If Only I
Knew Then
Chapter 8:
Forget Me Not
Part 1
“
“
“I’m not saying it’s going
to be easy, but…I love you more than anything, and you’ve been through so much,
so I…I just want to at least try.”
“Really?”
The blonde witch
nodded. “But no more secrets this time,
Will. Understand?”
“Yes, perfectly,”
The redhead’s eyes widened
as she felt
~ * ~
“Ready for this?” She asked
with a crooked smile.
“As I’ll ever be,” Faith
responded, running a hand through her long, dark hair nervously.
“
“Hey, Giles,”
“I take it all went well?”
He asked, sizing up the rogue Slayer before him.
“Giles, man, how’s it goin?”
Faith asked, slapping him on the back in an effort to appear less nervous.
“Uh, as well as possible
under the…uh, current circumstances,” he responded, regarding her carefully.
“Yeah, I’m real sorry about
Buffy,” Faith said solemnly.
“Yes, well…” Giles cleared
his throat, taken off guard by the Slayer’s sympathetic attitude. “Thank you.”
“B was a great fighter, you
know? Gonna miss her.”
Giles raised an eyebrow at
that statement.
“I’m not sayin we always got
along,” Faith amended, “but after spending a little time in her shoes…she was
tougher than I gave her credit for.”
Giles cleared his throat
again. “Yes, well…why don’t we show you around?”
The redhead gave Faith a
quick tour of the shop before taking her into the training room, where Xander
and Anya were arguing about some wedding details.
“Anya, all I’m saying is, if
we’re going to be mixing demons with my family, we might run into a little
trouble.”
“I’m sure that at something
as special as our wedding everyone will act
perfectly civilized,” Anya
argued.
“Have you MET my family?” He
countered.
“He’s right. They’re gonna fight. Actually, they’re gonna all out
brawl.”
They both looked up toward
the entrance, where
from.
“Oh, and just because you’ve
already lived through this once, you think
that….hey, who is that?”
Anya asked, seeing Faith standing next to
“Faith?” Xander
squeaked.
The Slayer raised her hand
and waved weakly.
Part 2
“And this is where you’ll
train…with…Giles, of course,”
“Sweet! Much better than that shoddy little set up at
the library,” Faith said with a smile, looking around the training room.
“Yes, well…we find this
works rather well, and…and the library was NOT shoddy!” Giles replied.
Faith held her hands up in
defeat. “I’m just sayin…this is much
better for training and fighting and stuff.
Maybe we could just get the vamps to stop in here at night. You know, set up appointments and stuff, and
I could dust them from the comfort of my own training room.” She looked up with a smile and saw that only
Giles had a sort of puzzled
look on his face, Xander looked nervous and Anya was glaring at the slayer, her
hand possessively clutching onto Xander’s arm.
“It was a joke, guys,” Faith
said, rolling her eyes.
“Oh, yes, well…” Giles started,
as he took off his glasses, cleaning them. “Uh, I think that maybe…”
“What is SHE doing here?”
They all turned and looked
toward the doorway, seeing Dawn standing there, arms folded over her chest,
glaring in anger at the brunette slayer.
“Hey, Dawn, how are ya?”
Faith asked with a smile, taking a step toward the girl.
“What is she doing here?”
Dawn repeated through clenched teeth, ignoring Faith and looking at Willow.
“Dawnie, we talked about
this,” Willow explained. “We need her.”
Dawn ignored the redhead and
walked toward Faith. “Oh, so now, when it’s convenient for you, you come
crawling back here and expect us to just welcome you back? We don’t need you,” Dawn stated angrily.
“Hey, what’s with the ‘tude,
kid?” Faith asked, taking a step back,
holding her hands up.
“I’m just saying…if you were
half the slayer my sister was…”
“Dawn!” Willow shouted.
“I’d be what?” Faith asked,
her anger growing, “Half dead?”
At that, Dawn let out a
strangled growl and launched herself at the older girl. Faith blocked her first punch and held her
off as best she could without hurting her. A moment later, Willow yelled out
something in Latin and both girls froze.
“Stop! Both of you! We don’t need this! Faith is here to help…because we need her
help and she agreed when I asked her,” Willow said, looking toward Dawn. Murmuring
another word, she stood in between the two girls as they both were able to move
again. “We need to have a Slayer on the Hellmouth,
Dawnie, you know that.”
“Right, because what we
really need right now is more lies and betrayal,” Dawn ground out before
turning and storming out of the room.
They all stood for a moment
in an uncomfortable silence, until Anya moved toward Faith with a strange smile
on her face.
“So! You’re the one who…made my Xander a man,” she
said.
Faith glanced over at Xander
before looking back at Anya with a confused expression.
“Uh, yeah, I guess,” she
said uncertainly.
Anya nodded before dropping
the smile suddenly. “Well, just
remember, he’s mine now. You can’t have
him. So just keep your slutty little Slayer
paws off of him, got it?”
“Anya!” Xander shouted in
embarrassment.
