough.
I was beginning to think you would never wake up."
"Wh-what-what am I doing here?"
focus her blurry vision and concentrate on what the woman was saying.
"I need you to perform a little spell for me," Glory told her,
turning away from
through the pages.
"Who are you?"
knew the answer.
Glory heaved a frustrated sigh and tossed the book onto
"Do I really need to explain that to you?" She replied.
"Glory," Willow mumbled, dread washing over her.
"Bingo! Well, aren't you just the smart one," Glory cooed. "Now,
this is the spell I need you to cast. Think you can handle that?"
it, she knew, but she also knew that whatever Glory was trying to
conjure could only lead to badness and if
whatever badness came would be because of her.
"I-I don't think I can cast this. It's very complicated and-"
Glory suddenly spun around and glared at the redhead, cutting off
her speech. "You wouldn't be lying to me, now would you? Because I
REALLY hate to be lied to, and word is you're a pretty powerful
witch."
"I-no-no lying, really, I just don't think I can…"
trailed off as she shook her head nervously.
"Well, I have faith in you," Glory told her with a big smile.
"If
you're feeling unsure, maybe you just need a little persuasion.
Before the words could register with her,
across her right cheek as Glory reached out and backhanded her as
hard as she could.
blood seeping from her lip. Slowly, she turned her back to face
Glory, her green eyes now black.
"Oh, how cute. The little witch wants to play.
Goodie. I'm in the
mood for a little fun."
Part 7
"Why won't you just help me find my key?"
Glory whined, close to
tears.
perform the simple task. It had been hours. Just how many, she
wasn't sure, but she knew she couldn't take much more. She was weak
and she knew her resolve was gone.
"Is one little spell too much to ask? I'll tell
you what. You do
the spell, and I promise I'll kill you quick. You don't perform the
spell, I'll keep you alive and I'll kill everyone you know and
love. Your parents, your friends, everyone. So, what
do you say?"
Struggling to swallow the lump in her throat,
to look at Glory and nodded her head slightly, feeling complete and
utter shame. "I'll do it," she told her, her shoulders slumping in
defeat.
"Finally!" Glory shouted, walking behind the
redhead and ripping the
ropes apart that held her to the chair. Lifting the witch up with
ease, Glory shoved her to the ground near the spell book. "Do it,"
she commanded coldly as she watched with her arms crossed over her
chest.
silently asking for strength and forgiveness from her goddess.
Taking the book, she quickly centered herself before beginning to
chant the words to the spell. A few moments later the spell was
complete.
collapsed onto the floor, sweet darkness consuming her.
Glory watched in annoyance as the witch cast the spell and then
passed out. "Nothing is happening! Where is my snake?" She yelled.
"Your greatness," one of the minions interjected. "The witch was
weak. The spell did work, I am sure, though I suspect in her
weakened state she was unable to summon him to immediate
materialization."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Glory questioned.
"It means, oh glorious one, that given a little more patience, I am
sure your snake will appear."
Glory let out a deep sigh and rolled her eyes. After all, everyone
knew her stance on patience. "Fine! More waiting! All I ever do in
this stinking dimension is wait. Wait for my key, wait
for my
snake, wait for the ritual, wait, wait, wait. Fine! Take the
witch, lock her in one of the guest rooms. I'm sure
I'll be able to
use her later."
At that, two of the minions quickly scrambled to drag the
unconscious redhead into one of the rooms down the hall, dumping her
onto the floor and locking the door behind them.
Part 8
Giles woke to the sound of someone pounding on his front door, never
a good thing. Groggily, he made his way to the door and pulled it
open, glaring at the blonde Slayer who charged in.
"Why was your door locked?" She demanded.
"That is generally the way it tends to be when I'm sleeping in the
middle of the night," he grumbled. "Buffy, what are you doing
here?"
"
"What about her?" He asked impatiently.
"She's missing. She didn't come home tonight," Buffy told him.
"Really? Well, that is rather unlike her, now
isn't it?" Giles said
as he removed his glasses, cleaning them on his t-shirt.
"Yes! Yes, it is VERY unlike her Giles, and you know, with Glory out
there and
"Yes, I understand your urgency, Buffy, I do, and we will find her,
but you are going to have to calm down in order to-"
"Calm down? Giles, if Glory has
she'll do. We have to find her. Now."
~*~
Again, for the second time in one day, Willow found herself
struggling to regain consciousness, her head pounding and her body
aching. This time, she was not bound to anything, though she could
barely move her body. Looking around, she saw that she was in a
small, dark bedroom. She struggled to remember where she was as she
pulled herself into a sitting position.
"Getting a little tired of this," she grumbled to herself. "Why
am I
in…"
Glory! Glory had taken her and forced her to perform a spell,
something to summon a snake-demon-thing. She could remember
starting to the spell, but nothing further, so she had no idea if
the spell had worked. The only thing she was completely sure of was
that she needed to get out of that room, now, if she had any hope of
living through this.
Closing her eyes,
She only had one option, a teleportation spell. It would take a lot
of strength and energy, neither of which she was very full of at the
moment, but she knew it had to be done now. She was still working
on the spell she had learned, still trying to get out a few of the
kinks, the biggest of which being where the object ended up. She
still didn't seem to have a whole lot of control on that part, so
she prayed to her goddess to send her somewhere, anywhere safe,
anywhere, so long as it was away from Glory and where she could be
protected.
At that, she began to chant the spell, feeling the air immediately
begin to spark and crackle, a moment later, she felt the pull
through out her body just before feeling herself losing
consciousness for the third time.
~*~
Spike was in the cave under his crypt, brooding. He hated this. He
was becoming more and more like Angel everyday, brooding over some
little human. A little human that didn't even know he existed let
alone that he was in love with her. Not that he had given her much
indication of it.
"
you a chance if she doesn't even know you like her. Not as if she's
going to just fall into your lap."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, there was a blinding
flash of light and Spike felt something heavy fall onto the other
end of the bed. Bolting upright and blinking a few times, he looked
over, shocked to see the still form of the redheaded witch in a heap
on his bed.
part 9
"What in the bloody hell!" He exclaimed, looking down at her.
"Red?"
Getting no response, he reached out slowly and pulled back the few
strands of hair that covered her face and gasped as he saw the damage
there. She was bruised and bloody and clearly unconscious. Lifting
her and resettling her on the bed, Spike looked her over in horror,
seeing the evidence of the pain inflicted on the woman he loved.
"
Not bothering to wait for an answer that wouldn't come, he quickly
jumped off of the bed and scooped her up, leaving the crypt and
making his way to the Watcher's home, hoping that Giles would have
some answers, and hoping that he would make it there before sunrise.
~*~
"I don't get it, Buffy. Why would Glory go after
questioned, looking at her sleepily. He and Anya had headed to the
Magic Box to meet Buffy and Giles as soon as they had called.
Buffy glanced toward Giles before answering. "Because!
Be-because,
might hurt me, including my friends."
"Yeah, but does she even know that
it make more sense for her to go after Dawn or maybe Joy- er, your
mom?" Xander questioned.
"Well, maybe she knew
powers," Anya supplied.
"Yes!" Buffy shouted, a little too enthusiastically. "I mean
Anya's
right. She probably knew that
Before Buffy had a chance to finish, the front door of the shop flew
open and Spike came running inside, someone large cradled in his
arms. He quickly kicked the door shut just as the first rays of
light peeked over the horizon.
Part 10
"Spike. Always a pleasure to see you when badness is abound, which
is pretty much always," Xander quipped.
Spike ignored the dark haired boy and moved toward the large circular
table. Everyone was immediately aware of what he held and Xander
rushed to clear the table, shoving the piles of old books to the
floor. Spike gently laid the redhead down on the table and looked
up, glaring at the watcher.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night? And why was your
apartment locked?" The vampire questioned.
"That DOES seem to be the question of the night," Giles muttered.
"Spike, what the hell happened?!" Xander shouted as he looked over
his best friend who still remained unconscious.
"Not a bloody clue," Spike replied.
Suddenly, Buffy lunged toward the bleached blonde and grabbed him by
the throat, turning him and slamming him against the wall.
"What did you do to her?" She ground out, a stake poised just over
his heart.
"Hey! Hey, now! Wait just a bloody minute! I didn't do anything to
the little witch!" Spike protested.
"Buffy, let him go," Giles commanded.
The Slayer reluctantly released him from her hold and stepped back
just as Giles stepped forward, a menacing look in his eyes.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"I was sitting in my crypt, minding my own business and she literally
fell into my lap like this. Just appeared, out of thin air.
Didn't
know what to do, so I came out lookin for you lot, but when I got to
YOUR place, YOU weren't there, so I headed here."
"And you have no idea what happened to her?" Giles asked.
"Not a bloody clue," Spike told him honestly. "Was
hoping you would
know that."
"Hey!" Anya shouted. "Hey! I think she's waking up!"
Everyone immediately gathered around the table, looking down at the
redhead with concern.
"How many times am I going to have to wake up like this?" She mumbled
to herself just before lifting her eyes and looking around, seeing
her friends surrounding her.
"Oh," She said, smiling weakly. "It worked. It brought me
here."
"It?" Giles asked.
"Th-the spell. Teleportation spell. Still not real clear on the
destinations. Just wanted somewhere safe, where I was
loved." She
looked around at her friends worried faces and smiled
again.
Everyone avoided her gaze, not wanting to mention that it was
actually Spike's crypt that she had teleported to and not the shop.
"
immediately frown.
"Glory," the redhead replied, her voice shaking as she spoke the
name. "She-she wanted me to do a spell for her."
"See! I told you!" Anya exclaimed, beaming proudly.
"Very good, sweetie," Xander whispered, squeezing his girlfriend's
waist.
"A-A spell?" Giles asked in concern.
"What, uh, type of spell
exactly?"
"She-She wanted a big snake thing, that stuff you sold her? She
needed me to work the spell,"
"Did you do it?" Xander asked.
couldn't bare to see the look of disappointment and
disapproval on
their faces as she nodded her head and whispered, "Yes."
"So, that means there's some giant snake thing out there, on the
loose doing who knows what?" Buffy asked, looking toward Giles.
The Watcher nodded. "I'm afraid so."
"I'm sorry,"
slipping down her cheek. "I'm so sorry."
"
Giles exclaimed, wanting desperately to reassure the girl that no one
blamed her whatsoever.
"So, do we have any idea why Glory wanted a big pet snake?" Xander
asked. Giles shook his head. "Well, then, sounds like we're in for
another rousing session of research-for-answers."
Everyone let out a groan, Xander, Anya and Giles each reaching for a
book.
"I should probably go out and patrol. If this thing is on the
loose…" Buffy said, grabbing a few weapons before heading out the
door.
"Luv, are you alright?" Spike asked as he reached out and ran his
hand lightly down
The witch smiled softly and swung her legs around over the side of
the table. "Yeah, just a little weak," she told him, hopping down to
the floor. Her legs immediately gave out and she fell into the
blonde vampire who was all too happy to have his arms full of the
redhead.
"Willow, you need to rest," he told her, quickly sweeping her up into
his arms and carrying her toward the training room at the back of the
shop. He set her down gently.
"Don't move," he told her sternly, before disappearing back into the
shop.
couch, hugging her knees to her chest. Thinking about what had
happened, she finally let her resolve break completely and felt the
first few tears slip down her cheeks.
When Spike returned a minute later, he found the redhead rocking
slightly on the couch, sobbing quietly. Coming up behind her, he
gently touched her shoulder and she jumped, her head spinning around
to look up at him in horror. Her expression quickly relaxed at
seeing the vampire, though he could see that she was still shaking
and upset.
"Brought you some tea," he explained softly, extending the cup toward
her.
raise it to her lips. She let out of sob of frustration as she kept
spilling it over the side due to her hands shaking uncontrollably.
Spike quickly pulled the cup back out of her hands and set it on a
nearby table before sitting beside her and taking her hands in his,
rubbing them soothingly. After a few minutes he felt her begin to
relax.
"You should try to get some sleep," he told her.
"Can't," she told him, her voice sounded panicked. He could feel her
body begin to tense up again. "Glory. She'll come
back. She'll find
me. Can't sleep. Can't," she mumbled.
The blonde vampire gently but firmly pulled the redhead against him,
wrapping an arm around her protectively as he leaned her head against
his chest.
"I'll stay here with you. Protect you from any baddies that might
come calling," he told her with a slight grin,
feeling her relax
slightly against him.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked quietly.
The question surprised him, though he tried not to show it. "I, uh,
well, you went up against Glory, luv, and you survived. The Slayer
can barely hold her own against this chit, so I'd have to say that
makes you pretty damn tough, and after something like
that, you need
someone lookin after you- you deserve to be taken care of."
deciding not to push it any further, and snuggled
closer to the
vampire, closing her eyes and letting blessed sleep finally take over.
~*~
"Where is my snake?" Glory demanded. "It's been hours! Now, not
only
is my snake missing, but my witch is missing too! What kind of
minions are you? Can you do anything right?"
"We're sorry your gloriousness," one of the minions groveled.
"We
will go out and find your witch right away, and I'm sure your snake
will come back very soon."
"Never mind," Glory grumbled with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"I
couldn't care less about the witch. She was nothing. The snake,
however, had better return soon. I WANT my KEY!"
part 11
Dawn walked into the unusually quiet shop after school, noticing the
three people sitting at the table, reading diligently.
"Hey, guys," she called as she walked toward them. "Whatcha
researching? Can I help?"
"Oh, well, we could certainly use a little extra help," Giles said
with a slight smile. "Why don't you, uh, start looking through
here." He handed her a book without looking up.
Dawn took the large, old book and flipped through the pages before
scowling. "Giles, this isn't in English," the brunette complained.
"Right, right, sorry about that. Maybe this one," he mumbled,
handing her another.
Taking the book she sat with a huff next to Xander. "What are we
looking up?" She questioned.
"Demon snake thing," he told her distractedly.
"Cool," Dawn mused.
"Really not," Xander replied, still looking down at the book.
"Should someone go check on
to get away from the books for a while.
"Nah, Spike's with her, and not that I'm a big fan of the bleached
wonder, but he did actually seem to be taking good care of her,"
Xander responded.
"What's wrong with
At that, the other three looked up, no one wanting to explain to the
girl what had happened.
"Oh, well,
slowly.
"Hurt? What happened? Is sh-she okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, she'll be fine. She's just tired and worn out. She's
resting in the back room, but I don't think…" Before Xander could
finish, Dawn was up and heading toward the training room, intent on
seeing for herself that Willow was alright.
Dawn stopped in the doorway as she saw Spike sitting on the couch
with
a finger to his lips, not wanting her to wake the sleeping redhead.
Dawn made her way toward them slowly and frowned at the bruises and
cuts marring the witch's face.
"Wh-what happened?" She whispered, her voice catching in her throat.
"Glory," the vampire replied quietly. "Took her to do a spell,
but
she escaped."
Before either of them had a chance to say anything further, there
was a loud crashing sound from the front of the store.
up, Spike's arms still around her, letting her know he
was there. A
few seconds later they jumped up next to Dawn as they saw a large
snake come slithering into the back room.
