Chapter Six
'The next couple of weeks were hard for Willow; every time she went out she saw something that reminded her of Oz and started crying, when she wasn't already crying for the sake of crying. I was with her as much as I could to make sure she knew there were people who wouldn't leave.
The only times I weren't there was when I had to work, or when Buffy and Riley were there. I didn't want to cause Willow any more stress, and having Riley and I in the same room would definitely classify as stressful, so I made an effort to steer clear of him.
Riley soon realised that and was making sure that he was there as much as possible, knowing I wouldn't go over. By that point I was really starting to wonder what Buffy saw in him.
There had been a couple of times that I was there with Willow when Buffy and Riley would show up. Willow knew that I would be leaving and would hold onto me even tighter than she had before. After a couple of minutes I would look at my watch and 'remember' I was late for something, tell Willow I would call her later and leave without even looking at Riley or Buffy.
When Willow would call, which was probably about a minute after Riley left, I would apologise to her and she said she understood. She would then put Buffy on and we would chat, but it was nothing more than saying hello and asking how each other were.
I couldn't pretend to be happy to talk to her; she said that she would talk to Riley but she hadn't and I didn't think she ever would. Once again she had chosen someone else over me and was slowly cutting me out of her life. I knew that Willow wanted us to reconcile, but that was up to Buffy, not me.
A couple of days ago I was with Willow when suddenly neither one of us could talk. It was a strange feeling; one minute we were talking normally then all of a sudden we couldn't talk. You never realise how much you communicate verbally until you can't, and once I did I started to freak.
Luckily, I was with one of the smartest people around, and she gave me a pad and pencil, giving herself the same. We both wrote the same two things; 'are you alright?' and 'spell?' and we both went to laugh, but realised we couldn't do that either, so we just smiled. After a few more written messages we decided to check and see if it was just us that were affected.
We soon found out that we weren't alone, and that everyone in the dorms were also affected. We looked at each other and could tell we were thinking the same thing; to find Buffy and Giles.
We found Buffy coming out of her class, clearly trying to work out what the hell was going on. We just looked at her and nodded letting her know we were aware of the situation. It also allowed her to know it wasn't just her class. Willow wrote a message saying we were heading to Giles so she came with us.
When we got to Giles' place he was already looking through books trying to work out what had happened. As soon as we came in he could see that we were also affected so he simply motioned us to help in the research.
During all this time something about what was happening felt familiar to me, as if I had heard about something like this before. Then I remembered that I had read something about a group of demons called The Gentlemen that I researched during one of my training sessions a couple of months ago.
I found the book it was in, and then gave it to Giles with a note saying 'The Gentlemen'. His look of realisation that I was right turned into a look of pride, a look that I wished I would see on my fathers face, but never had and never will.
The next couple of hours were spent researching all information about The Gentlemen, focusing on their MO; we worked out why they were here and how to stop them.
The Gentlemen were a group of demons that trapped the voices of everyone in the location they were in, so that it was easier to harvest the seven hearts they required to sustain themselves. They trapped all the voices into a small wooden box that they kept with them at all times. It seemed that it was very difficult to get help from anyone when you couldn't scream or shout to let tem know you were in trouble.
The other reason that they trap all the voices was that the only way to kill them was by screaming at them, as they were one of the few types of demon that didn't die from decapitation, or any other form of physical violence. The only way to defeat them was for us to find and destroy the box that held everyone's voices and then scream.
We worked out that they had to be holed up in the Sunnydale clock tower, as they needed to be at a certain height to perform the ritual and the clock tower was the tallest building in town. If I'm honest I couldn't remember Sunnydale ever having a clock tower until that day, and I've lived here all my life.
Buffy as always wanted to go it alone, but I was in no mood to argue; if she wanted to kill herself it was up to her. I didn't really mean that, but I knew that she would hate it if I turned up, and I can't keep taking the pain of her rejection.
Of course, being the complete idiot and masochist that I am, I followed her anyway. I kept my distance to make sure she didn't spot me, those soldier memories coming through for me once again.
She finally reached the clock tower and went inside; I was about to follow her as backup, when a group of those military guys show up. This time however they weren't wearing balaclavas and the group leader was none other than Riley Finn.
They headed inside and I didn't hear anything for a few minutes, not that I was expecting to given the circumstances. Suddenly, I heard a scream and then about ten seconds later I saw three of the military guys flying through the door and Buffy dragging the fourth one, Riley, out behind her.