“What? She needs to know her place…which is far away
from you.”
“Man, really feeling the
love here,” Faith said, looking toward Willow who smiled apologetically.
~*~
Before heading out to patrol
with Faith, Willow was stopped by Giles who pulled her aside.
“I…I think this will be a
good thing,” she told him weakly.
“What? Oh, yes, I
agree. It will just take a little
getting used to for all involved,” he responded. “But I actually wanted to talk to you about
something else.”
She looked up at him
questioningly.
“The…uh…the spell you asked
me to perform. Did you still want me to
do that?”
The redhead nodded, looking
down sadly.
“Well, I’ve given it a lot
of thought and though I don’t believe it’s the safest thing to do…” The Watcher paused and Willow looked up at
him, her eyes suddenly full of hope. He
let out a deep sigh. “I hate to see you
suffering so. You’re like a daughter to me, Willow and I hate to see you in
such pain. So…I will work the spell for
you.”
Willow stood, staring at him
for a moment, her face a blank canvas as his words sunk in. A moment later, the Watcher found himself
pulled into a tight embrace by a crying redhead.
“Thank you so much, Giles!
Thank you so much!”
“Oh, well…you’re…you’re
welcome, Willow,” he said, a slight blush on his face as she pulled back,
wiping at the tears.
“I thought that I would wait
a day or two…give me a chance to look it over, be sure it’s safe…”
“Sure, sure,” she said, her
voice full of relief. “No problem.”
“And I suppose that you will
want to discuss it with Tara,” he added.
She stopped nodding her head
and looking up at him. “I, uh…I think
that actually…it would be better if we…you know, didn’t tell her. I mean, she’ll know afterwards, but…I just
think it’s better if we…wait…until we know it works, or…or we could tell her,
just beforehand. You know, when we’re all ready to do it, maybe after it’s
performed, before it sets in…we could tell them all then.”
Giles nodded, not wanting to
push the issue any further.
Part 3
An hour later, Willow found
herself walking through the cemetery, on patrol with Faith.
“So, things seem a
little…tense around here,” Faith said casually.
“You could say that,” Willow
mumbled, looking down at the stake in her hand.
“It’ll get better, you
know. And for what it’s worth, I think
what you did…it shows how strong you really are. I mean, I knew you had a pair
way back when I kidnapped you at knife point and you stood up to me.”
“Ah, yes…the good old days,”
Willow said with a small, awkward smile.
She let out a deep sigh
before attempting to change the subject.
“So, how does it feel, to be back here and out on patrol again?”
“Weird…but…pretty good,
actually, I think…” Faith stopped, hearing a scream and spotting a vampire
chasing a girl in the distance. “I think
I got my first slay coming up. Wait
here?”
Willow nodded before Faith
took off after the vamp. The redhead stood, twirling the stake idly in her
hands. Suddenly, she heard a noise
behind her and spun around, fumbling with the stake, nearly dropping it. Finally getting a firm hold on it, she raised
her arm up, only to find a cold hand clamp down hard on hers.
“Gotta be a little quicker
than that, pet.”
“Geez, Spike, what did I
tell you about sneaking up on me?” She asked as he let go of her hands and she
lowered her arm, slipping the stake into her pocket.
“Well, you should be more
careful,” he told her gruffly.
“Yeah, whatever,” she
mumbled, turning to walk away, feeling very uncomfortable in his presence.
“Can we talk?” He yelled
out, following her.
“I really don’t think that’s
a good idea, Spike,” she tossed back over her shoulder, quickening her pace.
“We have to talk,” he
insisted.
She paused and let out a
deep sigh. “About what?” She asked,
without turning around.
“Red, we kissed,” he said
softly, his mouth nearly brushing over her ear.
“We ... we kissed, you and me.
All Gone with the Wind, with the rising
music, and the rising ...
music, and what was that, Willow?”
“A…a spell?” She answered
weakly.
“Oh don’t get all prim and
proper with me,” he growled in annoyance as she started to walk again, the
vampire still following her. “I know
what kind of girl you really are, don’t I?”
Willow stopped again and
turned around, glaring at him. “The kind that likes girls?” She said
flippantly.
“Pretty sure it wasn’t a
girl you were thinking about last night, pet,” he countered.
“Spike, look…what happened,
it…it was a mistake. I was upset and…and
you were being so nice to me, and…but…but Tara…she and I are going to try to
make it work and…”
Spike scoffed as she tried
to explain.
“She’s giving me another
chance, and I don’t want to mess it up.”
Spike opened his mouth to
reply, but before he had a chance to speak, Faith suddenly ran at him, knocking
him to the ground. They all looked up to
see a stake flying right through the air where Spike had been standing and
embedding itself in the tree that was behind him.
Willow turned around to see
a demon with a shark’s head standing along with two vampires.
“Oh, crap,” she
mumbled, “not you again.” She turned toward Spike, her hands on her
hips. “Spike, why do you have to gamble
with kittens?” She asked in disgust.