"Dawn!"
stepped in front of them both.
Swinging its tail around, the snake knocked over a large cabinet
full of weapons, which toppled over onto the vampire, pinning him to
the floor. He looked up in horror as he tried to move the heavy
object, seeing the snake advance on the two girls.
Dawn let out a scream as the snake stopped in front of them,
hissing. It leaned in as
behind her and she saw its eyes glow red as it stared at her. A
moment later the glowing stopped and the snake turned, slithering
back out the way it came.
Spike finally managed to push the cabinet off of him just as the
snake left the building. Giles, Xander and Anya all came running
into the back room, looking around frantically. Xander reached out
and pulled a now shaking Dawn into his arms, hugging her tightly,
trying to reassure her that they were safe.
"Guess we found the snake," Anya said quietly.
"I found the snake! It's heading this way!" Everyone looked up to
see Buffy running in through the back door.
"Yeah, you're just about ten seconds too late, Slayer," Spike
growled.
"Oh god, it was here? Is everyone alright?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, everyone seems to be fine," Giles told her. "The snake
came
back here before we could stop it, and…"
"It was back here? It-it knows then that…"
Giles simply nodded.
"I'm going out after it. I have to stop it," she told them,
grabbing a few weapons that were scattered on the ground.
"Buffy," Giles began, before she interrupted him.
"Giles, I have to stop it. It's going to Glory and she can't know
that…"
Xander reached down, grabbing an axe. "I'm coming with you," he
told her. She turned and looked toward Giles, who was now also
brandishing a weapon.
"Anya, please take Dawn home and make sure that she and my mom are
alright?" Buffy asked quickly, the former demon simply nodding as
the Slayer turned and headed out the door, followed by Xander.
"Come on," Anya mumbled, grabbing Dawn's arm and leading her out the
door.
Giles followed, stopping in the doorway and turning back to look at
Willow who was now leaning her back against Spike's chest, his arms
around her, rubbing her arms soothingly.
"Take care of her," Giles told him. "Keep her safe, no matter
what."
Spike simply nodded, squeezing the precious girl a little tighter.
~*~
It didn't take long for Buffy to track the snake and kill it. When
she was finally sure it was dead, she let out a deep sigh and heaved
herself up off of the ground, her mind drifting back to the
conversation with the monk.
"The key is energy. It's a portal. It opens the door…"
"The Dagon Sphere?" Buffy questioned, not
understanding.
"No," the monk explained. "For centuries it had no form at all. My
brethren, its only keepers. Then the abomination found us. We had
to hide the key, gave it form, molded it to flesh, made it human and
sent it to you…"
"You mean?"
"
"What? What do you mean? You-you put that in my life?"
"We knew the Slayer would protect," he told her.
"All of our memories? Mine, Xander's, Giles'…"
"We built them," he replied.
"Then un-build them!" Buffy yelled.
"This is my life you're…" She
paused as the monk began to cough. He wouldn't last much longer.
"You cannot abandon," he told her.
"I didn't ask for this!" She screamed. "I don't even know- what
is
she?"
"Human," he explained. "Now human and
helpless. Please, she's an
innocent in this. She needs you."
"Helpless? She's not exactly helpless. I mean,
she has power! She's
a witch! A-and my friend, I thought, but…"
"Her power is her own, resonant of the key's energy, but she is
unaware of the source of her power."
"She's not my best friend?" Buffy asked quietly, tears in her eyes.
"She doesn't know that."
Part 12
"How is she?" Buffy asked Giles softly.
"Shaken up, but otherwise she's alright, under the circumstances,"
he told her.
"Giles, Glory had her. Right there, and if she had known-
would have been…"
"I know, Buffy, but she didn't.
"For now, yeah, but eventually, Glory is going to figure out that
hair-pulling contest with this chick. How can I protect her?"
"We'll find a way," he said, trying to reassure her. "You're the
Slayer, this is what you do. You-you've saved
things before, and…"
"Yeah, but that's the thing, Giles. I didn't. I didn't save her. I
only have these fabricated memories of it. Everything we've gone
through together? High school, college?
friend for years, except she hasn't."
"I know this is difficult to take in Buffy, but…"
The older man paused as he heard the bell over the front door ring
and they both looked up to see Xander and Anya coming into the shop.
"Big bad snake all gone?" Xander asked.
Buffy simply nodded.
"Dawn's at home with your mother," Anya told her. "She's a
little
freaked out. Of course, who wouldn't be after something like that?"
Again Buffy nodded absent-mindedly.
"
At hearing
couple.
"What? Oh, no. Spike took her home to her parent's house,
actually. They're out of town and she figured she would have an
easier time resting there. He's going to stay with her."
"That really a good idea?" Xander
questioned. "I mean, we are
talking about Spike here."
"She's safe with him," Buffy said quietly.
"And what about the whole key thing?" Anya
questioned.
"It's safe. Giles and I know where it is," Buffy told them.
"You know where the key is?" Xander shouted. "You knew and you
didn't tell us? What has all this researching been for then?"
"Why would you not tell us?" Anya asked. "Does
"No! No, she doesn't," Buffy said quickly.
"Buffy, you should have told us," Xander said more quietly, clearly
hurt.
"You're right," Buffy said, turning her head to look up toward
Giles. "It's time. They need to know."
"Buffy, are you sure?" Giles questioned.
The Slayer nodded. "After everything, Giles, they deserve to know."
"Know what?" Xander asked anxiously.
"There's something you need to know about
Part 13
"What do you mean,
"According to the monk," Buffy explained, "they made her and the
memories of her."
"No. No! He's wrong. He was lying," Xander shouted, causing the
others to jump. "I mean, this is
whole life. So, if she wasn't really there, then...no. It's not
true."
"Xander," Anya started, resting her hand on his arm, but pulling away
as he jumped up from his chair, pacing in front of them.
"How can she just not be real? How? It's
"She is real," Anya said softly. "She's just sort
of...new." Her
boyfriend turned and glared at her.
"Xander, I know, it's hard to understand but," Buffy began.
"She's my best friend in the whole world," he whispered, tears in his
eyes. "The one that's always been there for me.
And now you're
telling me she hasn't really been there at all? And everything I
remember...it's just made up? And, what- she has no idea?"
Giles shook his head. "She doesn't know, and we think it would be
best not to tell her."
"Yeah, right, well, I guess I wouldn't want to find out that I wasn't
real either," Xander said bitterly.
"Xander, I know this is hard," Buffy tried to tell him, before he cut
her off.
"So, what are we doing then? How do we protect her?" He asked.
"That's what we are still trying to figure out," Buffy replied
quietly.
~*~
"I hope they took care of it,"
sitting on her bed, leaning back against several pillows, waiting for
Spike who had gone down the hall to grab a few blankets to cover the
windows, not wanting to be fried by the sun, should his patient need
him when daylight came.
"I'm sure the Slayer made it good and dead," he told her as he came
back to the room.
She smiled slightly, relaxing a little just knowing he was there and
he was staying.
"Are you comfortable?" He asked for what had to be at least the tenth
time.
The redhead nodded and smiled.
"You know, you don't have to stay if you don't want to," she told
him, secretly praying that he wouldn't go. "I mean, if you have
other places you need to be or- you don't have to stay."
"Yes, I do," he told her, his tone serious as he came and sat down
next to her on the bed. "Already let you get hurt twice. Not going
to let it happen a third time."
"Well, to be fair, the snake didn't really hurt me so much as scare
the living hell out of me," she told him with a small chuckle.
The blonde smiled. "Still, not letting you out of my sight, luv.
You're stuck with me, so you'd better get used to it."
"I don't think that will be a problem," she said softly before trying
to stifle a yawn. It felt good to have someone around, wanting to
take care of her again. She hadn't had that since Oz left and even
if it was Spike, it felt good.
"You need to sleep, pet," Spike told her, reluctant to end the
conversation but knowing that she needed rest. He wanted so badly to
tell her how he really felt about her, how in love with her he was,
but every time he could feel the words just ready to spill forth,
something would stop him, holding him back.
He stood up and headed toward the door, turning the light off on the
way, while the redhead snuggled down into the blankets. Looking up,
she saw him walking out and called to him in alarm. "You're leaving?"
"Just the room," he told her. "Let you get some sleep."
"Stay?" She asked, so quietly he almost didn't hear it.
"Are you sure, luv?" He questioned, secretly hoping she would say
yes.
The redhead nodded in the dark, knowing the vampire could see her,
and both of them smiled. Spike let out a small sigh, more for show
than anything else and started to clear off a chair in the corner of
the room.
"No," he heard her whisper. "Stay here." He looked over and
saw her
gesturing to the empty space next to her on the bed. His face broke
out into a wide smile and he quickly went over to the bed, kicking
his boots off on the way.
"If you insist," he whispered seductively, slipping into the bed next
to her and feeling her snuggle up against his body. Wrapping his
arms around the witch he gently stroked her hair and watched as she
fell asleep, vowing that he would never let anyone hurt her ever
again.
Part 14
The next day
the research. It wasn't until nearly four in the afternoon that she
got there, having had the hardest time pulling herself
from the bed
in the morning.
When she first woke, finding herself entangled in Spike's arms, she
thought she was still dreaming. The aches running through out her
body, though, quickly told her otherwise. Looking over, she saw
that the vampire was still sleeping or appeared to be at least, and
she settled back against the pillows, wanting to savor the moment
for as long as possible. This was a place she had never expected to
find herself, but was more comfortable there than she could have
ever imagined.
Finally though, with much protesting from Spike,
herself from the bed, showered and made her way toward the shop,
agreeing with Spike that she would wait there with everyone until
after sunset when he could come by.
Walking up to the shop,
drawing symbols on the ground.
"Hey," she greeting him with a smile.
"Doing a spell?" In truth,
she was a little hurt that he was doing a spell without her. She
was, after all, the resident witch.
"Oh,
little flustered. "It's an
early warning incantation, so that should
we need to, we can hide the key."
"I thought we didn't know what the key was,"
"Oh, right, well I just meant, should we actually discover the key a-
and then need to hide it," he told her.
"Oh, neat," she responded quietly.
Seeing the dejection in her face, Giles tried to further cover his
tracks. "I would have asked you to perform the spell,
thought that after yesterday you might not feel up to it."
"Oh, well, I'm feeling much better today," she told him with a
forced smile.
"Spike stayed with you last night?" He asked, trying not to notice
as she blushed at the question.
"Yep," she told him. "And no more snake sightings. I'm assuming
Buffy took care of it?" Giles nodded before
~*~
"Hey guys,"
and Anya by the register.
"Willow, hey there my very bestest of friends," Xander said
awkwardly, walking over and hugging
"Xander, need to breath," she choked out before he finally released
her and gave her a strange smile.
"You make a very pretty girl," Anya said a little too loudly, a
forced smile plastered across her face as she walked up to them.
"Uh, thanks Anya,"
Xander looked toward Anya nervously. "Anya, you wanna help me with
that thing?" He asked in a strained tone.
Anya smiled wider and laughed slightly. "Xander needs help with his
thing!" She exclaimed before walking away with him.
she muttered.
walking in along with Buffy.
"Hey Wills, how are you feeling?" Buffy asked her.
"Better," the redhead replied. "Spike was a big help."
"Spike?" Buffy said, scrunching up her face
in disgust. "Yeah, I'm
sure he was a real big help."
"No, really, Buffy, he was," she responded with a smile.
The Slayer broke out into a smile of her own, recognizing all too
well the look on Willow's face and thinking that it had been much
too long since she had seen it.
Suddenly her smile fell as she realized, she had never seen it. Not
really but still looking up again, she couldn't help but smile at
the glowing redhead.
"Something to share?" Buffy asked in a sly,
teasing voice as she and
"What do you mean?"
"You all big with the glowing and the smiling at the
mention of a
certain vampire?" Buffy explained in a sing-songy voice. "Come
on,
Will, spill. I want details."
"No details,"
Slayer didn't look all that upset. "Well, maybe I like him, a
little but it's completely one sided, I'm sure," the redhead
conceded.
"Oh, come on, Willow! Have you seen the way the guy looks at you?
He's totally head over heels."
thought that Spike could ever feel that way about her.
"You're not mad?" She asked in a small voice.
"Mad? Please," Buffy told her. "I mean, not a choice I
personally
would make. I mean...Spike....yick...but I can see why, and I mean
come on, not like I haven't fallen for a vamp of my own."
a tight embrace, whispering a thank you.
Part 15
"This isn't helping!" Xander yelled, startling everyone as he
slammed his book shut. Anya, Buffy and Giles looked up at him
questioningly.
"This researching is getting us nowhere. We are not going to find
any answers in these books, Giles. Glory is out there and we don't
even know what she is or why she wants the key. She's going to
figure it out eventually and then what? We can't fight her. We
can't stop her. Buffy can barely insult her shoe selection without
getting a few bones broken, so how are going to protect her? This
is
much been our
friend, and no matter what my brain knows, my heart refuses to
believe anything else. I love her and I am NOT going to let anyone
hurt her. Not again." He stood up, slamming his chair against the
table, causing everyone to jump.
"Xander, I know it's frustrating and we are doing everything we can,
but…" Giles began, before the younger man interrupted him.
"Frustrating? Giles, this is
sitting around and reading a bunch of dusty old books that tell us
nothing, and…"
"Oh dear."
"Oh dear? Giles, oh dear??" Buffy
shouted, beginning to panic. "I
know you and I know that tone and I know those words and none of
that equals anything good."
"What is it?" Xander asked quietly as Giles reread the ancient text
to himself. "Giles?"
"Oh dear," the watcher groaned.
"Good lord!" Anya shouted, unable to stand the suspense. "Tell
us
already!"
"It-it- there appears to be a, uh, prophecy involving the key."
"
"Glory? Does it tell us how to stop her?"
Buffy asked hopefully.
"Uh, no, actually, there is no mention of Glory at all. This is
concerning an ancient demon cult, vicious and ruthless, intent on
opening the Hellmouth. Apparently the key is the instrument they
need to do that."
"Is there anyone out there that DOESN'T want to find the key and use
it for evil?" Xander asked, sarcasm thick in his
voice.
"What do these guys have to do with Glory?" Buffy asked, needing
more information.
"Nothing, as far as I know," he told her. "From the limited
information we have about Glory, I can not see the correlation
between her and this cult. They are notorious for operating alone
in the demon world. An ancient order, they're known for their
patience and a penchant for earthly destruction."
"Great. Adversaries with
patience. Anyone miss the days when Spike
would come storming in ahead of schedule and blow his whole plan?"
Xander quipped.
"When does this happen?" Buffy asked. "Is this what the monks
were
really trying to hide the key from?"
"I would have to hazard a guess and say yes, though I suppose we
have no way of knowing for sure."
"And this prophecy? Does it say that they
succeed?"
Giles looked down at the text again, reluctant to answer.
"Giles?!"
"It-it says that they will discover the key on the Hellmouth, and
the ritual will take place. That's all."
"Then we need to remove the key from the Hellmouth," Buffy stated,
leaving no room for argument with her tone.
