A/N: Once again, thanks to my beta Hortense for reading this chapter over for me.


Consequence

Chapter 7 – Michael's Aegis

Rita and Dawn carried Buffy to the hospital wing and I followed, feeling as helpless as ever. I knew I was useless after losing my magic, but I'd never realized I would be such a liability. Buffy was hurt, maybe dying, and it was my fault.

"Comin' through!" Rita yelled as we breached the doors of the infirmary, them carefully hefting Buffy onto the nearest bed they saw and I following behind ineffectually. "Hey, Dr. Jerry?" Rita bellowed, leaving Buffy's side as Dawn rearranged her.

I had to help, I had to do something, so I approached the bed, intent on putting pressure back on the wound or taking off Buffy's shoes or something. Except, before I got there Dr. Jerry rushed in, pushing me aside carelessly.

"Oh dear," the demon sighed with worry, grabbing supplies from the drawers around Buffy's bed. First, he used a scissors to cut Buffy's shirt up the center – oh, she wouldn't be happy about that – and second he snapped on a pair of gloves and started washing out the wound. Sickly pink water soaked into the big gauze pad he pressed against it. And then, he stuck his finger in there!

Before I could protest, Dr. Jerry rooted around for a moment, freeing more of Buffy's blood into the white cotton gauze and then said, "Looks pretty good for a wound this deep. I'm going to give her some blood and then do some exploratory surgery before I stitch her up, just in case."

"In case what?" Dawn asked, her eyes fixed on Dr. Jerry and her face colored with a mixture of relief and resurgent fear.

"In case there's a bleed in one of her organs. She's healing fast, though, so I'll have to work quickly to make sure she's stable before the skin heals and she bleeds out into her abdomen." He gave Dawn a pointed look, but when she didn't move he sighed, "Fine. You can help by grabbing some blood from the refrigerator and running some lukewarm water over the bag before we hang it. Wouldn't do to give The Slayer hypothermia, now would it?"

Looking up at the other two of us as Dawn scurried away, Dr. Jerry said, "I need room to work, so you can't be here. Wait outside, and I'll have Dawn tell you when anything changes."

"How long?" I managed to croak. "How long do we have to wait?"

Giving me a thoughtful frown, the doctor fixed me with those cat-like pupils of his before replying, "It's going to take me an hour, at least, before I really know what's happening. She appears stable enough."

"C'mon, Willow," Rita said softly, pulling gently on my arm with blood-stained fingers. She gave Dr. Jerry a small familiarity-laced smile and herded me from the room, saying, "Let the doctor work, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed meekly. Where was the Willow who would have poured more magic than anyone else would have dared into healing her friend? Where was the Willow who could keep her friends alive? She'd been taken from me. They'd taken me, and there was nothing left. Nothing left to argue with one young little slayer about how she should let me go and let me back at my best friend's side. Nothing left but push-over Willow from before Buffy came into my life.

But that wasn't true, was it? I hadn't had any magic for the first year or so I helped Buffy. I still had my brain and my hands, didn't I? That had to be good for something, as long as I didn't squander it. Turning to Rita, I asked, "Is there a safe way to the library from here?"

"I'll take you," she decided in a split second. "Last I heard we'd pushed them all the way back to the gate. But you can never be too careful, huh? Especially after what just happened to Buffy!"

"Yeah," I agreed shortly, not really wanting to think anymore about my best friend's injury. I started jogging down the wide hallway and Rita joined me after a few steps. In tandem, we passed the Command Room, which was a flurry of activity behind the swinging double doors as Slayers came and went, missions and battle evident on their minds. I hoped it would be awhile before Xander found out about Buffy, because he had his mind on bigger things right now, especially if she was going to be okay as Dr. Jerry seemed to think.

When we got to the doors of the library, I pulled on them, but they were stubbornly locked. I tugged on them a few more times in frustration before giving up and turning to face Rita.

"You really need to get in there?" she asked me with a quirk to her eyebrow.

"No," I pouted. "I was just hoping to hole myself up inside and learn as much as I could about our enemy."