Spike stood up, brushing
himself off and looking at the demons.
“Easy boys, no need to get
physical-like,” the demon said, glaring at Spike. “Is there, Mr. Spike?”
“You know this guy?” Faith
asked, standing up next to the blonde vampire.
“Yeah,” Spike grumbled. “What do you want?”
“You know me, uh ... there
are a lot of things I would like, Mister
Spike,” the loan-shark
stated, pulling the stake out of the tree. “A house in
Bel Air ... with a
generously sized swimming pool ... and of course, the forty Siamese that you
owe me.” He walked up to Spike, putting
his arm around his neck.
“Take it easy, you’ll get
your kittens,” Spike told him with a growl.
Faith rolled her eyes and
Willow looked in with an appearance of disinterest.
“I just need a little more
time.”
“Time, time, time!” The
demon shouted. “Time is what turns
kittens into cats. Look, I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. Boys?” The demon
took a few steps back as his two minions stepped forward, ready to fight.
Faith jumped up, grabbing a
tree branch and kicked one of the vampires, sending him sprawling to the ground
at the demon’s feet. “Then you’d better close your eyes,” she quipped, jumping
down and pushing Spike away from her before punching the other vampire several
times.
“I said she was the Slayer,
boss,” the first vampire said as he struggled to stand up.
“Good for you,” the demon
responded. “The vampire Slayer, heard there was a new one in town. Have you ever given any thought to, uh,
freelance work? A little debt collecting perhaps?”
Faith gave him a skeptical
look, “No thank you.”
“Boss, he’s gone. Spike has split,” the vampire said, nudging
the demon.
“Well, that’s what I get for
socializing,” the demon said, shrugging.
“Alright, come on boys, we’ll locate Mr. Spike and ‘talk’ to him a
little more. Oh, and it was a genuine pleasure,” he added with a nod toward
Faith, who glared back at him, a disgusted look on her face.
“You know,” she told Willow
after the demons were gone, “the Hellmouth really never does get boring.”
Willow nodded solemnly, “tell
me about it.”
Part 4
The next day, the group
assembled at The Magic Box. Willow knew
that
Giles was planning on doing
the spell at some point that day, though she wasn’t aware that he had already
cast it that morning, expecting it to take place in a few hours. He had called them all to the shop so that
when the spell succeeded they would all be with Willow and understand what was
happening.
“Hey there, witchy-girl,”
Xander called as he met up with Willow a few blocks from the shop.
She shivered in the cool
morning air and he slipped his jacket off, offering it to her. She smiled,
accepting it, remembering this from the first time around and feeling relieved
to know it would not be the same this time.
“Thanks for the jacket,” she
said with a smile as they entered the shop.
“No problem. The cold only makes me stronger and more
macho-like,” Xander replied, flexing his muscles.
“Oh, Willow, I’m glad you’re
here,” Giles said, seeing the two walk in.
“There’s something I need to tell you, I…”
Giles was cut off as the
door flew open and a smoking Spike ran in.
Everyone looked up to see
the vampire dressed in an old-fashion brown suit, bow tie and hunters cap,
complete with fuzzy ear-flaps.
Willow giggled, remembering
this look.
“Spike?” Giles said, stunned
to see the vampire.
“Holy moly,” Anya added.
“You need to give me
asylum,” he told them.
“I’ll say,” Xander quipped.
“No need to get cute,” the
vampire said with a scowl, taking off the cap and running his hand through his
bleached-blond hair. “It’s a disguise.
Happens there’s a bloke I’d rather not see just now.” Walking further
into the store, he jumped up onto the counter, perching himself next to the
register. He looked toward Willow.
“You met him, I
believe. Toothy bloke with the baby-seal
breath?”
Willow simply rolled her
eyes.
“Nasty fellow, him. And ugly, too.”
“Yeah, he was really lookin
to give you a bit of pain if I remember correctly,” Faith said with a smile a
she came out from the training room.
Dawn looked toward the
Slayer with a scowl.
“Well, now that we’ve all
recovered from Spike’s…sartorial humor,” Giles said with a roll of his eyes,
“I’ll jump to the chase. I’ve decided to
perform the spell to forget for Willow.”
“What?” Several voices
yelled in unison.
“Willow, we talked about
this. You said that…” Tara started.
“I know, Tara, but…if I do
this…then things will go back to normal.
It will be better. I…I just can’t
take it anymore. It’s like…I feel like…”
Before Willow could finish, she suddenly collapsed onto the floor,
unconscious.
Immediately, everyone else
in the room collapsed as well, Giles and Anya slumped over together and Xander
falling next to Willow. Spike was
slumped over a pile of books on the counter. Dawn was lying on the floor and
Tara was slouched down in a chair.
~ * ~
Willow slowly opened her
eyes and looked around in groggy confusion.
She was lying on the floor in the middle of some kind of store,
surrounded by people she didn’t know.