"What? Just send her away from the Hellmouth, spoil the prophecy's
plans? Can't be that simple. Besides,
like that. Buffy, she still doesn't even know what she is," Xander
said quietly.
"It's a prophecy, Buffy," Giles told her. "You can't hide from
it.
You of all people should know that."
"I know that a prophecy said I would die, but guess what? I'm still
here!" The slayer shouted.
"Yeah, Buff, but technically you did die," Xander said
sadly. "Besides, like I said,
"Well, you could put her in the witness protection program," Anya
said, trying to be helpful. "Do-do they take ancient mystical
energy things?"
"Yeah, I'm sure she would have no problem changing her entire
identity for reasons we can't explain to her. The only way you'd
get Will to do that would be to cast a spell and wipe out all her
memories," Xander stated sarcastically. "She would never just up
and leave Sunnydale like that."
"What did you just say?" Buffy asked, suddenly perking up.
"Huh? She'd never leave…"
"No-no, the-the spell part. Could we do
that?" She asked.
"Buffy! You can't be serious! You want to do some spell and take
away her memories? You'd be wiping out her entire life. All the
years that…"
Xander stopped as he realized what he was saying. It sounded
horrible and wrong, but then all those memories, those years, those
were created by someone...not real, so how much would it really
matter if they took them away or changed them?
"No. It still seems wrong," he said decidedly.
Buffy looked toward Giles.
"Well, I suppose it would be possible, though I think that we might
have to actually bind her power as well. Otherwise she would be at
blind risk against anyone wanting to tap into her magic."
"You're talking about sending her away!" Xander shouted. "Away from
the people who love her and who can protect her!"
"We can't, Xander," Buffy said sadly. "That's the
problem. I wish
we could, believe me, and if I thought there was any other way...but
there isn't. I'm afraid we can't protect her." She looked away
from her friend's fallen face. "Giles, how long do you think it
would take for you to find this spell and cast it?
"I know where to look, so a day, maybe less," he told her, sounding
unsure of the idea.
"Then do it," Buffy said, her voice hard and
her face a mask, hiding
the pain she felt.
"What about Spike?" Xander asked. He had seen how
had been together and heard what
way he is going to go for this. The second she's left town, he'll
be out looking for her."
"Then we don't tell him," Buffy said, as if it were really that
simple.
"You want us to lie? And tell him what?" Xander questioned. "Oh,
our old pal
disappeared. Don't feel too bad though, turns
out she never really
existed in the first place!" He yelled, his voice thick
with bitter
sarcasm.
"Xander, it's Spike. Why all of
the sudden fuzzy feelings?" Buffy
asked.
"I just-I feel bad for the guy, you know? I mean, he just realized
and they just and now…"
"I know, Xander, but we have to do this, for
way. It's the ONLY way. Spike will- he'll get over it."
"Yeah," Xander muttered quietly as they all looked away from one
another, hoping they were right and hoping that this was really the
best thing to do.
Part 16
she knew, but she also knew that, should she have to, she could
protect herself. She had magic, even if she was weak, and she could
already see her house up ahead.
It was dark and empty looking, just as she always remembered it being
and she sighed, wishing that she had just gone back to the dorms. A
little too much noise and people would have been better than none at
all.
"Luv?"
on her sides in an attempt to reassure her that she was safe. Spike
pulled the redhead against him, whispering into her ear.
"You shouldn't be walking out here alone at this time of night," he
chided, a slight frown on his lips. "It isn't safe what with Glory
and everything…"
"I'm fine, Spike," she told him, secretly happy and relieved that he
was there.
Seeing her turn in his grasp, the vampire reluctantly let go of her
waist and watched her carefully.
"You have no idea what this woman or whatever she is, is capable of,"
he told her.
"God," she said softly.
"What?"
"I-I think she's a god. From the way her minions were talking, a-and
with all of that strength I-I think she's a god."
Spike's eyes widened at the sheer thought of that. She had been at
the mercy of a god and lived. That thought sent chills up and down
the vampire's spine. The thought of what could have happened, what
almost did...and he would have never had the chance to tell her…
"Willow, there's something I need to tell you," he said, a serious
intensity in his voice.
The redhead looked up at him curiously and he took a deep, unneeded
breath before speaking. "
Before Spike had a chance to say anything further, he felt himself
pushed backwards, losing the grip on
Looking up in surprise, his eyes widened and he felt his human mask
fall away as he saw a man, dressed as a knight, grab onto
yanking her roughly into a painful hold.
"The link must be severed," the man growled, pulling a knife out and
holding it to
"Spike!" The witch cried out, terror evident
in her voice.
In one long stride, Spike reached them, immediately grabbing a hold
of the hand holding the knife. Wrenching the hand back, Spike used
his free arm to connect a solid punch with the attacker's jaw.
as she saw Spike double over, grabbing his head. Human.
He was
human, which meant that Spike was essentially powerless against him.
Again, the redhead felt herself yanked backwards into a painfully
tight hold just before the knife was raised to her neck.
"The key is the link. The link must be severed. Such is the will of
god," the man mumbled as
her eyes, the witch quickly centered herself before shouting
out, "Release!"
She stumbled forward as the man fell back, losing his hold on her.
Hearing her shout a few words in Latin, the man found that he was
unable to move at all and looked up menacingly at her.
"Who are you? Are you working for Glory?" She asked,
her voice low
and threatening. Her eyes widened slightly at the man laughed
bitterly.
"You think we would align ourselves with the beast? You must be mad,"
he told her.
After a moment of silence, she tried again. "Tell me who you are and
who sent you here or you'll die," she told him, her voice steady and
calm.
"Kill me. It will matter not. More will come. I am but one soldier
in a vast arm. They will never stop until the key is destroyed."
"The key? You know where the key is?" She
asked, feeling Spike step
up behind her. "Tell me!"
The man looked at her strangely before simply repeating, "The key is
the link. The link must be severed. Such is the will of god."
"Yeah, I think we got that part, mate," Spike told him. "Where
is
the bloody key?"
The man continued to glare at
told her. "She can not use the key."
"The key is the link," he began again. "The link must be
severed.
Such is…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The will of
god." Spike yelled in
frustration. "I don't think we're getting anything more out of this
guy."
"Kill me and let legions follow!" The man called after her. "If
you
do not kill me, I will destroy you."
shrugging. "Then I guess I'll just have to send you somewhere else,"
she told him before mumbling a few words and clapping her hands
together.
Spike blinked several times, surprised to see that the man had
disappeared. "Red? What did you just do?"
"Little teleportation spell," she said with a smile just before her
head began to feel dizzy and light.
"Thought you weren't supposed to do heavy magic for a while," the
blonde said in a disapproving tone.
"I'm fine, Spike," she replied, suddenly feeling her knees give out.
Before she hit the ground, Spike reached out and scooped her up,
carrying her the rest of the of the way to her house.
Once they were inside, Spike brought
her down gently on the bed.
"I should probably call Buffy and tell her about what happened,"
Spike reached out, grabbing her arm to stop her. "You can tell her
tomorrow, luv," he replied. "You're weak and tired. Rest now."
Leaning back against a pile of pillows, she smiled up at him as he
sat beside her.
"Are you staying?" She asked timidly.
The blonde vampire nodded. "If it's alright with you," he told her.
"You never finished," she said as she fought to stifle a yawn. Spike
gave her a questioning look. "You were saying something, before
that, um, knight guy came rushing in."
"Oh, right, that," he said, looking a little embarrassed. "Well,
mood's a little bit ruined now." The redhead frowned a little bit
and Spike found that he couldn't deny her silent request to tell her,
correct mood or not.
"I-I don't exactly remember where I was," he told her sheepishly and
saw the redhead smile.
"I think the last thing you said was, `the thing is.' Didn't
get much
further."
"Right. The thing is,
idea what to say from there.
"Got that part,"
added in a whisper.
"Well, I…" he stumbled over his words, grumbling at himself. He was
the Big Bad! Not some poetic poof who couldn't speak in front of
women. "Everything that has been happening, with you and Glory,
I…it's just made me realize a few things. And well, the thing is,
actually…IthinkIloveyou." The last part was said so fast
wasn't entirely sure she had understood him.
"You-you what?" She questioned, trying to
make out the words.
Spike let out a deep sigh and rolled his eyes at his own
behavior. "I love you,
think I'm falling for…oh, bloody hell! Could I be any more pathetic?"
"You're the furthest thing from pathetic, Spike,"
soft, quiet voice. The blonde looked up at her, his eyes full of
hope. "I think-I think that maybe I could be falling in love with
you, too," she whispered, surprised to hear the words coming from her
own mouth.
The next moment, she found herself encircled in the vampires arms,
his lips connecting with hers in what began as a soft, tender kiss,
but was quickly growing more fevered and passionate. She felt him
push her gently down into the bed as he moved over her body, covering
hers with his own. A cool hand came up to caress her cheek as he
moved to kiss his way down her neck and Willow ran one of her hands
up to his hair, running her fingers through the surprisingly soft
strands.
Feeling Spike unbuttoning her shirt, the witch arched up slightly,
running her hands up and down his arms. His fingers worked
frantically and a moment later the shirt was tossed to the floor.
Spike resumed kissing a trail down her neck, to her chest, her
stomach and then back up again, delighting in the way the redhead
writhed beneath him.
When he reached her lips again, he claimed them in a soul-searing
kiss, and the thoughts of the last few days, the fears, flooded his
mind. He had come so close to losing her, so close to missing his
chance and never being able to hold her, touch her, feel
her. He
knew, now that he had her, he would never be able to let the redhead
go.
part 17
"This is it?" Buffy asked, looking from the book to Giles, who
nodded somberly. "And it will work, definitely?" Again, he simply
nodded.
"Giles, why all with the quiet? You're usually so much more verbal
and all about spreading the information," Xander said, sounding
nervous as he tried to make a joke.
"It-it is the correct spell. I've looked it over again and again,"
Giles told them.
"It will remove her current memories and replace them?" Buffy
asked.
Giles nodded.
"What kind of memories are we giving her? Happy, fluffy ones, right?
No Hellmouthy memories whatsoever?" Xander asked.
"Uh, right. Happy family, good childhood, caring friends," Giles
told them.
"Where are you sending her?" Anya asked.
"East coast," Giles told them. "I've been in touch with the
council
and though I didn't explain to them exactly what was going on, I
gave them enough information, and they have taken care of all the
paperwork and identification that Willow will need."
"Good. That's good," Buffy said, looking distracted by thought.
"Buff?" Xander questioned.
"There aren't any side effects, right? With the spell, I mean. It
won't-it won't hurt her at all, right?" She asked.
"No, Buffy, it won't hurt her," Giles replied.
"Good. That's good, because we're doing this to help her and to
keep her safe and alive and happy and-and not to hurt her, or…"
"It's alright, Buffy," the watcher said gently as he moved to stand
beside her, pulling her into a hug. The slayer was crying softly
now as the reality of what they were doing was finally setting
in. "You're doing the right thing. It's the best way to protect
~*~
to her. Spike had his arms wrapped tightly around her and he was
nuzzling her neck, his tongue occasionally lapping at the bite mark
he had made a few minutes earlier.
"You claimed me," she whispered. It was a statement, not a question.
"Sorry, pet," he said, though he didn't sound the least bit
apologetic. "Couldn't help myself."
chip didn't go off."
"Didn't want to hurt you," he explained before suddenly propping
himself up on an elbow and looking down at her in concern. "I
didn't, did I? Hurt you?"
him. "Only lots of good feelings."
He was amazed that after the last few hours of love making, she
could still blush at those simple words.
"I belong to you now," she whispered, liking the idea of that.
"You do," he confirmed, "forever. You'll always be mine and I'll
love you for eternity."
Those were the last words she heard before drifting off to sleep, a
content smile on her face and her heart so full it felt like it
might burst.
Part 18
"What if she wakes up?" Xander asked as they walked quietly up to
the house.
"She won't. Giles said she'll be out for at least a day," Buffy
assured him.
"And when she wakes up, it will be like we never existed," Xander
said, his voice catching in his throat.
"It's better this way," Buffy told him, wishing she herself fully
believed it.
"I know. It's just-I never even got to say good-bye, you know?"
Buffy nodded. She did know. This was her best friend, and here she
was, about to rip her from her home and everything she knew and
loved, and send her off to a new life in a new place, where no one
would be able to fully protect her.
Xander unlocked the door with the spare key he had been given years
ago and they quietly entered the house. Immediately, Buffy's senses
perked up. Vampire. She had a sinking feeling that she knew
exactly which vampire was there. This was going to make things a
lot more difficult.
"Spike is here," she whispered to Xander.
"What? Spike? Where?"
"
"Why would he be in her bedroom?" He asked in outrage. Buffy gave
him a pointed look and he decided to drop it. He knew something had
been happening between his best friend and the bleached blonde, but
still this was
bedroom…
When they reached
Peaking inside, her fears were confirmed. Spike was lying in bed
with
felt a surge of happiness at the thought that he and
finally together, but then she immediately remembered why she was
there and what they had done. The spell that Giles had cast just a
little while ago would have taken effect by now, and
The slayer stood in the hallway for a few moments, trying to decide
on the best course of action. Spike was a pretty heavy sleeper, so
it was possible that she could get
the room without him noticing, but it didn't seem all that likely.
"You try to GENTLY get Spike to turn over and I'll pull
of the bed," she told Xander, who simply nodded.
Buffy took a deep breath before slipping through the doorway, into
the dark room, followed by Xander. Coming up to the side of the
bed, she looked down at the two sleeping lovers and her heart ached
at the thought of pulling them apart.
Buffy gave Xander a nod and he looked at her, shrugging his
shoulders. He had no idea how to get the vampire to turn over
without waking him up. Buffy gave him an exasperated look before
motioning with her fingers for him to tickle Spike's neck.
"Ewwww," Xander whispered, the thought of tickling
the blonde
vampire definitely not appealing to him. Seeing Buffy glaring at
him from across the bed, he looked back at the sleeping vampire for
a moment.
"Why do I have to be the one to get all touchy feely with blonde
here?" He asked. "Why can't you do it?"
"Because, Xander," Buffy whispered harshly. "
lacking in the clothing department right now. Did you really want
to pull her naked body out of the bed?"
"Right. So the plan is that I tickle the
vampire," he stated.
"Xander, just do it," she growled through clenched teeth.
Xander let out another deep sigh before finally leaning in and very
lightly toughing the side of Spike's neck.
"See? Didn't work. Guess we'll have to try
something else," he said
quickly. Buffy glared at him again, hands on her hips. "Oh,
alright, fine." Leaning in again, he lightly tickled the vampire's
neck.
Spike groaned slightly and brought a hand up to swat at the
offending fingers.
"You know, I was just thinking that tickling a sleeping vampire on
the NECK might not exactly be the best idea," Xander whispered.
"Well, if you keep talking, we won't have to worry about that,
because the sleeping vampire will be much more awake," Buffy hissed.
