Willow: The Crow

Chapter 2

In his home, Giles was busy setting about to give his living room a fresh coat of paint. It was something he would constantly kept putting off but today he decided it needed to be done. With all of his furniture and floor now covered with old blankets, Giles opened several windows to help air out the paint fumes.

Grabbing the first can of paint, he started to open the lid until he heard unexpected knock at the door.

"Coming." Giles said, moving to answer the door. He smiled, thinking if it happened to be anyone he knew, he might try and put them to work.

Opening the door, he was greeted by the familiar sight of Xander, Buffy and —

"Willow." The former watcher and librarian gasped in surprise. His first instinct was to glance to Buffy and Xander for an answer who where standing on either side of her.

"You might like to ask her." Xander said with a nod towards Willow. "We're still in the denial stage."

"I came back from the grave." The redhead announced innocently. "Well, it's not as bad as it sounds, except for the dying and digging myself out part."

Giles stared blankly at Willow as Xander shrugged. "See."

O-X-O

For so long, Buffy had hoped and prayed for Willow to return. However, she never expected Willow to be returning from the Land of the Dead. Sadly, it was another unexpected curve ball thrown at them in this entire 'reality' warped place called Sunnydale.

What made it worse was that the Slayer felt something amiss with her friend. Buffy could see it in her behaviour, and it reflected very much in the way Willow was dressed. The Willow that Buffy remembered dressed in bright and colourful clothing, but now it was replaced by black. Even when Willow smiled, it no longer seemed to be sweet or innocent but dark and slightly twisted.

The Slayer looked over to her friend who perched herself on top the seat of a wooden chair like a bird. Willow intently watched Xander helping Giles flip through a stack of old books they brought out from his study when she suddenly turned her head and met Buffy's glaze.

"Problem," She asked.

"No." Buffy replied rather too quickly. "No problem."

"Good, I figured you should be used to the dead coming back to life by now." Willow smirked in amusement. Then she looked worried. "You're not planning to stake me?"

Buffy almost stood up in shock by the question. "Of course not!"

"Just wanted to be sure." Willow teased.

"Here!" Giles said, obviously too busy to hear the two women talking. He pointed to a page in an old occult book he was leafing through.

Giles read the section aloud. "The Crow is one of many spirit guides between the world of the living and the realm of the dead. The Crow is known to help restless souls, burdened by the weight of their own sadness, to find peace and a chance to set the wrong things right. The Crow endows them with supernatural powers, vision, and to be their guide."

Xander anxiously waited for him to continue. "Well? Go on." He urged when Giles stopped.

"That's it." Giles said, turning to the next page but finding no more valuable information. "There might be more about the Crow in another book."

"However, the information you just read describes me perfectly," Willow said with a hint of amusement. "I'm the eerie Crow girl."

"This isn't funny, Willow," Buffy said softy. "We're talking about you."

"Do you hear me laughing?" The redhead replied with a cold look, then breaking in a nervous laugh. "Oh, believe me, I wish I could."

"Willow," Giles moved next to her with a book in hand. "Are you sure about this? I don't doubt something extraordinary happened to you but are you positive?"

"All right." Willow said with a devilish grin. "I'll introduce you to my better half to prove it."

Nearly on cue, they all saw a large black bird soaring through the open window. It headed straight for Willow and perched itself on her shoulder. They all recognized it as a crow but what astonished them was that it made eye contact with each of them, until it was staring directly at Giles.

Slowly, the former watcher studied the bird as it seemed to scrutinize him back.

He leaned closer…

"Careful!" Willow said, startling him. "He doesn't like it when strangers get close to him, he'll put both of your eyes out."

Giles backed away, with an uneasy smile. He could almost see the intelligence in the bird's eyes. "Of course, thanks for the warning."

"Now, if that's not enough, I can show you my game face." Willow grinned showing her pearly white teeth.

It was three hours later and the Scooby gang worked hard to piece together what happened to Willow and to identify her killers.

"Willow, we're not getting any closer to identifying that magic ritual they performed." Giles rubbed his brow from exhaustion from reading the numerous books for any useful clues. He felt that Willow wasn't telling the whole picture about the sacrificial ceremony performed on her. "Is there anything else you can remember from their chant or how the ceremony was done?"

"I told you what I can remember and I was killed when the ceremony was completed," Willow simply said.

"If you could provide a little more detail on how the ceremony was carried out, it…"

"Giles!" Buffy loudly interrupted. "Willow died and you want her to gave every graphic account of it?"