Glancing toward the windows, she could see that it was nighttime and as
she slowly struggled to sit up she saw the other people in the room beginning
to waking up. Sitting up further, she noticed that she had been lying next to a
man and jumped back a little, gasping softly.
The dark-haired man jumped and gasped at the same time. For a moment they both stared at each other
before he suddenly broke out into a goofy grin.
“Hey,” he said, smiling.
“Uh, hey,” she replied
uncertainly.
Giles raised his head and
looked at the woman he was laying with, his mind foggy. “Hello?” He said a bit
louder than intended.
Spike, who had been laying
on the counter, shot up and rolled over, falling off of the counter and onto
the floor with a loud bang, causing Dawn to jump and slump back against a wall.
Faith stood up, looking
around nervously and noticed the young girl cowering in the corner.
“Who are you people?” Dawn
asked meekly.
Faith came up to the girl
and knelt before her. “Don’t worry,” she
told her.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Dawn
whimpered, cringing and turning her head away.
“Hey, it’s ok, I don’t know
anyone here either,” Faith said with a small smile.
“Yeah? Who are you?” Dawn
asked her skeptically.
“I’m…well…uh…” Faith
started, before being interrupted by Xander who jumped up and away from the
group nervously.
“Okay, who are you freaks?”
He shouted.
“You don’t know me?” Willow
asked in alarm as she stood up.
“Not a clue,” he told her.
“But you were all just like
‘oh, hey,’” she said, imitating his poor attempt at being suave.
“Yeah, 'cause I thought you
were a girl and I'd remember, but...” Xander began to explain, holding his arms
out, shaking his head.
Willow clutched her chest
before responding. ”Well, I am a girl! I'm ... not sure ... who I am exactly,
but...”
”Okay, why was I on the
ground?” He yelled, beginning to panic.
“And why are you all staring at me? Is this some kind of psych test? Am
I getting paid for this?”
”It's not just you,” Giles
told him as he stood up. “Does anyone remember anything?” He asked before
everyone shook their heads, looking around bewildered.
“Nope,” Spike answered.
”Well, maybe we all got ...
terribly drunk and this is some sort of, uh, blackout,” Giles guessed with a
smile.
”I don't think I drink,”
Dawn responded nervously.
“I-I don't see any booze. I
don't feel any head bumps,” Anya said, looking around, “and I don't see Allen
Funt.”
”Okay. I'm not panicking.
I'm not. I'm not,” Xander said, clearly beginning to panic as everyone looked
at him. “Stop looking at me like I'm panicking!”
“Hey, take it easy,” Faith
told him. “Okay, no one's hurt, right?
And none of us look like we’re gonna go all murder, rampage on anyone, so ...
we're probably safe. Here. Wherever here is.”
“Look at this stuff on these
shelves,” Willow said, pointing to the walls. “Weird jars of weird stuff. Weird books with weird covers, like,” she
paused, picking up a book from the counter, “Magic for Beginners. Oh!”
“This is a magic shop. A-a-a
real magic shop,” Tara said, standing up from her chair.
“Alright, then, so maybe
something magic-y happened,” Faith surmised.
“Magic! Magic's all
balderdash and chicanery,” Giles said with a scoff. “I'm afraid we don't know a bloody thing.
Except I seem to be British, don't I? Uh, and a man. With ... glasses. Well, that narrows it down considerably.”
“I don't like this,” Dawn said
softly to Faith.
“It's okay, don't worry.
Look, I got your back and you got mine, okay?”
Dawn nodded and smiled a
little.
“We'll all get our memory
back, and it'll all be right as rain,” Giles said with an unconvincing smile.
“Oh, listen to Mary Poppins,”
Spike chimed in. “He's got his crust all stiff and upper with that nancy-boy
accent. You Englishmen are always so... “ He paused looking around for a
moment. “Bloody hell! Sodding, blimey, shagging, knickers,
bollocks, oh God! I'm English!”
“Welcome to the nancy
tribe,” Giles said with a scowl.
“You don't suppose you and I
... we're not related, are we?” Spike asked in disgust.
“There is a ruggedly
handsome resemblance,” Anya stated, looking to two men over carefully.
“And you do in spire a,
uh…particular feeling of…familiarity and…disappointment,” Giles said
slowly. “Older brother?” He asked.
Spike laughed bitterly. “Father.
Oh, god, how I must hate you.”
“What did I do?” Giles asked
in outrage.
“There’s always something,”
Spike told him. “And what’s with the
trollop?”
“Hey!” Anya shouted.
“I saw you! Sleeping
together,” Spike said in accusation.
“Resting together,” Giles
amended.
“Look!” She shouted, holding
up her hand with Xander’s engagement ring on it. “It’s okay, we’re engaged. It’s a lovely ring.”
“Oh, great, a tarty stepmom
who's half old Daddy's age,” Spike shouted.
“Tarty?” Anya asked, hands
on her hips.
“Old?” Giles responded. “You little twerp, I'm young enough to still
get carded.”