Xander rolled his eyes and grimaced as he leaned down and began to
tickle Spike's neck again. This time the vampire groaned a little
louder and turned, letting go of
the floor, Buffy quickly tugged on
sleeping body from the bed, wrapping her in the blanket and lifting
her up.
"Good, Xander, now…"
"Buffy!" Xander gasped and Buffy looked up to see that Spike was now
asleep on his other side and holding onto Xander's hand tightly,
stroking it slightly in his sleep.
"Xander, just pull your hand away," she told him.
"I'm trying," he insisted. "He's not letting go!" Xander
leaned
down a little further to try and wrench his hand away and tried to
hold back a yelp as Spike rolled a little further and grabbed the
back of Xander's head, pulling him into a kiss.
"Mmmm, Willow," Spike mumbled, still asleep, before releasing his
hold on the boy and rolling back over to his original position,
hugging a pillow against his body.
Xander gasped and sputtered, desperate to run from the room and wash
his mouth out with any kind of soap that he could find. Buffy
quickly followed him out of the room, carrying the still sleeping
redhead, trying not to laugh out loud at the sight she had just
seen.
Once she was out in the hallway, she set
and tiptoed back in to grab some clothes. As she walked back out
again, the slayer glanced back at the unsuspecting vampire, a pang
of guilt hitting her. Finally, she shook the thoughts away and
closed the door, quickly dressing the redhead and carrying her out
to the car that was waiting to take her to the airport and the
private plane that would fly her off to her new life.
Part 19
(Three years later)
Giles looked at the girl sitting across from him, his mind reeling.
He had never expected to see the redhead again and now, having her
back in Sunnydale, it was like his long lost daughter had come
home. Still he was unsure of just what to tell her. She was
waiting for answers and they both knew that he had them, but just
how much information she should be given, he didn't know.
Clearly she had been called back here for a reason. They had been
able to defeat Glory after sending the key away and had hoped that
was the end of the threat to the key, but he should have known
better. In fact, he did know better. A prophecy was not something
you could fool or alter. It was a written truth and they could hide
from it no longer.
"Tell me," she repeated, pulling him out of his
thoughts. "Everything. Tell me. Now."
"Well, uh, we performed a spell, to remove the memories of your life
here and replace them," he told her.
"A spell?" She questioned, skeptically. "You performed a spell?
Oh,
like magic tricks and potions? Did you pull out your caldron and
dance around a fire before flying away on a broom?" Sarcasm was
thick in her voice. Clearly she didn't believe him.
"
things in this world, things that you are not aware of because…"
"Because you performed a spell," she interrupted, rolling her
eyes. "And you expect me to believe that everything that has
happened in my life, my parents dying, my friendships, all of it, it
never happened?"
"Parents dying?" Xander asked.
"About three years ago," she told him, looking down
sadly. "Traveling abroad. There was an accident
and they were
killed."
"Three years ago?" Anya repeated, looking toward Giles nervously.
"Giles, you said she would have happy memories, a happy life,"
Xander said, accusation in his voice.
"Well, I-that was what I had called for. I had no exact control over
things however, and…"
"Hey! Excuse me! Still sitting here and still not believing any of
this!"
"
we had to send you away."
"And, what? Sticking me on an airplane wasn't
enough? You had to do
some hocus-pocus-y spell first?"
"It was complicated. You wouldn't have left otherwise,
and…"
"You people really believe what you're saying, don't you?"
shouted. "Spells and magic and demons? They
aren't real! They're
just stories to scare children."
"Actually, that's not true," Anya said softly. "Vampires and
other
demons are real. You saw them tonight. A-and magic? Real too.
Watch."
Anya grabbed a book from a nearby table and a little bag of dust.
Opening the book up to a random page, she quickly recited a short
incantation. As she said the last word, she slammed the book shut
and tossed a small amount of the dust on the cabinet next to her,
which held Giles' record collection. Everyone jumped as there was a
loud bang and a flash of light. A second later, they all saw that
the cabinet was gone.
until she hit a wall.
"I-I-what did you just do?" She asked quietly.
"My records!" Giles shouted, jumping up from
the chair he was
in. "Good lord, woman! What have you done?"
"I just wanted to prove to
after all she was a…"
"Anya!" Xander shouted. "X-nay on the itch-way alk-tay."
Anya gave her boyfriend a confused look. "Huh? I was only going to
say that
"An! Hun! Shhh," Xander said, stepping up next to the former
demon. "Giles, I'm sure that she can get your records back, right?"
"Uh-actually, I have no idea how to do that," Anya said, looking
around the room uncomfortably. "I don't even know what spell that
actually was or where I sent them, and…"
"How did you do that?"
at the momentarily forgotten redhead.
"Magic," Anya said matter-of-factly.
"Like I was telling you,
real, as are demons."
"I-I-I don't understand,"
and confused. "I don't remember any of this."
"No, you wouldn't," he told her. "The spell we did, it erased
your
memory completely. To be quite honest, we were very surprised to
find that you were coming back here."
"I-I had dreams about this place, and-and you were there," she said,
pointing to Buffy, "and you were there, and-and-you, but-but I'm not
Dorothy and this isn't Oz, and…"
red hair, kissing her. The image suddenly changed to a creature
that looked like a wolf, lunging toward her. She jumped and the
image changed again. They were coming in rapid succession now, much
like her dreams often did, and she could make little sense of them.
"I'm going to ask you out, and I'm kind of nervous about it," she
heard the boy say. "It's like freeze-frame,
bonus points for using the word mosey…she's like me, a wolf…When are
you leaving? Pretty much now…Oz, don't you love me? My
whole life,
I've never loved anything else…but now's not that time, I guess."
the barrage of images. When she looked up again, she saw everyone
in the room staring at her in concern.
"Are-are you alright?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, fine, I-it's just-it's a lot to take in,
and I-I need to go I
think."
"You can stay at my place," Buffy said, taking a step toward the
redhead. She stopped, though, when
hitting the wall again.
"No! No I-I have a room at the, uh, at the hotel. I think I should
just, um, go there. Now."
who had remained silent this whole time, stepped out in front of her.
"You might have noticed that it's not exactly safe out there, pet,"
he said softly, "All sorts of nasty buggers, just love to take a
bite out of a sweet little girl like you. Town's full of vampires,
and…"
"Like you?" She asked, remembering the way his face had changed
during the fight earlier.
Spike was slightly taken back by the harsh tone of her
voice. "Yeah, `cept they're a lot more interested in killing you,"
he told her.
"And you're not?" She asked, skeptically.
Spike leaning in and grinning slightly at her.
"Trust me, luv, if I
ever killed you, you wouldn't stay dead."
stepped up to them.
"Why don't I go ahead and walk
glaring at Spike. The vampire stared at him, considering the option
before finally taking a step back.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan, mate," the vampire said with a terse
smile. "Have a few things to discuss with the watcher and the
slayer anyway."
At that, Xander lead a very weary and confused
while Spike turned toward Buffy and Giles, a menacing look on his
face.
Part 20
"So, um…Willow," Xander said awkwardly as they walked down the
street. There was so much that he wanted to say and he had no idea
where to start.
"Where did I live?" She asked suddenly.
"Huh? Uh, two streets over, actually," he told her, surprised by the
question.
"Can I see the house?" She questioned quietly.
"Yeah, sure," Xander replied, sounding a little more enthusiastic
than he had intended and steering her down the next side
street. "So, you believe us now?"
"I don't know," she said, eyeing him suspiciously. "I-I mean,
what
would you think if someone suddenly told you that everything you
remember like all the time you spent with your best friend was just
a lie?"
Xander looked at her sadly, remembering the very moment, three years
before, when he did find out just that. Finally, he shook the heart-
breaking memories away.
"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. I remember when we
first found out that demons and magic were real. Buffy had just come
to town and I remember…"
"I don't," she interrupted. "I don't remember any of that."
Her
voice sounded harsh now and she didn't notice that they had stopped
walking. "You tell me that this is where I'm from, this is where I
lived, and you are my friends, but I don't remember any of it, and
apparently that's because my "so-called" friends took away all my
memories and replaced them with ones that were made up. I mean, do
you know how ridiculous that sounds?"
Xander said nothing in reply, knowing there was nothing that could
possibly make the situation better, and simply reached out, lightly
turning her to face the house they were in front of.
Willow's eyes went wide as she stared at the dark house. She was
sure she had never been there before, but something about it felt so
familiar.
"Is-is anyone home?" She asked, noticing that no lights were on.
Xander shook his head. "Your parents, they're out of town, I think.
They're usually off traveling."
"My parents?" Willow gasped, her eyes widening further. Her chest
contracted as she felt a shot of pain through her heart at the
thought of her deceased parents. They had been so close, so loving
and nurturing, and then suddenly they were gone, and she was left
alone or apparently they weren't and she wasn't.
"They're-they're alive?" She whispered. "How-I don't
understand…can
we go inside?" The redhead looked up with hopefully eyes at her
former best friend. Xander simply nodded and pulled a key from his
pocket.
"You have a key?" She mused.
"You gave it to me years ago," he told her. "Last time I used it
was
the last night I saw you." At that, they reached the door and he
unlocked it, letting them both in.
Xander stood and watched as Willow slowly made her way through the
house, occasionally picking things up and looking at them before
moving onto the next room. She stopped at a table full of picture
frames and grabbed one of her parents, looking at it with tears in
her eyes.
"It's them," she whispered. As she looked up at him, Xander saw the
tears in her eyes. "They're alive?" The young man nodded.
"Didn't
they wonder what happened to me? I-I don't even see a picture of me.
Didn't they care when I went away?"
"They, uh-they thought you went away to college," he said, his voice
catching in his throat. God, he hated to be the one to have to
explain this all to her. "They weren't really around a whole lot,
Will, and they aren't really the most observant parents."
"Did they even notice I was gone?" She asked. "I mean, the
parents
that I remember, they would have noticed!" She was getting
increasingly upset.
"I think-I think the parents you remember are a little bit better
than the real thing," Xander said quietly, looking away from the
redhead.
Willow nodded and turned to head up the stairs. Reaching the top,
she found her bedroom easily enough. It hadn't changed from when she
was young and looked exactly like the room that she remembered back
in New York, with the exception of the shelves of occult books in
this one.
Glancing toward the French doors on the opposite side of the room,
an image suddenly flashed before her. There was a dark-haired man,
standing at the doors, asking to come in. Something about needing to
be invited.
"I'm not allowed to have boys in my room." "I promise to behave
myself." "Oh, great, I'm so the net girl." Willow blinked a few
times, wanting to stop the barrage of strange images from coming and
glanced toward an empty fish tank. Again, images flashed. Her, on
the phone, opening an envelope and pulling out a string, lined with
her dead fish.
Xander saw Willow seemingly space out for a moment and then suddenly
gasp and jump, her eyes darting around the room nervously.
"Willow?"
She didn't seem to hear him as again, her eyes started to glaze
over, more memories flooding her mind.
She was sitting, with the blonde vampire from earlier that night. It
always seemed to come back to him. He was kissing her, touching her,
holding her, making her feel things she had never felt before. Her
breath was coming in short gasps as the sensations filled her mind.
"I'll love you for eternity," she heard a voice whisper, just before
everything seemed to fade to black and then the world came rushing
back.
She stood in the middle of the room, lightly rubbing the small scar
on the side of her neck without notice, looking like a very lost
little girl.
"I-I don't understand any of this? These images, or memories, or
whatever they are. They're all so horrible and-and dead fish and
guys I don't remember and I just don't understand."
The redhead sunk down into the bed behind her and Xander moved to
sit next to her, wanting to comfort her. When he reached out to pull
her into a hug, Willow jumped up again, suddenly, and gave him a
nervous look. Xander felt his heart drop, remembering that this girl
before him didn't know him, didn't love him and definitely didn't
trust him.
"Will, I'm sorry," he whispered as he watched the girl make her way
to the door.
"I want to leave," she told him quietly before he followed her down
the stairs and out of the house.
Part 21
Spike stalked toward Buffy, Giles and Anya, who were huddled
together on the opposite side of the room.
"Chip or no chip, you better start prayin for your life," he growled
menacingly.
"Hey, now wait a second," Anya said nervously, holding her hand up
as if she wanted to ask a question. "Now-now, I had nothing to do
with any of this." Spike quirked an eyebrow at her. "Well, I mean, ,
I knew what they were doing, and no I didn't stop them, and alright,
so I didn't exactly tell you about it, but-but I was against it from
the start! I told them, try to fool a prophecy, never works out good
for anyone in the end. Least of all the, uh, the people being
threatened by the angry vampire," she finished weakly.
Spike believed the former-demon. She wasn't the type to lie about
something like that. Stopping for a moment, he stopped to the side
and swept his arm out, gesturing toward the door. "Leave," he
growled, "now."
"Um, okay!" Anya said, a nervous smile crossing her face as she
leapt for the door.
"Anya, wait!" Buffy shouted, trying to move past Spike, after the
other girl.
Spike snarled at the slayer, not allowing her to move past him and
grinning slightly as she backed off nervously.
"What's the matter, Slayer? Afraid? Don't think you can handle the
big bad vampire all on your own? Need another woman here to protect
you? Lord knows the watcher won't be any good."
"Watch it, Spike. You give me one good reason and I'll stake you so
fast…" Buffy began, before Giles reached a hand out and let if fall
onto her shoulder, pulling her away from the angry demon.
"Now, Spike, I know that you're upset, but…"
"Upset? Upset, Rupert? Upset does not begin to describe how I am
feeling right now. If it weren't for this damned chip, I would have
you both dead on the ground already, your bloody throats ripped out.
Do you understand? How could you do that?! I mean, I figured you
wouldn't be too happy about Willow and I bein together, but you took
her away, just when…and you let me believe that she just left me!"
"I know, Spike, and I'm sorry," Buffy said, pangs of guilt hitting
her. "It had nothing to do with you and Willow being together."
"Then why the hell didn't you tell me?!"
"Because," Buffy tried to explain, "we knew you wouldn't let her
go."
"Damn right I wouldn't have let her go! She should never have been
sent away!"
"It's complicated, Spike," Buffy said, starting to get
agitated. "There are things about it that you don't know, that you
don't understand."
"Well, then why don't you explain it to me?" He shouted back.
"Oh,
no, wait. Can't tell Spike anything. Heaven forbid we let him into
the loop for even a second, right? Just drag him along to take a few
lumps for the team and then toss him outside again, is that it?
Well, not any more!"
"Spike…"
"No. You listen to me, now. I loved that girl with everything I had,
and…"
"I know, Spike," Buffy interrupted.
At that, Spike let out a loud growl and lunged for the slayer,
punching her once before doubling over in pain. Giles watched,
unsure of what to do as both Buffy and Spike were hunched over,
holding their heads in pain. Finally, both stood up, glaring at each
other, a mixture of anger and sadness on both of their faces.
"How could you?" Spike asked, finally, his voice quiet and lacking
the fierceness it held before. "You knew what she meant to me and
you knew what I thought when she left, and you let me believe it.
How could you?"
"I'm sorry," Buffy whispered, not able to look the vampire in the
eye.