I may not have been that close, and it may have been dark, but I could tell that Buffy Anne Summers was a very pissed off Slayer.
I decided that if she found me there she would have moved every part of me from every other part of me, so I high-tailed it back to Giles' place.
Luckily, because Buffy was dragging Riley along with her, I was able to get back with enough time to ensure I didn't sound like I had been running.
When she did come in my earlier assumption was proven correct; Buffy was pissed.'
"That lying rat bastard!" Buffy ranted as she stalked inside, dragging the limp body of Riley behind her.
"I'm guessing that, as we can talk again, you got the bad guys?" Xander asked, pointing out the obvious.
"Deceitful son of a bitch!" she screamed.
"What have I done?" he asked, suddenly worried that she had spotted him after all.
"Not you, him!" she snapped, throwing Riley across the living room floor.
"Buffy, what happened and why is Riley unconscious on the floor?" Giles asked, wanting to get to the crux of the matter.
"I go into the clock tower and find those demon mime artists," Buffy explained, "and after fighting with them a bit I managed to get through them smashed the box with our voices in it, allowing me to scream and kill them all. You could have warned me about what would happen by the way; their head's literally exploded from the noise, which wasn't a pretty sight I can tell you," she added with a slight shudder. "Suddenly Riley and three other goons barged in and tried to shoot me with those Tazer thingy's you told me about. I dodged the first blast and put Riley in the way of the second. For military types they didn't know how to fight that well, so I knocked them about a bit, leaving the other three sparko on the ground and dragged the dickless wonder there," she said, pointing to Riley, "back with me so we could get some answers."
Giles and Xander dragged Riley into a chair and tied him up before bringing him around. It took a few more minutes before he was able to talk enough to interrogate.
"Good evening Riley," Giles said cordially, "how are you feeling?"
"Mr. Giles," Riley greeted with a nod, "why do you have me tied to a chair in your living room? You do realise this is kidnapping don't you?" he added, thinking that he might be able to scare them into letting him go.
"I have a feeling that you won't be pressing any charges Riley," Xander told him coldly, "seeing as you would have to explain how you were abducted. So, why were you at the clock tower tonight Lieutenant Finn?"
"It's Captain… shit," Riley swore, realising his mistake.
"How the hell did you get through boot camp?" Xander asked snidely.
"Shut up Harris!" he snapped, trying to break free of his bonds.
"I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon," Xander informed him. "This is what's going to happen; we are going to ask questions and you are going to answer them, because if you don't you may well find yourself unable to procreate, ever."
'We spent the next hour 'talking' to Riley, making sure that Buffy didn't get too involved. She was still very pissed about everything and could accidentally knock his head off, literally, if she lost control.
Willow wasn't very good at the whole interrogation thing, as although she had come out of her shell a great deal the last few years, she didn't have it in her to be intimidating, so that left the questioning to Giles and myself.
Between Giles bringing out Ripper, and my soldier memories of interrogation techniques and countermeasures, we soon had Riley spilling his gut, not literally unfortunately.
We found out that he belonged to a secret government agency called The Initiative and that Maggie Walsh, Buffy and Willow's Psychology professor, was in charge. They captured demons and performed experiments on them to see how they tick, and to see if they could be used in combat situations.
The majority of Riley's fraternity were members of The Initiative, and their headquarters were situated in an underground facility beneath it. We also found out that Walsh knew all about Slayers, and had asked Riley to 'befriend' Buffy and relay any information he found out to her.
Once we were sure that he told us everything that he knew, we went to release him, but Buffy wanted to tell him a couple of things.'
"Before we let you go, I need to make sure you're aware of a few things. Firstly, I can safely say that we're over; if I never see you again it'll be too soon. Secondly, if you or any of your Initiative buddies try to come after my friends, or me, you'll find out first-hand just what a Slayer can do. Now get out of my sight!" she yelled, snapping his bonds with one easy motion and threw him through the door, which luckily Giles had opened.
Buffy went and closed the door, and then collapsed in a blubbering heap. Xander immediately rushed over to her and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her as she cried anguished sobs into his chest. It took several minutes of crying and near constant reassurance from Xander before she was able to speak again.
"This proves that there's something wrong with me," she sniffled.
"What are you on about Buff?" Xander asked softly.
"Men keep using me; Ford, Parker and Riley all used me. Why do all the men in my life use me?"
"Angel never did," Xander replied instantly.