“Carded!” Willow
shouted. “Driver's licenses!” At that, everyone began searching for I.D.
cards.
“It's me!” Xander
shouted. “'Alexander Harris.' Cute
picture. Hey, I exist.”
“I'm Willow Rosenberg,” the
redhead said with a strange look, glancing at Xander. “Heh, Willow. Funny
name.”
“I think it's pretty,” Tara
said from across the room.
Willow smiled. “Whadda you got?”
“Tara,” she told her,
holding up her card, “and look, I'm a student at U.C. Sunnydale.”
“Me too!” Willow said
gleefully. “Hey, maybe we're study buddies.”
“I don't have a wallet,”
Dawn told Faith.
“Well…um…oh, hey! Look
here,” the Slayer responded, pointing to the charm handing around the younger
girls neck. “You’re Dawn.”
“Or Umad,” Dawn replied with
a chuckle.
“I'm, uh, called Rupert
Giles,” Giles stated.
“Rupert!” Spike said,
laughing.
“You're not too old to put
across my knee, you know ... sonny,” Giles said indignantly, seeing the blonde
still laughing. “Anyway, what did I call you?”
“Um…” Spike paused, looking
around at the labels on his clothes. “Oh! 'Made with care for Randy.'” He
looked up at Giles, an angry look on his face.
“Randy Giles? Why not just
call me 'Horny Giles,' or 'Desperate for a Shag Giles'? I knew there was a
reason I hated you!”
“Randy's ... a family name,
undoubtedly,” Giles said, clearing his throat and looking away.
“Oh, hey, I have a name on
my jacket!” Willow shouted, pulling the jacket off. “Harris,” she read.
“Harris?” Xander asked.
“That's my last name. Maybe I have a brother and you go out with him. Or maybe
you go out with me.”
“Well, we did wake up all
snuggly-wuggly,” she said with a grin, walking closer to him. “Maybe you’re my boyfriend.”
“Either that, or I got one
pissed-off brother out there somewhere,” he said, both of them smiling at each
other.
“I'm Anya!” Anya shouted,
looking at some papers behind the counter.
“Um, this key fits this
lock,” she said, holding up a key that had been around her neck, “and, uh, the
forms ... next to the cash register say that, uh, Rupert and…and Anya own the
shop together.”
“This is OUR magic shop?”
Giles asked, walking over to Anya. “Uh, well, that's very, uh, progressive of
me.
“So do you have a name?”
Dawn asked Faith
”Yeah,” Faith said,
uncertainly, holding a card behind her back.
“It’s, uh…Faith.”
“What’s wrong with
that? That’s a pretty name,” Dawn told
her.
Faith made a funny face. “No,
yeah, it’s…um…swell, really…I just…”
“What are you hiding behind
your back?” Dawn asked, reaching for the card in the older girl’s hands.
Faith tried to pull her hand
away but Dawn got a hold of the card and yanked it out of her grasp. Looking down at it her eyes widened before
she took a step back.
“What? What is it?” Xander
asked nervously.
“A parole card,” Dawn said
quietly, looking down at the card. “You
were in jail.”
“Yeah, well…I mean, whatever
I did…I got out…legally, right? So…”
Suddenly, everyone took a
step back away from Faith and she scowled.
“Give me back the card,
brat!” She yelled, grabbing for the card.
“Whatever, Faith…if that is
your real name,” Dawn said, eyeing her cautiously.
“Whatever, Umad,” Faith shot
back. “Boy, you're a pain in the..” She started to say just as Dawn started
talking.
“Boy, you're bossy!”
They both stopped and looked
at each other, eyes wide in surprise.
“Do you think we're-“ Dawn
began.
“Sisters?” Faith finished.
They both smiled and hugged
each other, the parole card and argument temporarily forgotten.
“You never showed me
affection like that!” Spike yelled.
Giles looked at him in
confusion.
“...I'd wager,” the blonde
added. “And her…she’s a hardened
criminal even.”
“Hey!” Faith yelled, staring
him down, hands on her hips.
“Look, we need to figure out
what’s going on. We need to get help,”
Willow said, attempted to break up the impending argument.
“Looks like Willow here
fancies herself the boss,” Spike said with a smirk.
“We have a kid here,” she
argued.
“A teenager,” Dawn supplied.
Willow rolled her eyes. “A teenager. A-and we have no idea what's
wrong with us. I think a hospital is our best bet.”
“Uh, yes…let’s head out,”
Giles said just before they all began to head for the door.
“A-anyone know how to get
there?” Willow asked uncertainly, as she put her arm around Xander’s offered
elbow.
“Dad can drive,” Spike
offered. “He's bound to have some classic midlife-crisis transport. Something
red, shiny, shaped like a penis.”
Just then, Faith opened the
door and there stood two vampires, growling and snarling. They all screamed and slammed the door shut
before crowding together on the floor, cowering below the window.
Part 5
“Did you see that?” Willow
asked in a hushed voice, trying to calm her racing heart.
“Vampires!” Spike growled.