"Yeah, well, sorry doesn't bring back the last three years, now does
it? Actually, scratch that. WILLOW doesn't remember ANYTHING that
happened, ever! It's like I never existed to her, and YOU did that!"
Again, Buffy simply whispered a tiny apology.
"Now, that she's back, what do you plan to do about it? This
prophecy, she's still in danger, right?" He asked Giles. The watcher
nodded. "Then what do we do to protect her?"
"I'm really not sure," Giles admitted.
Spike let out a deep sigh and rolled his eyes. "Well, why don't you
start by explaining to me exactly what the prophecy foretold."
Part 22
"The key?" Spike questioned,
trying to understand what Giles was
telling him. "That thing that Glory was looking for? It was Willow?"
Giles nodded. "Yes, well, apparently
the key was a sort of ball of
energy that worked to open dimension portals. A group of monks were
guarding it until Glory came along. To protect it, they made it
human. They created…"
"Willow," Spike whispered. "She isn't…what does that mean exactly?"
"They built memories of her,"
Buffy explained, "and gave them to all
of us, made us want to protect her, love her."
"Love her?" He repeated, looking stricken. "You mean…"
"That isn't to say that the feeling
that we had for her weren't
real, exactly," Giles tried to amend. "It's just that, she had only
really been with us about, well, we figured it to be around six
months before…"
"Before you sent her away," Spike
supplied. "You're saying that
everything I remember about her, it's not true? They just made me
fall in love with her to, what, protect her?"
"I don't know," Giles told him.
"I suppose that is possible. It is
also possible though that you actually did, uh, fall in love with
her, well, after she was brought here. How long would say that you
had been harboring feelings toward her?"
Spike shrugged, looking off at nothing in
particular, soaking up the
information. "Don't know, really. Was a gradual thing. After the
chip, obviously, but," Spike paused, thinking of something
else. "Does that mean the time that I kidnapped her, the bottle in
face thing, the attack in her dorm room that never happened?" He
couldn't believe it was possible for that to have never taken place.
Giles and Buffy silently shook their heads.
"I couldn't believe it
either," Buffy said after a long pause, never having thought that
she would feel compassion for Spike.
His head shot up suddenly and they could see
fire and anger in his
eyes. "Right. So it was just a big joke on old Spike from the Powers
That Be, that it? Make the vampire fall for the little girl,
because, after all, he isn't pathetic enough as it is, all chipped
and unable to bite. What can we do to screw with his unlife a little
more? Oh, I know! Send some energy thing in the form of a shy, geeky
girl and make the moron think he's in love with her. Then, when she
gets torn away from him, we'll all have a good laugh at his pain!"
Grabbing a vase from a nearby table, the enraged vampire threw it
hard, smashing it against the far wall.
"Spike, it's not," Buffy started,
but didn't get any further before
the vampire stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind
him.
~*~
It wasn't until the following night that
Willow ventured out of her
hotel room again. Buffy, Xander and Giles had all called separately
in the hopes of coaxing the redhead into seeing them, but she had
declined all three, saying that she needed more time to think about
everything they had told her.
And so she had sat, alone, in her tiny room,
contemplating
everything she had learned. She still wasn't sure if she should
believe these people, but with the dreams she had been having, and
then the house with her parent's picture, she was finding it
increasingly difficult to NOT believe them.
Finally, deciding that she needed more
answers, she headed back to
the apartment she had been at the night before, determined to learn
more.
Walking down the dark, quiet street, Willow
glanced around
nervously. The last time she had ventured down these streets alone,
she had been attacked, and wasn't particularly wanting that to
happen again.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, the
redhead jumped, hearing a
noise behind her. Stopping and looked around, she saw nothing but
darkness and empty space.
Willow shrugged her shoulders and chuckled
to herself. "All this
talk of demons and magic, got me all jumpy," she mumbled to
herself. "There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," came a voice
from behind her. Willow spun
around, startled to see a man standing behind her, dressed in a
black robe, his face almost completely covered by a hood.
"Wh-what do you want?" She asked,
nervously backing away from the
stranger.
"Looking for my key," he told her,
his cruel voice causing her to
shiver.
"Well, I don't have it, so…" At
that, she turned and ran. Panic tore
through the young woman as she ran through the unfamiliar street,
not having any idea where she was or where she was going. Something
in her simply told her to run, and so run she did.
Glancing back, she saw that the demon was
still behind her, not too
far. Her legs felt like rubber and her chest felt ready to burst,
and just when she was sure she could not take another step, she let
out a shrill scream as she ran into a hard, unyielding object.
Willow felt arms grasp her shoulders and she shrieked in terror.
"Willow! Willow, what's wrong?" She heard a voice questioning.
Looking up, she finally forced her eyes
open, not even realizing
that she had shut them, and found herself staring up into the
crystal blue eyes of vampire in her dreams. For a moment, she
wondered if she was sleeping, but knew almost immediately that she
was awake. This felt nothing like her dreams.
Spike continued to hold onto the shaking,
out of breath girl, trying
to understand what was wrong. Every fiber of his being screamed at
him to pull her to him, kiss her, tell her how much he loved her,
but then he remembered. She was not what he had thought. She was not
real, nor was the love he felt for her. A sharp pain passed through
his chest and Willow saw Spike's eyes suddenly grow cold and angry,
just before he pushed her slightly away from him, letting go of her
shoulders.
"What's all the fuss about?" He
asked, all warmth and caring gone
from his voice.
Willow was confused by the sudden change in
his demeanor, but didn't
give herself time to think about it. Looking back nervously, she
saw that her pursuer was gone. Glancing back at the vampires, she
shook her head wearily. "I-I thought I heard something, saw
someone," she told him.
"Was someone following you?" He
asked, concern suddenly filling his
voice again.
"Uh, I don't know, maybe. Why would
someone be following me? I don't
even know anyone here, and..." Her voice trailed off as she realized
that she had no idea how true the statement that was anymore. She
needed to talk to those people and get more information, now.
Part 23
Hearing a soft knock on the door, the group
inside all looked up
with hopeful expressions. They had been discussing the prophecy and
what they should do about Willow, how much they should tell her and
how they could protect her.
Xander jumped up and ran to the door,
flinging it open, a wide smile
on his face as he saw the redhead standing on the other side.
"Willow! Come in!" He greeted her,
about to hug her, but stopping
just before reaching her, noticing the way she shrugged away from
him. His smile fell slightly, though he tried to hide the hurt he
felt and he gestured for her to come in.
Willow walked in, followed by the blond
vampire, feeling slightly
more nervous now that she was actually there. Looking at her, they
were all reminded of the girl they knew in high school or at least
the girl they remembered knowing. She looked shy and nervous,
uncomfortable in her own skin, but then no one would blame her for
any of that right now. It saddened them, though, to remember how
strong and self-confident she had become and to now see all of that
gone.
Noticing the flushed look on the girl's face
and the nervous tension
in her eyes, Giles stepped forward.
"Willow, are you quite alright?" He asked.
Willow simply nodded, ducking her head apprehensively.
"Had a run-in with some…thing,"
Spike explained. "Thinks she was
bein followed."
"Is that right, Willow?" Again the
girl simply nodded her head
affirmatively. "Well, this is very serious. Did you get a look at
whoever it was?"
"Uh, he was wearing a dark robe with a
hood," she said quietly,
sounding unsure. Giles, Xander, Buffy and Anya exchanged worried
glances.
"Did he say anything at all to you?" Giles questioned.
At first, Willow didn't answer, ready to
shake her head no, but then
paused, remembering what the man had said.
"He-he said he was looking for a key," she told them.
"Oh dear," Giles mumbled.
"Do you-do you know what he was talking about?" She asked.
"Willow, what were you thinking,
walking out there alone at night?"
Buffy questioning, wanting to change the topic of conversation.
"What was I thinking?" Willow
repeated, suddenly becoming
indignant. "Well, I was thinking that I'm a grown woman who didn't
realize that she had to ask a bunch of strangers for permission to
walk outside!"
The redhead's eyes were blazing and everyone
was slightly taken back
by her sudden outburst.
"Oh, you'd be surprised at how
controlling this group can be," Anya
said with a slight grin. Looking over at Xander, she saw him
glaring at her and smiled nervously. "Well…I'm just saying that…you
know…sometimes Buffy can be a little bossy…a-and controlling, and…
I'll be quiet now."
"Buffy was just worried about you,
Will," Xander said softly. "We
all are."
"Well, thanks for the concern,"
she replied, sarcastically, "but
right now, the biggest threat that I can see is all of you."
At those words, everyone else in the room
looked down sadly,
wondering how they had ever gotten to this point.
"I want answers, and I want them now.
You have them," she stated,
looked toward Giles, "and I'm not leaving here until you explain to
me exactly what the hell is going on."
"What has gotten you so rattled all of
the sudden?" Giles
questioned, seeing the panic in her green eyes.
"I was attacked tonight! Plain and
simple, alright? Now you know.
Someone attacked me in a strange town full of people that seem to
know me but I don't know them. I see a house with the same room as
mine back home and pictures of my deceased parents, who apparently
are very much alive, only not around where I can see them or talk to
them. I was supposed to be coming here for a computer convention and
there doesn't even seem to be one. I don't know where I am, what I'm
doing here, or what's going on, and to top it off, I'm being
attacked by weird guys in strange robes who want some key and I
don't even know what that is!"
At the end of her tirade, Willow let out a
deep breath, her chest
contracting as her eyes filled with tears.
"Please, just explain to me exactly
what is going on," she whispered
helplessly, again unknowingly rubbing the mark on her neck.
"Well, you had better sit down, Willow.
It's a rather long
explanation," Giles said softly, gesturing to the couch. Buffy and
Xander both opened their mouths to protest, but the older man held
up his hand, silencing them.
"She has a right to know," he said
simply, before turning back to
the redhead.
"Willow, the man that you ran into
tonight is part of a demon cult,
looking to open a portal to a hell dimension which would effectively
destroy the world. The key…" Giles paused, taking a long, deep
breath before continuing, "you are the key."
Part 24
"I-I don't even know what to say,"
Willow said, shaking her head
wearily. Giles had explained to her exactly what had happened. Well,
almost exactly. He gave her a brief history of what they knew of her
life, the one that the monks had created, and then about how Buffy
had learned that she was the key. He told her about the prophecy and
about her magical abilities. Giles also explained why they had
decided to send her away and change her memories. The one thing he
neglected to mention was the relationship that had been forming
between the witch and the chipped vampire, whom had remained quiet,
on the opposite side of the room, during the long explanation.
In truth, Giles wasn't entirely sure how to
explain Willow's
relationship with Spike. He knew there had been something there and
Spike had told him that he had loved the girl, but Giles wasn't
entirely sure of what Willow's feelings for the vampire had been.
Beyond that, given the new information regarding Willow that Spike
had just recently received, Giles wasn't entirely sure that the blond
vampire would even want their previous relationship brought up. He
seemed to be taking the news pretty hard and seemed much more cold
and distant with the redhead now. The watcher figured that he would
refrain from mentioning any relations between the two, allowing Spike
to bring it up to her when and if he chose to.
"I-I was a witch?" She asked for
at least the tenth time, scrunching
up her nose at the idea. "I did spells and tricks a-and did I fly
around on a broom?"
The others tried not to laugh at the
innocent question. At least she
wasn't denying what they were saying any further. They all knew that
in any other room in any other town, they would have all been
considered certifiably insane.
"Yes, Willow, as I have told you, you
were a witch. You had a great
amount of power, due to the nature of your origins, but that power
was bound with the spell."
"Yeah, uh, what does that mean exactly? Is it gone?" She asked.
"Not gone," Giles told her, "Just caged in a way."
"A-and the whole key thing...You're
saying that I didn't exist th-
that someone created me? A-and created all my memories?" Giles
nodded. "So someone just made me up and created my whole existence?"
Again, he nodded.
"We were all dumbfounded when we first
learned of what had happened,"
Giles told her. "It was a bit heartbreaking actually."
"We felt so violated," Buffy
chimed in. "To think that someone
changed our memories and that all the things we remembered, all our
times with you, they weren't real."
"A-and how is what you did to me any
different?" Willow asked
quietly. Buffy and Xander both looked at each other in horror. Anya
watched quietly, not far from where Spike was standing. She had known
it was only a matter of time.
"I-I mean, I had a life and family and
friends, and-and none of those
were real either as it turns out. Just traded one set of false
memories for another. Am I ever going to start actually living a
normal existence?"
Suddenly another thought struck the redhead.
"Rosalyn," she said
suddenly, looking toward Giles again. "I-I knew her my whole life or
I thought, does that mean…"
"She worked for the council," he
told her, his heart hurting at her
pained expression.
"She-she knew the whole time, she knew
that-she knew what I was and
what you did and that we weren't really friends, a-and…" The feeling
of betrayal seemed to surround the redhead as her head swam. These
people had betrayed her, her parents were not who she remembered, and
now Rosalyn, the one person she had thought she could still trust…
"I-I-this is all too much," she
muttered, before jumping up from the
couch, startling everyone. She had reached the door and was pulling
it open before anyone had even a moment to react. Spike was the first
one to reach her, blocking her escape for the second time in two
nights.
"You can't go out there alone," he
told her, his voice still cold and
hard.
"I don't care. I need to go," she
said, fighting the tears that
threatened to fall and trying in vain to push him aside.
"Yeah, well, you know that makes two of
us," Spike said suddenly,
stepping aside. He didn't love her, after all, he reminded himself.
Never had. It was all a lie.
Without sparing them another glance, Willow
was out the door and
heading down the street.
"Are you insane?" Xander yelled,
watching the girl leave. "How could
you let her walk out like that?"
"What do you care?" Spike asked
harshly. "She never really existed!
She wasn't your best friend, you didn't grow up together, none of it
was real! You're just the poor sap that got stuck with the memories!"
"Yeah, well," Xander said slowly,
stepping up in front of the
vampire, his voice catching in his throat. "That all may be true, but
this is one sap that wouldn't trade those memories for anything in
the world. I don't care how they got there. As far as I'm concerned,
that girl is my best friend and I love her more than life itself. Now
if you aren't going after her, then I'm-"
Spike let out an exasperated sigh and rolled
his eyes. "Oh, fine,
I'll go make sure she gets home alright." At that, the vampire
stormed out of the apartment.
Part 25
It didn't take long for Spike to catch up to the distraught redhead.
"Go away," she said, wiping at the
tears that streamed down her face
as she started to walk faster.
"Can't do that," he told her, pulling
out a cigarette and lighting
it.
"Sure you can," she countered.
"It's easy. Just turn around, walk
away and forget that I ever existed. Should be pretty easy."
"Feeling sorry for yourself, now?"
He asked, grinning slightly at
the look of outrage on her face.
"You don't think I deserve a little
self-pity?" She asked him
incredulously.
"You know, you weren't the only one
hurt in this," he replied. "I'm
not saying that you didn't get the worst of it, but you weren't the
only one hurt."
"Yeah, you seem really upset about the
whole thing," she shot back,
feeling her defenses spring up.