Shrugging, she replied, "Sounds important to me." Without another word, Rita took the handles of both doors and using one as leverage, pulled the other one open, deftly breaking the deadbolt lock. As the door opened, a crossbow bolt flew over her head, and just past my face, scaring the crap out of both of us.

"Holy fuck, Giles!" Rita yelled into the darkened library. "It's just me and Willow!"

"Oh," the librarian replied, standing up from behind his desk and flipping on one of the lights. "And language, Miss Nguyen!"

"Sorry," she sang back, rolling her eyes. Turning to me, she asked, "Want me to guard the door or something? I sort of…"

"You destroyed it, is what you did, young lady," Giles said in his stern-voice, and I got déjà vu back to several instances of the Watcher yelling at Buffy. Oh god, Buffy! Distracting me from my distress, Giles asked, "What's going on here?"

Nodding to Rita so she would leave the room, I took a deep breath as I approached Giles. "Belial, or one of his sorcerers, took my magic. I'm here to find out everything I can about him. Oh," I mentioned, my voice turning sad and regretful without my consent, "and Buffy's in the hospital wing."

"Is she okay?" he asked, setting down his crossbow and heading for the door before I stopped him.

"Probably. But there's nothing we can do for her right now. Dr. Jerry and Dawn are taking care of it."

"So we're…?"

"Trying to figure out how to keep this archdemon at bay until Angel and Spike get back," I insisted, waiting for Giles' sharp nod before I continued. "Maybe figuring out how he took my magic and what we can do to get it back."

"Yes, yes," he stammered, heading for the books still stacked out on the tables in the wide center aisle of the library. "Of course."

"I'll take the computer if you want to take the books," I told him, heading for one of the laptops sitting out on the same table. "I've got some ideas for new search terms."

Giles nodded and we got to work, barely noticing when a few Watcher students joined us. One of them, a girl named Haley, said that the battle was still going on, but it was more of a siege at this point, with neither side gaining much ground. And then, Dawn came in and said that Buffy was fine, but still sleeping it off.

Finally, after hours of reading and searching and clicking, hours of worrying and trying to ignore the rumbling blasts of the siege on our castle, hours of being without half of myself, I found it.

"Michael's Aegis," the book read, "is a holy relic referred to very infrequently across history. Supposedly holding the power to repel the strongest of demonic forces, reliable accounts of this artifact in use are unknown to the author at the time of publication. One myth states that this 'shield' may only be activated by a 'soul with pure intent to protect' and cannot be used as an offensive weapon. It is unclear how or when this artifact's supernatural properties – imbued by the will of the Archangel Michael – affect its demonic targets, but all are clear on one fact: the Aegis, once activated, calibrates to the activator's soul. Both artifact and soul are irrevocably changed until one is destroyed, historically by the death of the wielder."

"Oh, crap," I whispered before jumping up for the phone on Giles' desk. With any luck, Angel's phone number would be next to the phone with all the other numbers Giles refused to program into a cell phone, since he ever broke down and got one.

There it was, written in Giles' careful printing! I dialed and waited for someone to answer, hoping my warning wouldn't come too late. There was no telling what could happen to a vampire's soul when it was 'changed' by a dangerous and ancient artifact. How could we have been stupid or desperate enough to send them after it? To go after such a powerful weapon when, like ignorant children, we had no idea what it would do?

Why wasn't Angel picking up his phone?


A commotion coming from somewhere far off in the darkened museum had me abandoning Spike in favor of trying to find my way to the artifact in the near dark. "Come on," I whispered to Spike when he failed to follow me. "Watch my back?"

"Anytime, luv," he replied, catching up and keeping one hand at the base of my back as we moved, so he wouldn't lose me in the dark. My night vision was good enough to see through the pitch darkness somewhat, but it was difficult to distinguish any details. How was I going to find the artifact like this?

As I located the door to the display case, Spike hissed at me, "Someone's here, behind us."

"Got it," I replied, breaking open the door as quietly as I could. "Stay here?"

"Aye," Spike agreed, patting my ass encouragingly as I climbed into the display. There was a strip of chemical luminescence lining the bottom of the display glass, like at the newer movie theaters Spike dragged me to, and I blinked, my eyes watering at the sudden brightness. Though, when my eyes did adjust and I picked my way carefully around the artifacts, I saw it, the small bowl-like object we were looking for.