“Maybe it’s Halloween,” Tara
suggested.
Dawn shook her head, “It
doesn’t feel like Halloween.”
“Even if it is,” Xander
stated, “those guys are definitely not kids and those are definitely not
costumes. Randy’s right, looks like we
have vampires.”
Just then, they all jumped,
hearing the demons pounding on the door.
“Slayer!” They shouted.
“They’re definitely not
knocking for candy,” Xander whispered.
“Okay, doors. We need to check to see if there’s other
doors, a-and make sure they’re locked and put large objects in front of them,”
Willow told them, gesturing for Xander and Faith to go check the doors. They
jumped up and scurried away.
“Monsters are real. Did we
know this?” She asked, looking around nervously.
“I don’t know, but we n-need
our memories back. We need to get to the
hospital,” Tara answered.
“As the proprietor of a
magic shop, I propose we fight them,” Giles proclaimed. “We can use things here in the shop. You know, magic…tricks or whatever.”
“Send out Spike!” One of the
vampires outside yelled.
“They seem to want spikes,”
Willow said, looking around in confusion.
“Oh!” Spike yelled, running
off for a moment and coming back with an arm full of wooden stakes, dropping
them to the ground.
The group picked them up,
looking at them.
“But wait!” Dawn shouted,
before lowering her voice to a harsh hush.
“What are they going to do with them?”
“Slayer, come out and play!”
They shouted through the window.
“Slay her,” Willow repeated
out loud. “That’s just what they said
before.”
“They’re gonna use the
spikes to…” Tara began, horrified.
“To slay someone?
A..a...female someone!” Willow finished. “Who do these jerks think they are?”
“Bloodsuckers,” Anya
provided. “They kill by sucking
blood. Take it easy, Willow.”
“You guys!” Faith yelled as
she and Xander came running back in.
“Trap door in the basement,
it seems to lead to the sewer,” Xander told them.
“Let’s go!” Anya shouted as
they all stood up and started running toward the back of the shop.
Suddenly, the front door
burst open, a vampire appearing before them, causing the entire group to scream
and turn, slightly altering their course but continuing to run.
One of the vampires grabbed
Spike. “You owe us!” He yelled.
“Fine! Take your damn
spikes,” he yelled, pulling the stakes out of his pockets and throwing them
toward the vampire who looked at him oddly.
Spike tried to move past the
vampire but was stopped with a hand on his chest.
“Don’t be stupid,” the
vampire growled, just as another vampire came around and grabbed a hold of
Willow.
“Get your creepy hands off
me, you son of a-” She yelled before his hand clasped over her mouth.
“You’ve got the boss’s
kittens,” the vampire told Spike.
“Kittens?” He repeated in
complete confusion.
Willow closed her eyes and
suddenly there was a bright flash of light.
The vampire holding her was thrown back into a wall. Everyone stopped in place and watched in
shock as the vampire near Spike shoved him against the wall. Willow stared the vampire down for just a
moment and again there was a bright flash of light followed by the vampire
being thrown away from Spike.
“You stay away from Randy!”
She growled, her voice low and her eyes going dark. Grabbing a stake from the floor, she suddenly
raised it up and slammed it into the vampire’s chest. He burst into dust as everyone, including
Willow, watched in amazement.
“Whoa!” Dawn whispered.
“What did you do?” Faith
asked.
“Uh…I…” Willow faulted, not
sure what to say.
The other vampire rushed
past her and out the door as she turned around to face the rest of the group.
“I don’t know…but it was
cool!” She said, a wide smile crossing her face.
Part 6
“I think I know why I’m the
boss,” Willow said, still beaming widely.
“I’m like a…a superhero or something.” She paused, “Okay, so…I have a
plan. They seem to want Randy, and I seemed to have some kind of cool magical
powers or something. So, you guys go
through the sewers and get to the hospital and Randy and I’ll give the monsters
a run for their money.”
“That’s your plan?” Spike
asked skeptically.
Willow nodded.
“I’m not leaving the shop,”
Anya told them. “I…I have to protect the
cash register, and…do some spells.”
“Oh. Well, magic might
help,” Giles said. “After seeing
what…what Willow can do…I…I suppose it’s worth a shot.”
“Alright, you work on that
then,” Willow conceded. “We need to go. Ready,
Randy?”
“Ready, Willow,” he said
with a nod before they both ran out the front door, past several vamps standing
by the shop.
Before they got very far,
one of the vampires got a hold of Spike’s shoulder, yanking him backwards. Spike’s human mask slipped away and he lashed
out at another vampire next to him, sending the demon flying backwards.
Willow stopped and looked
back to see Spike fighting the two vampires.
“Hey! I’m a superhero too!” He shouted with a
smile.
Willow immediately noticed
his vampiric features and turned, screaming, and ran away.
“Willow, where are you going?”
Spike yelled after her just as one of the vamps hit him hard in the face,
sending him sprawling to the ground. It took only a few moments for Spike to
fight the vampires off. As soon as they
were all taken down, he took off after the redhead.