Suddenly, Spike threw his cigarette to the
ground and reached out,
grabbing her shoulder, stopping her, mid-stride, and spinning her
around to look at him.
"Don't even begin to think you know how
I feel about anything," he
told her, his voice filled with contempt and something else she
couldn't quite place. "You don't know the first thing about me."
"No, I don't," she agreed, her
voice meek, her eyes darting toward
the ground. She felt a tingling in her neck again. It was something
she had noticed happening a lot since she had come to this town and
her hand reached up, once again lightly fingering the faint scar
there.
"I-I don't know anything about any of
you," she told him, not
looking up to see his eyes riveted on his mark. "You all seem to
know everything about me and I know nothing about any of you o-or
myself, actually."
She looked so lost and Spike couldn't pull
his eyes away from the
mark on her neck. Finally, her large, green, watery eyes looked up,
surprised to see him staring at her. She quickly dropped her hand
back down to her side and blushed slightly.
"That mark," Spike mumbled. "It…"
"Was attacked by an animal," she
replied quietly. "Don't remember
it, really. Big surprise there. Apparently there are a lot of things
I don't remember."
Spike visibly flinched before clenching his
jaw tightly, his eyes
flashing yellow, though Willow didn't seem to notice. The demon in
him raged for him to grab the girl and bite deeply into her,
reminding her of the claim she had apparently forgotten, and the
touch of humanity that remained within him screamed as he felt his
heart break a little. Finally, though, he regained some control and
pushed aside the angry thoughts plaguing his mind.
"I'm sorry that this is so hard for
you," he said quietly. "I know
that you didn't ask for any of this." Willow simply nodded, giving
him a weak, slight smile.
The rest of the walk to her hotel was made
in silence. Willow hated
to admit it, but there was something about the vampire that made her
feel safe, protected. She felt more at ease around him than she
could ever remember feeling before, even when he was completely
infuriating her.
And then there were the dreams. They always
seemed to come back to
him somehow. He was always there, helping her, holding her, kissing
her. She couldn't deny the pull she felt toward him and the longer
she spent in his presence, the stronger the pull seemed to grow.
He walked her up to her room and stopped outside the door.
"This is my room," she told him,
surprisingly reluctant to say
goodnight.
"Right, then I'll just be-" Before
Spike had a chance to finish, a
cloaked figure jumped out from an adjacent hallway, tackling Spike
to the ground, while a second one lunged toward the redhead,
grabbing her and pulling her to him.
"Willow!" Spike yelled, horrified
to see a demon in a black, hooded
robe, holding onto the girl.
"Stay out of this," the other
demon growled, pulling Spike up and
shoving him against the wall. "This is not your concern."
"Wrong, mate. SHE is my concern. The girl belongs to me."
"Hey!" Willow protested. "I
don't belong to anyone!"
Spike rolled his eyes but before he had a chance to say more, the
demon holding him against the wall spoke again.
"She is the key. She belongs to our
order. She is NOT your concern."
At that, Spike quickly threw a left hook, knocking the stunned demon
back slightly. Seeing his opening, he quickly pummeled his attacker,
trying to keep one eye on the demon holding Willow.
"Spike!" She yelled, as the demon
began to drag her down the
hallway.
Hearing her yell out for him, the vampire
jerked his head around to
see her, giving his attacker a chance to fight back. The demon
pulled out a dagger and was about to lung for the blonde when Spike
whirled back around, kicking the weapon out of his grasp. Kicking
out again, he caught the demon in the stomach, causing him to double
over, just before Spike grabbed his head and twisted it brutally,
breaking his neck.
With inhuman speed, the vampire reached the
other demon who was
trying to escape with the redhead in tow. Before the demon even knew
what was happening, Spike had grabbed him from behind, gripping his
head and twisting in the same sickening fashion, effectively
breaking his neck. Reaching out, he caught the falling redhead just
before she hit the floor.
Willow felt herself sink against the blond
vampire, as she looked
back and saw the two fallen bodies.
"Oh, god," she mumbled, burying
her face in his chest as a fresh
flood of tears began to flow.
"It's alright, luv, you're safe
now," Spike muttered soothingly,
holding her tightly. He let one hand find its way to her soft hair,
gently running it through the strands, calming her. He had wanted to
hold her for so long, to feel her body against his, to feel his
hands in her hair. He knew it wasn't real, knew it was wrong, but
just this once, for this one moment, he would allow himself this
tiny, guilty pleasure.
Finally, when she began to calm, he loosened his hold on her.
"We can't stay here," he told her.
"It's not safe." She simply
nodded miserably and gave him a questioning look, having no idea
where she could go.
"You can come back to the crypt with me
for the night. You'll be
safe there, with me," he told her, noticing the way she scrunched up
her nose in distaste as he mentioned the crypt. "Unless of course
you'd rather go back to your `friends'," he said with a grin,
knowing what her answer to that would be.
"No-no-the, um, the crypt is good,
thanks," she said quietly, before
following him out of the hotel and back down the deserted streets.
Part 26
"So, uh, this is where you live, huh?" Willow said, looking around
the dusty crypt. "It's, um, nice."
Spike rolled his eyes and sighed. "Living area is down the
ladder,"
he told her, pointing toward the trap door on the floor.
After they reached the bottom of the cave, Willow sounded slightly
more sincere. "Oh, it's, uh, the most homey cave I've ever been in,
at least that I know of."
"Yeah, well, it works," he told her. He watched as she stifled a
yawn and stretched, grimacing as she felt a few aches and pains from
the earlier attacks.
"You, uh, you should really get some sleep," he told her,
gesturing
toward the bed. Willow nodded and moved to the mattress, gingerly
laying down, curling into a ball on her side.
"Thank you," she said, her voice already sounding sleepy, "for,
well, before a-and saving me and well, thank you."
Spike grinned as he watched her babbled and blush. "Welcome, pet,"
he whispered, more to himself than to her.
It was only a few minutes later that the redhead fell asleep and
Spike moved over to the bed, laying next to her and leaning against
the headboard. Willow unconsciously moved toward him, resting her
head on his lap and murmuring contently in her sleep, a small smile
gracing her features.
Spike looked down at the sleeping girl, letting his hand gently run
through her long, red hair. He was torn. Part of him kept screaming
that none of it was real and that he didn't really love her. But the
other part of him, the other part begged the gods to allow him to
hold onto this moment forever, to never lose this precious gift
again, and it was that part of him that he allowed to bask in the
joy of having her there, even if only for that moment, for that
night.
~*~
Willow awoke, surprised to feel a hard body pressed up against her
back, a strong arm wrapped around her waist. She had dreamt again,
the night before, but this time there had been no nightmares, just
dreams filled with passion and love, and the blonde vampire that now
lay behind her. Snuggling into him slightly, she turned a bit in his
arms and was startled to find him watching her.
"Sleep well?" He asked softly. Willow nodded with a slight smile.
Spike tilted his head in and nuzzled his mark on her neck, causing
Willow to shiver and shudder at the sensations running through her.
Remembering where she was and who she was with, Willow suddenly
pulled away from him and sat up.
"I-I should go. It's light out," she told him.
"Don't think those guys are only night walkers," he told her,
desperate to keep her there. "You should stay here, with me, where
you're safe."
"Well, I think I should go see Mr. Giles a-and tell him what
happened last night," she told him, seeing his face harden slightly
at the thought of her leaving.
"Right, then," he said, his voice sounding slightly colder.
"I-I really appreciate you letting me stay her last night," she
told
him, as she stood up, her hand again at the tingling mark on her
neck. "It's just I-I don't know what's going on or who I am anymore,
a-and they seem to have answers." Spike remained silent, his face
now an unreadable mask.
"You know, I've been having dreams about you," she added in a
whisper. Spike's eyes widened at the statement.
"That right?" He said with a smirk.
"Yeah, uh, sometimes you're, um, saving me, like you did last night.
A-and other times, you're kissing me." She felt her cheeks heat up
at the words. "A-and sometimes you bite me, scaring me," she added
in a whisper, noting that his face seem to regain its cold mask. "I-
I don't remember anything, though, and Mr. Giles, he didn't say
anything about you and I and no one seems to be willing to tell me
very much, but I-I feel this pull to you, a-and I can't help but
wonder, even though, and please just tell me, what am I to you?"
Her voice was pleading and tiny, and Spike looked at her carefully.
His heart burned for her. Everything in him screamed at him to grab
onto her, hold her, protect her, claim her, love her. But it wasn't
real. It was a cruel trick, and he wouldn't be fooled again. He
wouldn't allow his heart, however dead, to be ripped out once more.
Finally, his face set into a cold, stony mask, he
answered. "Nothing."
Willow felt her chest contact as she tried to swallow the lump in
her throat, willing her tears not to fall. She had been so sure
that…
Nodding sadly and turning away, not willing to allow him to see her
cry again, she headed toward the ladder. "I have to go," she
whispered, starting the ascent up to the crypt.
"Willow," Spike called after her. The redhead turned her head
slightly, looking back for a moment. "You shouldn't be out there
alone," he told her.
She paused, looking thoughtful for a moment, before answering. "I'm
always alone," she said sadly. "Besides, the one thing that my
mother taught me? Never talk to strangers."
At those words, she turned back and climbed up the ladder. Spike
watched as she disappeared into the crypt and listened as he heard
the heavy stone door open and slam shut.
Part 27
Walking aimlessly, Willow wiped at her eyes,
forcing the tears away.
She didn't understand. She was so sure that she and Spike had some
kind of connection. He was so hot one minute and then cold another
and…
As she wandered down the street, her thoughts
were suddenly cut off
as she ran into a man walking in the opposite direction.
"Sorry," she mumbled, trying to
move aside. Her head shot up and she
felt a hand reach out and grip her arm painfully.
"Hey! I said sorry, rude-o!" She
complained, looking up and suddenly
paled. A large figure loomed over her, dressed as a knight or some
kind of soldier. Willow tried to yank her arm away, but his grip only
tightened.
"The key is the link. The link must be
severed," he shouted out.
Suddenly, Willow saw a flash of light and began to feel dizzy.
"Not now," she mumbled, feeling another flashback coming. Why did
they always have such bad timing?
She stumbled as the man pulled her closer to
him and suddenly there
was a flash. It was dark outside now. She saw a knife being held to
her throat and heard herself call out for Spike.
Again, she saw a flash, and found that not
only was it light outside
again, but there was no knife to her throat, though the man was still
holding onto her tightly and mumbling something about the key being
the link and the link needing to be severed.
Suddenly, Willow stomped her foot down as
hard as possible. The man
bent forward slightly and she used her elbow to hit him hard in the
face. His grip on her loosened enough for her to pull away. As she
went to run, there was again another flash, and she stumbled forward,
grabbing her head.
She tried to scream as she saw Spike through
the darkness, doubled
over, holding his head in pain.
"The key is the link. The link must be severed. Such is the will of
god," the man mumbled as Willow struggled to free herself.
She had no concept of what was real and what was a memory at this
point, and closed her eyes tightly, trying to will away the
flashback.
The redhead heard herself yelling out the
word release, but felt
nothing happen.
"Willow!" Hearing her name called,
she opened her eyes again,
squinting at the sunlight, and turned, seeing Buffy now punching her
attacker.
"Buffy?" She whispered weakly, not understanding anything.
"Willow, go! Run!" Buffy called,
but Willow didn't seem to hear her.
"I thought I told you guys to get lost a long time ago," Buffy said,
turning back to the knight, remembering them from the fight with
Glory.
"The key is the link…" The man
began, before Buffy punched him hard,
again.
"We've all heard the song, buddy,"
the slayer told him, delivering a
roundhouse kick. "But it's been years since that one's been on the
charts."
Again, Willow saw a flash.
"Kill me, and let legions follow!"
The man yelled. "If you do not
kill me, I will destroy you."
"Then I guess I'll just have to send
you somewhere else," she heard
herself say.
The man disappeared. "Red? What did you
just do?" Spike asked.
She opened her mouth to respond, just before there was another flash.
The world was spinning around her. The sunlight was nearly blinding
and Willow fell to her knees, holding her head.
"Willow!" Buffy ran up to the redhead.
"What? Where…where is he?" Willow asked weakly.
"Gone. Took off. They tend to do that
once they realize they're gonna
get beat by a girl. For knights, they don't seem all that brave,
really," Buffy told her, attempting at a smile. "Are you okay?"
Willow shook her head. "No," she mumbled. "I'm really not."
"Let's get you to Giles," Buffy
said, helping her up and walking with
her toward The Magic Shop.
Part 28
Buffy and Willow entered The Magic Box and
the slayer called out for
Giles. Getting no response, she told Willow to wait in the shop while
she went into the basement in search of the watcher.
As she waited, Willow began to look through
the books and magical
ingredients on the shelves and tables. Stopping at an open book on
the counter, she looked down, reading it.
This was it. This was the spell they had
used to alter her memories
and bind whatever power it was that she had. Apparently, whoever
casted the spell didn't do a very good job, seeing as how she was
remembering things at the worse possible moments.
Flipping the page, her eyes widened as she took
in what looked to be
the counter spell. She quickly scanned the list of ingredients. It
looked like a simple spell, something that would only take a few
minutes.
Willow's head shot up as she heard the door
bell chime and she saw
Xander and Anya come walking into the shop.
"Willow!" Xander greeted her,
surprised to see the redhead standing
there. "How are you?"
"I'm alright," she said
distractedly, glancing around the shop. She
wanted to know more about what had been done to her. These people
didn't seem willing to talk and this book looked like it held the
answers.
"Buffy went down to the stock room to
look for, um, Giles," she told
him, quickly grabbing the book and holding it behind her.
"Everything alright?" He asked, taking a step closer.
Willow took a step back nervously and Xander
frowned, feeling that
all too familiar pang of sorrow shoot through his heart.
"Yeah, uh, she just wanted to talk to
him, I think," she lied. "I-I'm
kind of tired. I think I'm going to just, um, go away for a while."
"Are you sure?" He asked. "Do you want me to walk you somewhere, or…"
"No! No, I, uh, kinda want a little
time to myself," she told him,
inching toward the door, not turning her back to him. "I'll be back
later," she promised, before spinning around quickly and heading out
the door.
"Willow, I found Giles. He was…"
Buffy paused as she looked around,
seeing Xander and Anya, but no sign of Willow.
"Where's Willow?" She asked in
alarm. "Did you see her here? She was
just here, and now…"
"Yeah, Buff, we just saw her. She just left," Xander told her.
"She was in a big hurry, and all
nervous and not Willow-like," Anya
explained. "But then, I guess she isn't really very Willow-like at
all anymore, is she?"
"Where did she go?" Buffy asked.
"Didn't say. Just mumbled something
about needing time to herself,"
Xander replied.
"And you let her leave? Just like that?
Xander how could you be so
stupid?" Buffy yelled.
"Hey!" Xander and Anya both
shouted defensively. " I didn't realize
we were trying to keep her here," he told the slayer.
Buffy let out a frustrated sigh, giving him
an apologetic
look. "Willow was attacked today by those knight guys."
"The ones that were here when we fought Glory?" Anya asked.
"The very same," Buffy confirmed.