"I understand but this is important." Giles defended himself to Buffy. "Knowing how the ceremony was done can be just as telling as what was said during it. Everything I heard from Willow suggests that they summoned something and we must know what it was. If they're planning to use it against you, we must know everything about it."

Xander sat at the living room table offering a cracker to the crow which hungrily accepted. He looked at Giles. "I have an idea, why don't you give Willow a break before asking how she was murdered. These cultists waited a year so far, what's another day?"

The three of them soon erupted into a three way argument. Willow sat quietly, watching them when the crow stopped picking away at the cracker to look directly at her. She heard it speaking in her mind.

"There is another way…"

Willow listened to her spirit guide and after hearing its helpful suggestion she spoke aloud. "My better half has another way." Willow nodded to the crow. "He told me that I can project my experiences on another, it's… It's difficult to explain, let alone repeat what my birdie said but the short version is that when I touch one of you, I can make you re-experience what I went through that night. Everything."

Giles seriously pondered for a second over what he just heard. "Everything?" he asked with a slight edge of nervousness.

"Everything I heard, thought, smelled, saw and even felt you will experience." Willow said in an unmistakably ominous tone. "I'm able to control it to a degree, so I can shield you somewhat from the more extreme sensations, but you will still feel what I went through."

"We're talking something like a Vulcan mind meld?" Xander said.

Willow grinned. "Not exactly but close enough."

Slowly, Giles removed his glasses and placed them on the table. "What do I have to do?"

Willow moved towards him and gestured to a nearby chair. "You may want to sit."

With a nod, Giles sat down and tried to make himself comfortable, even though his heart was almost pounding through his chest at what might be coming next.

Standing before him, Willow rubbed her hands together briefly. As she did, Xander and Buffy stood, moving to a position to watch. Just then, Willow took in a deep breath, holding it before releasing it as her head tilted down toward the floor. Watching, they noticed that her red hair slowly turned to pitch black. When Willow raised her head again, they all saw that her hair wasn't the only thing was changed, her face was now ghostly white, with her eyes and mouth highlighted in black.

Xander stared in disbelief, Buffy gasped quietly, but Giles looked up at Willow in awe, his never ending curiosity in the supernatural was now helping to overcome his fear. This was a new experience with something rarely encountered, if the lack of information on the Crow in his occult books gave any indication. He wanted to learn more about the Crow, especially if Willow could communicate with it.

Willow bent down to him, placing her hands on either side of his head. She whispered to him. "Are you sure you wish to go through with this, Giles? I can't guarantee how much I can shield you… You could even feel me dying… My terror… It could be too much."

Giles tried to put on a brave front but it did not look too convincing. "I trust you and it's important to find out who did this to you and to stop them."

Her fingers tightened slightly about his head. Willow whispered again.

"Remember, whatever you experience, it's not happening to you, keep thinking that. Oh yes, and try not to have a heart attack."

"Not funny, Willow."

"Sorry, Giles but I have been finding a lot of stuff funny lately." Willow replied flatly. "Death does that to you."

"Can we get this over with before I change my mind?" Giles was starting to have second thoughts about letting Willow run amok in his head.

"On three," Willow said before counting up. "One… Two… THREE."

Xander and Buffy were watching it all when Giles body suddenly jerked and convulsed. He breathed through clenched teeth before letting out a long agonizing scream, as if being killed. Seeing enough, Buffy grabbed Willow and pulled her away from Giles.

"Giles!" Buffy shouted as she knelt over him. Xander quickly joined her beside Giles. The former watcher looked pale as he opened his eyes. They all saw the look of horror in them.

He spoke in a faint whisper. "They… What they did to her was inhuman!"

Giles looked past Xander and Buffy to Willow. Their eyes met and they shared a look of understanding before he buried his face in his hands, trying to force out the horrible experience that Willow showed him, but ex-watcher couldn't completely push the what she had shown to him from his mind.

"Oh, GOD!" He quietly bawled. Humans did this to her, not vampires, not demons or other creatures of the night but HUMANS. People like that do not deserve to live.

"Oh, God." Giles wanted to kill them all for Willow.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder and Giles found him staring up at her. With her white face and black outlined eyes and mouth, her face looked somehow sadder now. "I'm sorry."

Giles gathered himself and assured her. "Please don't be, you have been through enough to start feeling guilty now."

He looked to Buffy and Xander who remained by his side, waiting, not sure what to say or do.

"I'm fine." Giles told them as he slowly regained some of his composure. "I found out a lot more than the type of summoning ceremony they did."

"What?" Buffy asked.

"I recognized the bastard that Willow saw before they killed her."