“Hey! Willow! Wait up!” He
shouted, running after her.
A minute later he had caught
up with her, his vampire face still showing, unbeknownst to him. Reaching the witch, he grabbed her arm,
spinning her around. Immediately, she
let go with a blast of energy that sent him to the ground before kneeling over
his abdomen.
“Bloody hell, what are you
doing?” He yelled.
Suddenly, she realized… “Oh!
You…you don’t know who you are!”
“Right,” he said, rolling
his eyes, “none of us do, and we’re being chased by…”
“You’re a vampire!” She
interrupted him.
He looked appalled. “How can you say…I…me…a vampire? No.”
“Uh, you got the lumpies
goin on,” she told him, “and you’re all with the
grrr…a-and the sharp teeth.”
He lifted his hand to his
face, feeling his forehead and teeth.
Willow sat up straighter,
but stayed over him.
He looked up at her.
“I kill your kind,” she told
him matter-of-factly.
“And I bite yours,” he
responded. “So how come I don’t wanna
bite you?” He looked up at her
pensively. Neither knew what to say.
Finally, Willow shrugged and
shook her head which was becoming a little hazy. “I…I don’t know, but…your
face…it’s…uh…a little intimidating.
Could you maybe…change it back?”
Spike had a look of extreme
concentration for a moment before his vampire features finally melted away and
Willow smiled down at him, still straddling him.
“Much better,” she
declared. “You’re much more handsome
this way.”
Spike grinned at her. “That right?
The sorceress finds me attractive, now does she?”
“Yeah, well…I…I mean…”
Willow stammered, feeling her cheeks heat up as she looked down at the man
below her. Before she had a chance to finish, Spike reach up and grabbed the
back of her head, pulling her down into a passionate kiss. It wasn’t until she finally pulled back,
gasping for breath, that she realized that had just happened. Immediately, she jumped off of him and
scrambled backwards a few feet.
“I…I…what are you doing?”
She asked.
“Well, I know that we lost
our memories, here, Willow,” he said with a cocky grin, “but I suspect you
remember what kissing is.”
“I…well, yeah,” she said,
rolling her eyes. “But…I…we…I shouldn’t
be doing this. I mean…I think I’m
possibly dating that guy…Alex,” she stammered, making a distasteful face. “A-and I can’t just be kissing someone else.”
“You don’t even know that
he’s your boyfriend!” Spike argued. “In fact,
for all we know, I am actually your boyfriend and you were cheating on me with
that twerp! And when you think about it, you really owe me…cheating on me like
that.”
“Well, when you look at it like
that…” Willow began, looking dreamily into his face, slowly leaning down. Just before her lips met his, she pulled
back. “I mean, no! I…I’m not going to do that, and I’m pretty
sure I’m not the cheating type, so…”
Before she had a chance to
finish, Spike pulled her into another deep, soul searing kiss, and this time, when he finally let her
go, she didn’t pull away.
“Well, I didn’t feel that
attached to him really,” she conceded, finally, panting softly. She smiled
shyly, her lips pink and swollen, her face flushed. “Feels more like a long lost love kinda thing
anyway, a-and…I’m pretty sure I believe in living in the now.”
With that, they both leaned
in, their lips meeting in what began as a soft kiss, but quickly escalated into
another passion filled meeting.
“Oh Randy,” she gasped
softly.
“Oh Willow,” he
whispered.
They both paused, leaning
back just a bit, making an ‘ick’ face at how funny both of their names were
before resuming their embrace.
Part 7
Below the city, lost
somewhere in the tunnels, Xander, Tara, Dawn and Faith were wandering slowly
through the sewers.
“How are you doin, Dawn?”
Faith asked, patting the younger girl on the shoulder.
“Um, I’m okay,” Dawn told
her. “It’s scary, but weirdly…kinda
familiar.”
Faith nodded, “I know what
you mean.”
“How are you?” Dawn
questioned.
The older girl
shrugged. “Alright…I mean, considering
I’m trapped in a sewer with a bunch of strangers, with no memory and am being
chased by a vampire.”
Dawn nodded. “I’m really glad you’re here,” she told
her. “I don’t know what I would do if…”
Before she had a chance to finish, an arm reached around the corner she was
leaning on and grabbed her shoulder.
Dawn let out a scream and tried to pull away. The vampire came around the corner, gripping
the girl tighter, snarling.
“Hey! Get your ugly hands
off of her!” Faith yelled, before punching him hard in the face.
The vampire stumbled
backwards, letting go of Dawn, who scrambled to get away. Before he had a chance
to react, Faith jumped up, grabbing onto a pipe up above and swung her legs
out, kicking the demon in the chest.
Leaping down, she pulled a stake out of her pocket and slammed it into
his chest, watching in awe as he turned to dust.
“No body messes with my
girl,” Faith said, smiling at Dawn, before putting her arm around her.