"What are they doing back?" Xander questioned.
"From the looks of things," Giles
stated, "trying to destroy the key
again."
"Seriously! Is there ANYONE out there
that is NOT after the key?"
Xander shouted.
"We need to find her," Buffy told
them. "She's not safe out there
alone."
The others nodded before they all headed out in search of the redhead.
~*~
Willow waited until everyone had left the
magic shop before heading
in through the back door. She sat down on a couch in the training
room and began to read the book, absorbing any and all information
that she could on the spell that had been performed on her.
Part 29
"We searched the entire town. Where
could she have gone?" Xander
said, sounding defeated as he walked back into the shop.
"I don't like this, Giles," Buffy
stated. "Something could have
happened to her. Someone could have…"
"Hurt me?" Everyone looked up in
surprise, seeing the redhead
standing on the other side of the shop. She was near the large,
round table, which now had several magic ingredients on it.
"Willow, we thought that…"Giles began, before she interrupted him.
"That someone had attacked me? Hurt
me?" She said, arching an
eyebrow. "They have. I've been attacked no less than four times
since I got to this town. You people are not telling me everything,
except that you did some spell to change my memories and I'm some
key thing. I keep having flashbacks to things I don't remember and
every time I'm attacked, I have no way to defend myself." She looked
toward Giles with an angry glare. "You said that I have power, that
I'm a witch, but the spell bound the power. I want it undone."
"It's not as simple as just…"
Giles began, stopping as Willow pulled
a book out from behind her and tossed it onto the table, opened to
the page with the reversal spell.
"Turns out I'm really good at the whole
occult research thing," she
told them. "Did a lot of reading while you were away and it looks to
me like a simple reversal spell will do the trick. If I'm going to
defend myself and survive whatever the hell is happening to me, I
need to remember, and I need whatever power I have to be unbound."
"Willow, you don't know what you're
asking for," Giles told
her. "You need to understand that…"
"I NEED to know who I am," she
replied. "Your advice is not worth
anything. You're not my friends. You're nothing to me. No, actually,
that's not true. You're keeping me from being able to protect myself
and knowing who I really am. You're worse than nothing. You're a
threat to my life. Now, undo it."
Part 30
Before anyone had a chance to reply to
Willow's command, the front
door opened and everyone looked up to see a blond vampire walking
in. Willow looked toward Spike and saw him staring at her, a
contrite, pained expression on her face and she quickly looked away.
"Willow, I-" he began, taking a
few steps toward her, but stopping
when she held her hand up.
"Save it," she told him. "No
one wants to tell me what's really
going on? Fine. I'm about to find out. Giles, undo it."
"Willow, I really don't think you
understand what you're asking
for," the watcher told her. "Reversing a spell like this, at the
very least will cause severe overload to your senses. You'll
remember everything all at once."
"Good," she told him. "Do it."
"Do what?" Spike asked curiously.
"Willow found the spell that we did
before she left," Xander told
him quietly, "and the reversal spell. She wants Giles to undo
everything."
"Is that a good idea, Rupert?"
Spike questioned, suddenly not
wanting to face the redhead knowing what had happened between them
but knowing that she was not real.
"No, Spike, it is absolutely not a good
idea," Giles told him, not
taking his eyes off of Willow. He let out a deep sigh. "But it is
the right thing to do."
All at once, everyone started to object but
Giles held up a hand,
silencing them all.
"Willow is right," he told them.
"What we did was unfair and though
it was with good intention, it appears that what the Hellmouth wants
the Hellmouth gets. For whatever reason, she has been brought back
here and her life is clearly in danger. She deserves to know who she
is and to be able to defend herself."
A slow, stunned smile spread across Willow's
face. She couldn't
believe that he was going to actually do it. The redhead had been
all prepared for a long fight. She had even practiced a resolve-face
in the mirror, sure that no one would be able to say no to that.
Looking around the room, she again caught
the gaze of the blond
vampire. His expression was unreadable but she knew that he was not
happy about this. There was something about him that no one seemed
to want for her to know and whatever it was, it was about to come
out.
"Spell's all set," the redhead
told Giles, gesturing toward the
magic ingredients on the table. "Just say the magic words and poof.
All done."
"I really do hope you understand what
you're asking for," Giles
said, one last time.
"I do, Giles. Do it."
At that, the watcher stepped up to the table
and read over the
reversal spell one time to himself, being sure he knew exactly what
he was doing before he cast it. Holding the book up and standing a
bit straighter, taking a moment to clear his throat and straighten
his glasses, Giles called out a few words in Latin, and then put the
book down again.
Everyone looked toward the redhead, who was
standing in the middle
of the shop, a dazed look on her face.
Willow looked around in confusion as a
million memories suddenly hit
her.. It was as if a tidal wave had just crashed into her and all at
once, she found her knees buckling as she began to gasp for air.
Everyone watched, unsure of what to do, as
the redhead stumbled a
few feet, holding her head, her eyes tightly shut. Her mind was
swimming with the onslaught of memories and her body hummed with
magic.
When, at last, she finally opened her eyes
again, they were full and
black, unimaginable amounts of magic coursing through her. She
looked around and it felt as if she was seeing everything for the
first time. Her mind was hazy and her stomach felt sick. The redhead
closed her eyes again, trying to control or block out the feeling of
magical currents flowing through her. Panting and concentrating for
several moments, she finally opened her eyes again. They were green
this time, much to everyone's relief, though the utter pain that
radiated from them was nearly unbearable.
"Willow," Buffy said softly, taking a step toward her friend.
The redhead turned and backed away, stumbling slightly as she did.
"No, Buffy," She whispered.
"I can't, not-not now. I can't be here.
I need to go and…"
At that, Willow turned and ran out the door.
The rest of the group
looked around in silence, no one having the slightest idea of what
to say about what had just happened. Well, almost no one.
"You see what you've done?" All
eyes turned toward Anya, wide in
surprise at the sudden out burst.
"Anya, not now," Xander mumbled, his voice breaking with emotion.
"I'm sorry, Xander, but you need to
hear this. Look at what you just
did to her. Look at all that she is going through because you didn't
trust her with the truth from the start. Willow's a smart, strong
girl. You should have known she'd figure it out in the end." Turning
toward Giles, she glared at him. "And you! What are you going to do
now? Did you even think about that? Now that she knows, my god! She
knows that she is the key, she knows that she is being hunted, she
knows that you all betrayed her and she probably even knows that
Spike claimed her!"
Suddenly, Spike's head shot up, realizing
that what Anya had just
said was true. She knew. Willow knew and now she was out there,
alone. Without another thought, the vampire turned and ran out of
the shop.
Part 31
Walking down the dark, empty
streets of Sunnydale, Spike aimlessly
searched for the distraught redhead. He wasn't entirely sure
why he
was looking for her, or what he would say to her. The
vampire was
still torn between the aching love he felt in his heart,
and the
painful screams coming from his head. She wasn't what he
thought,
and his feelings were fabricated, but still...they were
there and
they felt real enough. There was something
else...something that
Xander had said to him,
about not caring how he come to love her,
just accepting that he did. For once, he thought the boy
might be
right.
The sun would soon be up,
and finally, with a sigh of resignation,
Spike headed home. As he
walked up to his crypt, the blond vampire
thought he sensed something, something so familiar, but he
brushed
off the feeling and opened the heavy door, walking in
and slamming it
behind him wearily.
Looking up, his eyes
widened, seeing the redhead sitting on the
sarcophagus.
How she had ended up there,
she herself couldn't even be quite sure.
She had wandered the
streets, feeling more lost and confused than she
would have thought possible. Here she was, back home
again, with the
people that loved her, and she knew who she was and where
she
belonged. Or, at least, she knew what those truthes used to
be, but
now she was left to wonder just how much of her old life
was real and
true. She was the key, she was
created by a group of monks and all
of the memories that had just suddenly returned...they
were created
as well. Except for Spike.
That part was real and true, and the
only thing that she knew for certain belonged to her. He
had loved
her, claimed her, and that was after the monks had
messed with the
world's reality, and before her friends had messed with
hers.
When she had finally stopped
walking,
surprised to find herself standing in front of Spike's crypt,
and
feeling a deep longing in her heart to be near him, to touch
him, to
be held by him. There was a twing of pain at the
thought that he had
lied to her, told her she was nothing to him, when
clearly that was
not the case, or at least it hadn't been at one time.
Maybe it was
true. Maybe, now, she was nothing to him, but she had to
be sure.
She couldn't let anymore
time go by before telling him how she felt.
When the door opened and the
blond vampire walked in,
stomach did flip flops, as her heart pounded in her chest,
but she
was determined to say what she needed to say, and Willow
did always
accomplish anything that she was determined to do.
"You lied to me,"
she whispered harshly, afraid of what would come
out if she tried to say anything more.
"
"Don't," she
stopped him, not wanting to hear whatever excuses he was
about to give her. "I have to say this, a-and if I
stop now, I might
not start again and this really needs to be said. I
remember now. You
claimed me. You told me that you loved me, and then you sent
me
away," she accused.
"No!" He argued,
startling her with the conviction in his
voice. "Red, I had nothing to do with that. I didn't
know a thing
about it until you returned. I thought you left."
"You didn't even look
for me," she said quietly, looking down at the
ground.
"I should have,"
he admitted, wishing she would look up at him again,
though not entirely sure he could stand to see the hurt in
her eyes.
He could feel the magic
radiating off of her. If she had power
before, it was nothing compared to what the girl possessed
now. She
was buzzing with it.
"
up, and finally he reached out, running his fingers
under her chin
and tilting it up gently. She was startled by the
intensity in his
eyes and wanted desperately to run away from it.
"I'm so sorry, luv. I'm
sorry for what they did to you. I'm sorry
that you lost a part of your life. I'm sorry that I
didn't try to
find you and I'm sorry that when you came back I didn't
tell you
about us. I didn't know what to do, and I wasn't sure
that…"
"I've been so
confused," she told him. "I didn't understand. And YOU
should have told me," she yelled, giving him an angry
shove.
"I'm so sorry," he
told her again, seeing the tears well up in her
eyes as the reality of everything hit her.
"I'm the key," she
said in a voice that even he could barely
hear. "I'm what Glory was after. I'm…the memories
they took away,
they weren't even real. Just traded one
false set for another.
Nothing I've ever been and
nothing I've ever done was real."
"
in his tightly, waiting for her to turn her teary eyes
up to his
again. "You and I. What we
had. That was real."
The witch shook her head
sadly. "Was it? They just made you think you
loved me. It was all a-a-a trick."
"
hand to stop him, sliding down from where she sat and
stood before
him.
"It was a trick Spike,
but the thing is, even though I know that…Even
though I know, well, everything now, I still love you. It's
still in
my heart, and I still ache for you. It may not mean
much, now, coming
from a little ball of energy, but I love you. I never got
to tell you
that before."
The vampire said nothing. He
simply stared at her, his expression
stoic and completely unreadable. He had no idea what to
say to her.
These were the words that he
had longed to hear for the last three
years, and now that she was saying them, he had no idea
how to
respond. He knew deep down that what she had said was true.
The
feelings and emotions that he had for her very likely did
come from
the monks, but just then he didn't really care so much
about that.
Mistaking his silence as
disinterest,
the door, tears again filling her eyes. She jumped,
feeling a cool
hand reach out and grab onto her arm, pulling her back
toward the
blond.
"You belong to
me," he told her, his voice deep and thick with a
mixture of emotion and desire. It made her shiver in his
grasp. The
truth was, he wasn't even entirely sure if he believed
those words,
until they actually came out of his mouth. Once said, he
knew that
they were, indeed true.
"You might have
forgotten that for a little while," he said with a
slight smirk, "but I think it's starting to come back
to you. I
thought it was all a lie, that they had just used me. But I
love you,
love you. I love you more than I've ever loved anything
in my entire
existence. If the monks put that there, then I guess I owe
them a big
debt of gratitude, because there is no better gift that I
could have
been given."
The redhead opened her
mouth, though she wasn't quite sure what she
was about to say. The blond vampire lifted a finger to
her mouth,
hushing her. "You DO belong to me. Don't try to deny it
and don't try
to fight it. You belong to me, now and always."
With that, he leaned in,
claiming her lips in a possessive kiss that
was long over due.
Suddenly, he jumped back,
feeling her magic run through him like a
jolt of electricity.
"I-I'm sorry," she
whispered meekly. "I didn't mean to. I just…"
"Shhh," he tried
to calm her." It's alright, luv. I know you didn't
do it on purpose. All that magic running through you,
it's gotta be
tough to control."
"I don't remember it
ever feeling like this," she told him. "I-I
don't know if I can keep it under control. I don't know
how to, it's
so strong. Oh god, Spike. Everything is just so-so
much. Buffy and
Xander and Giles and-and the
spell, and finding out that I'm the key,
and then you a-and the claim, and my other life? My friends? It's all
just so, it's too much."
The blond wrapped the weary
girl in his arms, wanting desperately to
comfort and shield her from this pain, and destroy everyone
who was
causing it. Damn their good intentions.
"Come on, luv. Let's
put you to bed," he told her, leading her down
to the cave below. "Get some sleep, and tomorrow
this will all seem…
Well, it will all still seem
pretty horrible, but a bit more
manageable I'd wager."
She gave him a slight smile
as she curled up on his bed, wrapping a
blanket around herself.
"You won't go
anywhere?" She asked softly, stifling a yawn.
"Wild horses couldn't
drag me away," he promised, sitting beside her
and leaning against the head board, reveling in the
feeling of her
warm body curled up against him. Spike let his hand drift
down to her
soft hair, and ran his fingers through it soothingly as
he watched
her drift off to sleep.
Part 32
"You ready for
this?"
"If I say no, can we
turn and run away?"
"'Fraid not luv, but I
will be standing right with you holding your
hand the whole time."
squeezing his hand tightly. This was the last place she wanted
to be
and the last thing that she wanted to do, but she knew
that she had
to face her friends. The longer she put it off, the
worse it would
be. Besides, she suspected that she still needed their
help.
"
come in," he added, grateful to the vampire for
keeping an eye on
Willow for
the last few days.
"Is she here?"
kitchen. He stopped half way across the room, completely
unsure of
what to say or do. His eyes pleaded with her for
forgiveness, but
his mouth was unable to form words.
"I'm here," she
said finally, moving to the couch and sitting down
with Spike right at her side.
"How-How are you
doing?" Xander asked, his voice strained with
emotion.
"How do you
think?" She asked, just as the door opened and Buffy
walked in.
"I hoped that…" he
started, his voice sad and desperate, before
trailing off. "
go back and change things, I would. I'm so sorry we
sent you away.
If you had any idea how much
it killed me, how much I missed you,
and…"
"Xander," she
interrupted. "I get it. I do. It's just, you took away
my entire life, everything I knew, everything I was.
I'm not quite
ready to forgive and forget yet. Give me some time,
okay?"
The young man nodded sadly,
glancing over at Buffy, who looked
equally heart broken.