"Who is he?" Willow said.

"He attends my classes at the college." Giles saw the confusion in Willow's expression. He remembered that she did not know what occurred in the year she was gone.

"I got a night job teaching at the college seven months ago." He explained. "The bastard is one of my students."

Willow eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Do you have a name?"

"Jason Hanson." Giles said. "I always found something odd about him."

"Where is he?" Willow demanded. "Does he live on campus?"

Giles thought hard before answering. "I don't remember… "

"Don't bother, I found him. He lives off campus" Buffy said, standing next to Giles phone, holding an open telephone book. "I got his phone number and address right here."

Willow went to Buffy's side to look herself before ripping the page right from the phone book. "I'll deal with him and find out who the others are."

"We all should go." Xander suggested. "Strength in numbers never does hurt."

"No." Willow shook her head. "We have no idea what they might have if they're into the dark arts. I should go and you should all find out what they summoned forth."

Without saying another word, Willow headed for the door, pocketing the torn telephone page.

She opened the door before realizing that Buffy was following her. Willow stopped to look at her friend.

"What are you doing?"

"Going with you," Buffy replied. "You might be the Crow, but I'm still the Slayer. The two of us together can deal with them and anything they might have called up. Besides, I'm looking forward to putting the fear of God into them."

"But they're after you." Willow pleaded. "It'll be dangerous."

"Anymore dangerous than what? Vampires? Demons? Ogres? Trolls?" Buffy said, patting Willow on the shoulder. "They might know about me but not you. You're our wild card. Come on, let's see what a Slayer and the Crow can do together."

Willow nodded. "All right, let's go." She then looked to Giles and Xander. "You two stay here and find out about the ceremony they performed."

Willow walked outside with Buffy right behind her. She waited as Buffy closed the door behind her.

Buffy started to walk across the court. "I can't wait to get my hands on these people. I just might forgo the rule about the Slayer not harming humans because these people are monsters of the worse sort."

"Buffy?"

She turned to see Willow standing next to the fountain not following her. The Slayer walked back to her. "Something wrong?"

"No. I just want to say this because I might not have a chance later on." Willow looked uncomfortable for a moment, biting down on her lower lip, fighting for words and struggling to make eye contact with her. "You're my friend, Buffy, and one of the reasons I came back was to protect you."

"Will, I … I don't know what to say." Buffy said, feeling a tear forming in her eye and a desperate need to hug her again. "Saying thank you sounds very poor and inadequate, except I'm glad you're here."

Stepping forward, Buffy wrapped her arms about her and Willow happily returned the hug. They stood there for a few moments by themselves when Buffy pulled back at arms length.

"Let's don't jinx ourselves. If memory serves me correctly, when people start talking like this in the movies, one of them winds up not coming back. We can finish this conversation after we deal with this current crisis. Just the two of us. Okay?"

Keeping both hands on Buffy's upper arms, Willow turned her head and glanced towards Giles' house. She looked at the windows to make sure they were not being watched. Once she determined they were alone, she looked back at Buffy. The Slayer saw something in her friend's eyes as she spoke. Fear? Dread? Hesitation? It was hard to tell now with Willow's odd mannerisms and her white and black coloured face.

"I love you, Buffy. Please remember that."

Alarm bells sounded in the Slayer's mind from the tone in Willow's voice and the look in her eyes but it came too late. Willow's hands gripped Buffy's arms tightly before the Slayer found herself being violently twisted around and roughly jerked backwards. Holding Buffy against her, Willow wrapped her powerful arms around the Slayer's neck, placing her in a sleeper hold, cutting off the blood supply to the brain.

"Willow… What are you…!" Buffy only managed to gasp out as she fought to free herself. She grabbed the arm that was locked about her neck to pull it away, but she could not budge it. Buffy did not realize just how strong Willow had become until now.

Willow kept her strong hold on the struggling Slayer as Buffy slowly lost strength. A few moments later, the Slayer's arms dropped limply to her sides and her knees buckled. When Willow was sure that Buffy was truly unconscious, she very gently lowered her friend to the ground.

"I'm sorry!" She cried softly to Buffy, even though she could not possibly hear her. "This is not a job for a Slayer but a Crow... I don't what you to be a part of what I'm going to do."

Willow knelt down and hugged her one last time before dragging Buffy back to Giles' front door and giving it three loud pounds with her fist. Then she ran off quickly to start her hunt for her killers. With the sun setting over the city, the crow took to the sky following her.

Tonight, Willow Rosenberg was no more.

Tonight, she was the Crow.