~*~
Giles and Anya had their own
set of troubles, trying to work a little magic. Anya insisted she knew which
book held the correct spell, though with each new incantation she chanted,
their situation worsened…from bunnies…to more bunnies…to swirling, indoor
storms…to dueling skeletons…and now a horrible beast had taken over the shop,
leaving Giles and Anya hiding behind the register counter.
“Look what you’ve done, you
lunatic woman,” Giles whispered harshly as he leafed through a book.
“Don’t blame me, you snobby,
snotty, thinks he’s so great kind of jerk,” Anya whispered back. “And I…feel compelled to take some vengeance
on you.” With that, she leaned over and
hit him over the head with a large book.
“Ow!” He yelled. “God, no
wonder I’m leaving you!” He told her.
“Look.” He pulled a plane ticket out of his pocket, neither of them
noticing as a small crystal slipped out with it and fell to the floor. “One-way ticket to London, and out of this
engagement!”
“Of all the nerve!” Anya
yelled.
Giles ignored her and looked
back down at the book. Finally, finding
what he was looking for, he whispered, “Fatas…venga…mata….waray.”
A bright blue light flashed
and a second later, they found themselves again completely alone in the shop,
the large demon now gone, along with all of the bunnies.
They both slowly stood up
and Giles began to walk out from behind the counter, his foot stepping down on
the crystal, breaking it.
~*~
Dawn smiled up at Faith,
slipping her arm around the older girl’s waist and smiling at her.
“I…I think we n-need to get
out of here,” Tara told Xander.
“Good idea, just have to
figure out what direction to go in,” he said with a nod.
“Faith, you’re the best big
sister anyone could ever ask fo-“ Dawn paused and they all stumbled a little as
their memories came rushing back. The
teenager quickly pulled away from the Slayer, a look of horror and disgust on
her face as she remembered what had happened.
She glanced toward Tara who looked like she was about to cry as she
realized what had happened.
~*~
Willow and Spike were on the
other side of town, again fighting the group of vampires. Willow, telekinetically pulled a mailbox from
the ground and sent the sharp, pointy post spiraling forward into a vampire’s
chest, smiled smugly.
“Don’t mess with Willow the
vam-“ Suddenly she stopped, as the memories all suddenly hit her at once, and
didn’t see the other vampire as he came towards her, landing a hard punch to
her face, sending her to the ground. She heard Spike calling her name and
opened her eyes just as the vampire above her kicked her hard in the
stomach. She grimaced and pulled her
legs closer into body, trying to shield herself as best she could.
Spike quickly fought off the
vampire on him and ran over, grabbing the vampire looming over Willow and threw
him back before dusting him.
Just then the shark-faced
demon walked up to him.
“You’re an odd duck, Mr.
Spike,” he told him. “Fight your own
kind…palling around with the Slayer and her little friends. And whoa, that suit! Chutzpah must be your
middle name. Uh, hey, look, um…about
our little debt problem, it’s okay, I don’t need the kittens.”
“You’ll get paid,” Spike
growled.
“Right, sure,” the demon
said, holding his hands up. “You’re good
for it, I know that. I’m just going to,
uh…yeah.” With that, he cleared his throat and walked away.
Spike turned with a sigh and
walked over to where Willow still lay on the ground, holding her stomach.
“You alright?” He asked,
reaching a hand down to help her up.
She looked up at him sadly,
not answering, before accepting his hand and struggled to stand up. Without a word, she turned, eyes watery, and
slowly walked away.
Part 8
Later that night, Tara
packed up her things. Willow knew there
was nothing she could say this time to stop her. The events of this part of the evening being
all too familiar to her, she got up from where she was huddled on the floor and
ran out the door.
Eventually, she found
herself sitting at the Bronze, a drink in front of her, though she hadn’t
touched it in over a half hour. She sat, contemplating everything. The magic gone wrong, the memories that
seemed destined to haunt her for the rest of her days, and Tara…the failed
relationship that she wasn’t able to save even on the second time around. Feeling
someone come up behind her, the redhead turned her head and glanced up at
Spike.
He tilted his head to the
side, his expression almost sympathetic.
A few seconds later, she turned away, not saying anything and he stomped
away in a huff.
Spike found a vacant spot
across the club, near a few couches and leaned against the wall, listening to
the music, looking up absently at the ceiling.
“I couldn’t do it.”
He looked down and to his
side, seeing the witch now standing next to him.
“Do what?” The vampire
questioned.
“Make it better. Even now…even with…she’s still leaving.” She looked down sadly.
“That a bad thing?” He
asked, eyebrows raised.
She shook her head. “I…I don’t know anymore. I mean…this…being with her…having her back
again, was what I wanted…I thought, but now…now I just don’t know, but I…”
Before she could finish her
thought, the vampire leaned over, wrapping an arm tightly around her waist and
pulled her close to him, kissing her. It
was a deep, claiming kiss that left her weak in the knees and light in the
head, and all thoughts of Tara or her previous life slipped away, if only for
that one, wonderful moment.