'They all looked shocked at my comment and, to be honest so, was I.
It is a well-known fact that Deadboy and I were never friends; in fact I hated his guts most of the time. His sire killed my brother in all but blood; his childe killed Kendra; his grand childe tried to kill all of us several times, and was the catalyst to Cordy and Oz finding out about Willow and me; his soulless persona killed Jenny, Theresa, and almost ended the world.
I have never hated a group of people like I have those four, and I hate him the most because of the emotional car wreck he put Buffy through, both before and after his time in Hell.
There are only two things that he and I could ever agree on; if he ever loses his soul again he gets dusted, soul curse or not, and that we both love Buffy more than is considered wise.
It's ironic that out of all the people Buffy had gone out with since I've known her, the only one not to have just used her is the one I thought should have never been with her in the first place.'
"Giles, Willow and myself will always be there for you, and we would never use you like that, unless you wanted us to of course," Xander added with a waggle of his eyebrows.
That last comment got Xander giggle and a slap on the shoulder from Buffy, which in his mind was a victory given the way she had just been acting. She had calmed down quite a bit, but Xander could still see that Buffy was a little shook up.
"It's been a rather tough night, why don't I take you and Willow home," he suggested. "Now when I mean home, I'm talking about your dorm room, not my home."
"I'm actually staying over at my parent's tonight," Willow told them, "they've realised that they have a daughter they haven't seen for a few months, so they want me over for dinner."
"That's fine," he assured her, "we'll escort you to your parents place then I'll take Buffy back to the dorms. Before you start," he went on, looking pointedly at his friends, "I am more than aware that you're capable of walking by yourself, I just think that now The Initiative are aware of who we are, it'll be wise to stick together for a while."
"I have to agree with Xander that it would be prudent to refrain from venturing out unaccompanied," Giles said to further Xander's argument.
"Huh?" Buffy asked, bewildered.
"Oh dear god, Xander's right we should stick together. I try to use English the way it was meant to be used and all I receive is 'huh?'" Giles ranted.
"Come on Giles I'm only playing with you," Buffy told him with a little smile, only half truthful. She had gotten the gist of what he'd said, but she always wondered why he had to use such long winded words. "You know you'd start to worry if I understood everything you said, it would be a sign of the apocalypse."
"Very true," he sighed, a smile touching his lips. "I'm sure that things will start to look better after a good night's sleep."
'The walk to Willow's place was quiet; none of us were in a very talkative mood, and what we did have to say needed more time than we had.
When we were about halfway to Willow's, I had a sudden impulse to put my arms around their shoulders. I gave in to that impulse and I was a little shocked when they both leaned into me and started to cry.
Now when one of them cries I can't stand it, but when they both cry at the same time I get an almost irresistible urge to kill the causes. I stop and bring them into a group hug.'
"Hey everything's going to be fine," he soothed to the pair of them, "it may not seem like it now but things will get better. As long as we're there for each other we can face anything."
They nodded, and then they finished their journey to Willow's place. By the time they reached her front door, both Willow and Buffy had calmed down a great deal.
"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Rosenburg, how are you?" Xander asked as they opened the door.
"Very well thank you Alexander," Mr. Rosenburg replied formally, Xander able to hold back the wince as he was used to their almost pathological need to use a person's full first name.
"Thanks for walking me home guys," Willow told the pair, "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Of course," Xander replied for the both of them, Buffy nodding in agreement.
They waited until the Rosenburgs closed the door before turning around and made their way towards the college campus. They had barely walked a block when Buffy stopped and turned Xander to face her.
"Xander I want to apologise for cutting you out of my life, I should never have let Riley sway me like that," she told him in a rush, as though she had been bottling that up and had only just been able to release it.
Although those were the words Xander had wanted to hear most in the world, he was still bitter about everything and not ready to let things go.
"I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to give me an honest answer," he told her, and waited to receive a nod of acquiescence before continuing. "If you hadn't found out about Riley, would you have continued to cut me out of your life?" All Xander received in reply was silence and a look of shame on Buffy's face. "I guess I've been given my answer haven't I?"
'She tried to say something more to me, but I just turned around and walked away. There was no way that I would be letting her off that easily.
I know that it sounds bad, but if she wants me back in her life, she'll have to damn well work for it; I've let her off too easily too many times.
If she truly wants my forgiveness, and if she really does want me as a friend, she needs to fucking act like she means it and prove that she knows what being a friend actually means.'