Through the door behind me I heard the beginnings of a scuffle and my boyfriend cackling as he fought them, probably loving the challenge of a fight in the dark. I hesitated for just a moment, wanting to go back to help defend him, hoping he'd call out if he needed me. But then, a shadow moved on the other side of the glass before a big fist shattered it, hard sharp shards of glass showering in on me and everything else. Without thinking, I dove and snatched up the golden bowl, hoping it wouldn't burn to the touch and that it would help me get to Spike's side sooner rather than later.

A sharp flash of light blinded me as I snapped the blissfully cool metal against my chest. Then, just as I was recovering, it let out a dull but intense whomp of air pressure that rattled my torso, knocking the wind out of me. I didn't need wind to scramble to my feet and adopt a defensive stance, but it was an unpleasant sensation nonetheless.

On the other side of the glass, something let out a bloodcurdling roar of fury and I patted the usual places I carried weapons, looking for something that might help even the odds between me and what promised in the dim yellow-green light to be a huge monster of a demon. It paced back and forth, puffing through its big ox-like nose as it tried to get closer to me. Three or four times, it tried to rush at me, only to be thrown back. Huh.

Then, Spike's groaning bellow of anguish rang in my ears. Oh, fuck! He'd just dusted, hadn't he? I'd let him come with on this trip and I'd gotten him killed. All for this stupid bowl. Angry and grief-stricken, I dropped the golden artifact on the way back to where he should have been, no longer caring why we needed it and whether or not the demon at my back would be on me without the artifact in my hand. Unfortunately, as soon as I dropped the bowl, I felt like all my will to keep moving forward, to go to Spike, had been drained and my legs collapsed. The wind got knocked out of me again and I couldn't even growl my frustration as painful pins and needles coursed through my body.

Fucking magic.

Scrambling around in the darkness beside my glass-ground knees, my shaking fingers clutched at the bowl, relieving the pain and letting me draw a deep breath. At the same time I heard Spike whisper, "Bloody hell," just ahead of me, and there he was, pulling himself into the case, his hair glowing in the dim light as he collapsed down onto his back halfway in and halfway out of the little space. Overjoyed that he was still alive, I picked up the artifact and stumbled over to him, feeling and smelling and just barely seeing when I got close enough to touch his prone body on the floor.

"Agh," he complained, shoving at my fingers with his, "get your soddin' hand outta my face, Ange!"

Slipping my hand down to grab his upper arm, I pulled him up to sitting beside and facing me, asking, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Visions," he grimaced as I hugged him close with my artifact-free hand, burying my nose in his neck to convince myself he was actually here. His arms came up around my back as he confessed, "Three or four of them at once. Migraine's ten times as bad."

"What did you see?" I asked in a whisper, watching the ox-nosed demon pace on the other side of the glass, just waiting for me to drop this thing again. Behind me, a few bodies lay just outside the door, where Spike must have killed them and from beyond two or three more demons growled at us – unable to get any closer.

Before my boyfriend could answer, a booming voice thundered through the museum, rattling the display case and the shards of glass and priceless artifacts all around me. "Congratulations," it said, its tone dark, angry, and foreboding. "You are the first to have activated that thorn in my side in fifteen centuries. Unfortunately, it won't save your woman."

Shouting beside my ear, his voice rough with grief, Spike insisted, "It's not true, you fucking tosser! Get outta my head!"

We both waited for an answer, but none came. The demons on either side of us melted away into the darkness, hooves clomping away into nothing. Suddenly, my phone rumbled in my pocket, but I ignored it, startled back into noticing the vampire in my arms. Wiping Spike's tears away, I asked him again, "What did you see, precious?"

"The battle," he choked, "from t'other day, luv. Fighting those demons, all the magic in the air. Then, another battle, just the slayers. Buff–" he growled in my ear. "It's a lie. She's not fighting for her life with a hole in her gut. It's a fucking lie!"

"Shit," I whispered, reaching for my phone and finding it difficult to negotiate with my hands full of the artifact and Spike. I tried to set the bowl down on the ground again, wincing when my fingers left its surface for a brief moment and prickly pain shuddered through my body again. "Damn it."