After a long silence, Giles
cleared his throat and began to
speak. "I, uh, I talked to the council this
afternoon. We still
aren't sure exactly why the spell stopped working, or how
you ended
up back here,
"So sorry to mess up
your plans," she mumbled bitterly, feeling
Spike's hands squeeze hers
tightly, reminding her that she wasn't
alone.
"I simply mean that
they think that someone might have purposefully
brought you here. Someone might have known of your where
abouts and
brought you back to Sunnydale at this specific time for this
specific reason."
"That
demon cult?" Buffy
questioned. "One of them?"
"We're not sure yet,
though we are looking into that as one
possibility. Until we know for sure though, you should not be
alone,
"I've got knights
trying to destroy me, demons trying to kidnap me,
someone else possibly after me, all because I'm the key.
What
exactly do they want?"
"As far as I can see,
the prophecy states that a demon cult will use
the key to open a portal that will in effect destroy the
world."
"Yippie,"
I would never do anything
big with my life."
"So, we have to stop
them," Buffy said decidedly.
"Right, because up
until now we've been so very successful at that,"
Anya said with a roll of her
eyes.
"We defeated Glory,
didn't we?" Buffy replied defensively.
"Yeah, but that was
only after the council suddenly found a way to
destroy her. Are we relying on more blind luck this
time?" Xander
asked.
"Xander! I'm just saying that…"
escalate. Eventually Spike joined in and she quietly stood
up,
heading outside for a breath of fresh air.
Shutting the front door, she
leaned against it, closing her eyes for
a moment, before opening them again.
the sight before her.
"Rosalyn!" She
exclaimed in surprise. "I-I didn't know that you
were...What are you doing here?"
"Came to see how my
best friend was holding up," the girl told her
with a smile.
told me about the whole spell thing, and about how you
were just
working for the council. You're not really my friend."
"Yeah, they did mention
that Giles told you that. Well, I may have
been working for the council,
we have been friends, and I feel like we've really
grown close to
one another," Rosalyn told her sweetly. "I
care about you, and I
care about what happens to you. You're very important to
me."
"Really?"
voice.
"Absolutely," her
friend told her, with another bright smile. "You
have no idea how special and important you are. I can
just…"
As she was reaching out to
grab
feeling something. It was magic, it was strong, and it was
coming
from
"Sorry," Willow
muttered, blushing slightly. "Still getting used to
the magic. Having a hard time
containing it."
"I see," the girl
replied, her voice considerably more cold, her
eyes angrily staring at the redhead. "Where did it
come from?"
"Giles, he, uh, he
undid the spell, and my magic was unbound,"
she was getting.
"Hmmm, well, the
council failed to mention that part," Rosalyn told
her. "That complicates things just a bit."
"Yeah, well I guess
that Giles isn't keen on telling them
everything. It's kind of a need-to-know- basis sorta deal."
"Rupert is a
fool," Rosalyn stated harshly. "Always has been,
always will be."
"Uh, maybe I should get
back inside."
"No, I don't think you
should do that,"
before she felt a sting in her neck and everything went
black.
Part 33
"Did you really think
that you were better than me,
redhead heard the voice as she came too, her head pounding.
Pulling
at her arms, she quickly realized that she was chained
to the wall
behind her.
"Rosalyn?" She
asked groggily.
"Did you actually think
you could take away everything that I worked
so hard for?" Her voice was cold and harsh.
trying to spot the girl, and finally saw her on the far
side of what
looked like an old warehouse. "After all the time and
effort that I
put in, did you really think that I would just let you
go, just like
that? Did you!?!"
"I-I don't
understand,"
Rosalyn let out a cruel
laugh. "Of course you don't. You never
really understood much, did you Willow? You have made a
wonderful
pawn though, I will tell you that much."
"A-A
pawn?"
"Oh come on! It's like
you said,
three LONG years, I had to stick by you, pretending that I
liked
you, pretending to be interested in all the lame, boring
things you
would ramble on and on about. All that time, I had to
pretend to be
friends with you. Thank god I was being paid for it."
"What are you
doing?"
shackles around her wrists.
"I'm getting ready for
a little surprise," the girl told her. "Oh
and Willow? I wouldn't bother wasting your energy on
undoing the
chains. Magically reinforced," she said with a cruel
grin. "Isn't
that neat? Didn't want to take any
chances. Not now."
"Wh-what
kind of surprise?" The
redhead asked cautiously.
"Well, if I told you,
it really wouldn't be a surprise, now would
it?" She laughed as
chains. "I would save my strength if I were you,
sweetheart. You're
going to need it."
"What is all this? What
are you doing to me?"
looking around at the magic ingredients and spell books
around them.
Candles flickered all around
the large, dark grey room, and their
voices bounced off of the metal walls.
"I stuck by your side
for three years,
pretended to care about you, to be your friend," Rosalyn
told
her. "Those other so called friends of yours…Those
pathetic saps
were stuck with you, whether they liked it or not. They
were never
given a choice. I, on the other hand, chose you, and now,
it's time
for you to do a little something for me."
"What's that?"
approached her, a dagger in her hand. Reaching up, Rosalyn
stabbed
the palm of
feeling the blood seep down her hand and run down her arm.
Rosalyn
reaching up again with the dagger, running it along the wound,
letting the blood pool on the blade before removing it.
"Thanks for that,"
she whispered with a cruel grin, before going
over to where she had the magic supplies gathered and let
a few
droplets fall in to a small caldron, before moving everything
back
behind some boxes, hidden from view.
Walking over to a tall,
steal door, Rosalyn pulled it open, grinning
as a dosen of the demons that had attacked
walking into the room.
"Come on in,
boys," she said with a chuckle.
at her.
"Surprise,"
Rosalyn said giddily, as she walked back up to
"What are you
doing?" Willow asked, panic taking over. "Rosalyn, you
need to let me go! You don't understand what you're
doing."
"Trust me," she
whispered to the terrified redhead, "I know exactly
what I'm doing." Turning back to the demons that had
them
surrounded, she smiled again. "She's all yours boys. Now
make sure
you play nice."
She walked away, leaving
growling demons, who began to chant with low voices in words
that
she couldn't understand.
"Rosalyn!"
this!" She watched as the girl she had once called a
friend walked
away, backing up behind the boxes, where the magic
supplies were
hidden, bringing a finger to her lips shushing her in a
conspiritorial gesture.
with in her feeling as through it were bubbling up inside
of her,
nearly ready to bust. The more the demons chanted, the more
the
searing pain burned through her. Gripping the chains above
her
tightly,
thing besides the pain that she could think of. Spike.
Part 34 "
bond. She was close. He knew that much. He just hoped
he'd find
her in time.
"Spike, where exactly
are we going?" Buffy asked, following the
vampire, Xander and Giles not far behind.
"She's close, and she's
in pain. Something's wrong," he told her
hurriedly, as he continued to walk on. They had all been in
the
middle of a huge screaming match when he had suddenly
noticed that
pull at their bond. He knew that she was afraid, that she
was in
pain and that she needed him. He would be damned if he'd
let her
down again.
~*~
The chanting continued, and
around the room, her vision blurring from the pain. Her
eyes
widened slightly and she forced them to focus as she saw
Rosalyn
stepping out from behind the boxes, holding whatever she had
been
concocting earlier in her hands.
The redhead let out a scream
as light began to pour from the center
of her chest, and she felt as if she was being torn in
half. The
earth began to shake and the room started to fill with
light that
seemed to come from an opening in the ceiling above her.
The
chanting grew louder and more fevered and
what they were doing. They were opening the portal that
Giles had
talked about. They were using her to destroy the world.
As light continued to pour
from her,
again toward Rosalyn, just as the girl lifted the stone
cup she was
holding to her lips and began to drink whatever was inside.
As soon
as she gulped it down, Rosalyn began chanting quietly,
though the
words were different from what the demons were saying. Her
eyes
began to glow green and the light that had been coming
from
and flowing to the portal began to shift toward the
other girl.
The light, the magic and the
energy that was being drained from the
redhead was now filling her former friend, and Rosalyn was
quickly
becoming giddy with power. The demons stopped their chanting
and
began to move toward her, but with a slight flick of her
wrist, she
held them at bay, rendering them motionless.
"This is it!" She
shouted, feeling the magic fill her. "Now the
world will bow to me!"
out beneath her, the chains biting into her arms as they
held her
up. She began to close her eyes, not able to hold them open any
longer, when she suddenly felt a jolt, and forced them open
again.
The redhead was shocked to
see a blond vampire standing before her,
blocking her view of Rosalyn. He had stepped between them,
stopping
the flow of magic and power from one girl to the other.
"Nice move,
vampire," Rosalyn spat, "but you're just a tad too
late. I already have everything I came for." Holding
up her hand,
she easily threw Spike several feet back into
Spike quickly picked himself
up. Reaching up, he pulled the chains
from the wall, breaking the redhead free and catching her
before she
dropped to the ground.
came," she whispered.
"I'm here, luv,"
he assured her, terror at her current state
coursing through him.
"Isn't this
touching," Rosalyn broke in. "I hate to break up your
tender little moment here, but there is the little matter
of me and
my new found power to talk about."
Spike held
growingly lowly.
"I really have to thank
you,
could never have done it without you. And actually, I
suppose I owe
you a little bit of thanks as well," she told
Spike, "for keeping
her safe all this time. Would have been a shame if she had
been
destroyed before I had a chance to drain her power
properly."
"You've been planning
this from the beginning," Spike accused.
"Yeah, I have,"
she responded with a smile. "Neat, huh? Now, if
you'll excuse me, I have a world to go destroy."
"You didn't really
think it would be that easy, did you?"
Everyone turned toward the
door, hearing Buffy speak as she entered
the old warehouse.
"What is it with the
bad guys and liking icky, run down warehouses,
huh?" Buffy quipped. "Spike, you've been there,
done that. Any
thoughts?"
"Very passé if you ask
me," the vampire responded with a smirk.
"You know, those were
my thoughts on the subject," Buffy told him.
"Excuse me!"
Rosalyn interrupted, not liking to be ignored. "Girl
with all the power, standing right here."
"You're really just
dieing to get your ass kicked, aren't you?"
Xander stated. "Not
enough attention as a child. Am I right?"
Rosalyn ignored Xander and
turned her attention once again to
Buffy. "The Slayer," she said with an evil grin,
her glowing eyes
narrowing. "I was hoping you'd show up. I've been waiting
for this."
"For
me to beat you?" Buffy
questioned, cocking her head to the
side. "'Cause, really, if you wanted it that badly,
I would have
been happy to oblige much sooner."
"I think you have that
backwards," Rosalyn told her. "I'm the one
with the power, now. All that energy that was stored in
the key…it
belongs to me now."
"And what's with these
guys?" Buffy asked, gesturing toward the pack
of demons who were still unable to move.
"Oh, them,"
Rosalyn said with a disinterested sigh. "Right, well, I
was hoping to not have to use them. If Rupert here had
left
her back to the hell mouth at the time of their little
ritual and
sacrifice her myself. All that power being bound in one place,
it
would have been simple. But no, you had to go and "do
the right
thing," giving her back all her stupid memories and magic.
So, I
had to call in plan B. These guys.
They wanted the key to destroy
the earth. I knew where she was. We struck up a
bargain."
"I don't get it. Giles,
I thought you said these guys don't usually
work with anyone else."
"Well, normally they
don't," Giles told him defensively.
"For the right price
they will," Rosalyn amended with a smile. "I
told them I would deliver the key. What I didn't bother
to mention
was that once they began to release her power with that
cute little
ritual, I would then be taking over, draining the magic
into myself,
instead of opening the portal. And, man, was that ever fun!
Plus,
this way, draining her slowly, hurt a lot more, huh
Willow?" She
added with a mocking pout.
"So now you think I'm
going to just let you walk out of here, and do…
whatever the hell it is you plan to do?" Buffy
questioned.
"No, actually, I
thought I'd let you deal with these guys," she
said, gesturing toward the demons. "I'm guessing
they're gonna be
pretty mad, but I'm also guessing that throwing a slayer
into the
deal….might just make them slightly happier."
With a slight flick of her
wrist, Rosalyn released the pack of
demons, and pointed toward Buffy. "Kill her," she
commanded,
turning toward the slayer to watch happily.
Hearing growling from behind
her, Rosalyn turned back around, seeing
the demons surrounding her, growling angrily.
"What are you
doing?" She shouted. "I said kill the slayer! She's
over there!"
"You took our
key," one of the demons said with a growl. "You stole
the energy. We need the energy to open the portal."
Rosalyn's eyes opened wide
as she realized what they were saying.
They could still do the
ritual, only now she held the key's power.
As the demons descended upon
Rosalyn, Buffy, Giles and Xander ran
toward
"Are you okay?"
Buffy asked, looking with worry toward the redhead,
ignoring the chanting and screaming that was happening behind
her.
"Yeah, I…I think
so,"
different. The magic…it's gone."
Buffy nodded her head,
looking sadly toward the redhead. "I'm just
glad you're okay. If we hadn't gotten here in time,
I..."
"Buffy?"
about that portal thing that's opening up."
Buffy turned around, looking
toward the screaming girl and the pack
of demons surrounding her, before glancing up at the
opening portal
over head. Before she had a chance to make a move, the
main doors of
the building burst open, armored knights running in.
"Or, maybe they can
handle it,"
"I think that might be
our cue to go, guys," Buffy said quickly.
Spike lifted
back entrance of the warehouse, leaving behind the band
of knights
as they slaughtered the demons and destroyed the new
key.
Part 35
"How are you,
luv?" Spike asked as he sat down next to
soft bed, candle light flickering around them.
"I really wish everyone
would stop asking me that," she told him
with a slight smile.
"We're all just worried
about you," he explained.
The redhead let out a slight
sigh. "I know, and Giles and Xander
and Buffy are feeling all guilty about what they did."
"They were only trying
to protect you. Course, I'm not sayin I agree
with that they did. Complete morons, the entire bunch,
and I'll rip
their throats out of that's what you want, but..."
"Spike,"
ripping out of the throats. I'm still upset about the whole
thing.
Losing three years of my
life like that, not exactly something I'm
going to be quick to get over, but at the same time, I
know they
were only doing it because they care about me, so I guess
that means
I still love them."
Spike arched an eyebrow,
questioning her judgment and
playfully slapped his chest. Catching her hand before she
could pull
it away, Spike tugged her toward him, kissing her
softly.
slowly deepened the kiss, allowing her entire being to sink
into him.
Finally, he pulled away,
watching the flushed redhead as she panted
slightly.
"So the magic's all
gone?" He questioned.
about that?"
"Not sure," she
told him, looking pensive. "I mean, it was neat to
have that power and, you know, be allspecial with the
magic and
stuff, but I kind of like just being me now, you know?
Especially
after not knowing who that was for so long. It's good to
just have
Willow back."
"Couldn't agree with
you more," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her
again. Spike gently nudged her back down into the soft
bed, covering
her body with his own, as she melted into his kiss.
the kiss, allowing herself to be lost in the blond
vampire's
embrace. She might not be sure of where she had come from,
or what
she had been, but the one thing she knew for certain was
that right
now, she was right where she belonged.