"What?" he asked, as I shuffled away from him, switching the artifact into my other hand so I could dig my phone out of my pocket. When I opened it, the light from the screen blinded both of us for a short moment before our eyes met.

Noticing that the last caller was Giles, I pressed the button Spike had taught me would call him back, since it seemed the easiest option.

"Hello?" a woman's voice answered, and I thought it was probably Willow. "Angel?"

"Yeah," I replied. I started to ask about Buffy, "Is–"

Willow cut me off, yelling in my ear, "Don't activate the Aegis!"

Looking down at the golden bowl in my hand, sure that this was what she referred to, I sighed and replied, "Too late."

"Oh," she muttered sharply, her voice uncharacteristically disappointed. This was going to be bad.

"What's wrong, Willow? And how is Buffy? Spike seems to think –"

Cutting me off again, she replied, "Buffy should be fine. It's the Aegis –"

"Should be?" I interrupted her this time, my throat clenched painfully as I forgot about the item occupying my hand and asked, "What happened?"

"Oh, god, Angel!" she whispered. "I'm so sorry! She was protecting me from this demon and it stabbed her! I couldn't even protect myself," she sniffed, obviously crying at this point, and I wondered what the hell had happened since we'd left. "But … but Dr. Jerry says she's resting and recuperating now."

"That's," I said, meeting Spike's eyes in the almost darkness and nodding encouragingly, "good, I suppose. You got attacked again?"

"It's a siege," Willow told me, her voice thick with tears as she sniffed. "The others are holding them back for now. I can't…" She stopped speaking for a moment before taking a different tack, "What happened when you activated the artifact?"

I relayed my version of events, including the disembodied voice that had mocked us with the news of Buffy's injury. Spike's face went through an interesting series of expressions as I spoke, and eventually he stood, helping me up as I spoke and leading me back through the museum.

"And now you can't let go of it?" Willow asked.

"Not without serious consequences," I replied, blinking as Spike and I left the building via a deactivated emergency exit, making our way through the lamp-lit alley and around the museum to where our car was parked. With both hands occupied, I failed to prevent Spike from snatching the car keys from my pants pocket. I started to argue with him, but my boyfriend just gave me a stern eyebrow and a glance to the bowl in my hand. I nodded my assent and let him take the driver's seat, asking Willow, "Is this what you were trying to warn me against?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "But I'm glad it works against some demons, in any case. You'll head back now?"

"Uh-huh," I agreed, watching as Spike leaned over and opened the passenger door, stretching across me again after I got in to close it.

"Be super-careful-guy, okay?" she insisted. "There are demons and sorcerers all over the place and I can't stop this anymore. You'll see why."

Worried about the ominous tone in her voice but feeling the conversation draw to a close, I replied, "Okay," and hung up, watching Spike's face as he pulled out of the parking space and accelerated my beautiful car recklessly out onto the street. It was dark and there were hardly any cars around, but his driving had me gasping in horror every time we got too close to the curb or passed a parked car or took a sharp, sharp turn.

"It wasn't a lie?" he asked after a few moments, biting his nail and looking over at me as I pointedly buckled my seatbelt.

"No, but she's fine," I told him, focusing my attention on the strange bowl – the Aegis, Willow called it – in my hands. For something so devastating when I dropped it, it wasn't very big, its diameter about the same size as my palm. The gold was polished, but dented in quite a few places, destroying the perfectly smooth surface it obviously used to have. It was shallow, and fitted with a short flared stand on the outer side. This appeared to have been added later, since it was made out of something silvery and was fitted with polished red and white triangular stones. I wondered what would happen if I tried to pull that extra bit off, but I didn't want to ruin the Aegis before we even returned to the castle.

Willow hadn't offered me any explanations for why I couldn't part from the artifact, and I hadn't asked, too preoccupied with what had happened to Buffy and then with answering Willow's questions. It was just one of those things that happened in our world, right? There's no way this could be permanent.


What did you think? Just two more chapters to go, I believe, so I'll try not to leave you in suspense for too long :)

Thanks for reading!