Chapter 8: Poopin' the Party
Okay, quick look at what's happening in LA to ease any confusion. Also, if you are wondering, I'm changing up the story-line of the Angel episode "Orpheus" from here-on, so that Buffy, Oz and Giles can crash the party. Basically, I took the idea and I'm twisting it into unrecognisable pulp, so for those of you expecting a transcript SORRY. Quick note for the crazies who don't watch Angel: The beast's master is this evil villain thing, very dangerous, gets inside your head, possesses you, did freaky stuff to Angel e.t.c… in "Orpheus" the beast's master has taken over Cordelia's mind, so we're having an epic faceoff between Willow and Cordelia-beast's-master. Caught up? But of course in my version, during the epic faceoff, Willow's use of magic is killing Tara. In the original Faith used the Orpheus and was unconscious and having a weird vision-dream thing involving Angel (they liked putting Faith in dream sequences huh?) We can assume this is still happening, but we're only going to be seeing my new-and-improved Buffy rescuing her lover bit. Sorry for the interruption, but I didn't want anyone to be too confused!
"Open the window. Fill this stone. Inside, outside. Two made one." Tara shuddered again, her words – Willow's words – coming in a low, dark hum. "There's somebody inside me head…"
"Is that Willow or Tara talking?" Oz whispered to Buffy, absently stroking Tara's knee.
"Willow, I think. Tara still looks pretty out of it."
"It's scary, seeing her like this," he gestured to Tara black hair and eyes as a string of Latin poured from her mouth in punitive tones. "You said this is how Willow looked, after Tara…?"
"Yeah," Buffy breathed. "It's terrifying isn't it?" She stroked Tara's black hair, soothing the lost and shuddering witch.
"ALESH ASTORETH!" Tara screamed. Great jets of light burst from her fingertips, sending the wolf and slayer flying and setting the house a-shudder.
Giles ran up the stairs into Willow and Tara's bedroom. Buffy was already standing and pulling Oz to his feet and there was a huge hole and scorch mark in the door. The house was still quivering slightly, as if in the after-math of an Earthquake.
"Willow's doing some seriously dark mojo," Buffy murmured as more and more words tumbled freely from Tara's blackened lips.
"It is very, uh, intense, if the magic is transferring to actual spells from Tara." Giles rubbed his glasses wearily. "It is probably best if you don't get too close now. She is in effect just a ticking time bomb."
"So we're just waiting for Willow to do some other big spell and Tara will blow us to smithereens?"
"I do, in fact, fear that very much."
And he was right. Tara was nothing more than an explosive, fireworks stand. Shuddering, pale, weak, the witch was fading fast and more and more energy was being sapped out of her by Willow's spell.
"The woman I love, took the woman you used to love, to save the man I used to love, it's slowly killing my girl and your ex-girl's current girl!" Buffy screamed at Oz, who was seated across the dining room table from her.
"To put it in the most complicated way possible…" Giles said, "then yes. Faith and Willow went to LA to help Angel, and Faith potentially sacrificed her own life. Willow, without her knowledge, is killing Tara with her own spells."
"I knew my life was getting boring outside Sunnydale," Oz muttered.
"All in a day's work," the Slayer grumbled.
"So what now?" The werewolf asked casually, "I know I'm not exactly action man right now, but we have to do something… Tara, she's…"
"Yes, I know." Giles stood and started pacing backwards and forwards, then stopped. "Ironically enough, the only person I know who would have even the slightest inkling on how to reverse the effects of Orpheus poisoning is currently channelling dark magic in the upstairs bedroom."
"Well the puts our priorities in order then doesn't it?" Oz stood, his weak leg collapsing under him as he gripped the table for support.
"Oz, where are you going?"
"To be action man…" he paused, "or maybe limping man. But I'll get there. I've got a plan."
"To the bat-mobile," Buffy said sarcastically.
"More 'to the van!' but we can deal."
"So what's this plan?" Buffy said, flooring the accelerator as she, Oz and Giles sped toward the Sunnydale border. They'd left Xander and Anya with the black-eyed Tara and Dawn with Spike, so they were ready for their overly desperate road-trip.
"We go, get Willow to stop spell-casting and find another way to stop the beast's master and restore Angel's soul, Tara will come back from crazy-land and she'll be able to tell us how to beat off the Orpheus poisoning Faith's got and hey-presto, we got ourselves a plan."
"There is a lot left to chance you realise, Oz."
"Of course, but we could just attack Cordelia with Hummus."
"I liked your first plan better," Buffy laughed.
"Exactly, just putting it into perspective."
"I'm gonna call Xander again," Oz said. They were less than an hour from Angel Investigations now and Oz had been calling Revello drive every seven or so minutes, just to check how Tara was going. They'd left the possessed witch in the capable hands of Xander, Anya and a few of the potentials whilst Dawn slept in Spike's crypt.
"You're really worrying about her aren't you?" Buffy asked gently.
"Of course I am," the wolf intoned, punching his speed-dial, "It's Tara. She's… she's…"
And for the first time in her life, Buffy heard Oz completely lost for words.
"She's Tara," Buffy finished softly.
Oz realised with a pang, as he held the ringing phone to his ear, something he hadn't wanted to admit but was quite sure he'd felt ever since he first met the beautiful honey-blonde. Gripping his cell-phone slightly too hard, he felt a flood of unfamiliar emotion, imagining Tara's soft, lopsided smile and the way her hair flowed behind her as she walked on those beautiful legs. He could picture her soft curves and taste her apple-cinnamon flavour on his tongue. She was so perfect. Was he in love with her? No. Of course he wasn't. She was connected on a spiritual level to another woman, one who he had really loved. But did he love her? With all his heart. He knew it more than he had ever known anything else, he loved Tara and she was going to be phenomenally important to him, he could sense it. But not if she died tonight.
Why wasn't Xander picking up? He always answered Oz's calls. Always. He had to know what was happening to Tara. Finally, just as Oz was about to hang up a familiar voice rang through the receiver.
"Yo, dog boy, quit with the third degree phone calls." It was Kennedy. "She's still shaking and evil lookin', and she and Willow now don't have a wall. She kinda blew it to smithereens."
"Oh God…" Oz groaned. Would they get to LA in time? "And… is Tara, is she lucid at all?"
"Nope. Not for the last hour, she's all Willow now. She doesn't really look like herself anymore."
For the last few hours they'd been driving Tara's 'lucid' moments – the times when she was Tara, not Willow – had been fewer and further between.
"You in love with her dog boy?" Kennedy asked bluntly.
"No," Oz said, choosing his words carefully, "but I love her."
"I don't getcha."
"It's like she's my best friend in the entire world, I feel like I could tell her anything, you know?"
"Nah. But then I'm meant to be all cold and detached right?"
"You have so much to learn Kennedy." Oz hung up.
"How is she?" Giles said gently.
"Completely taken over. She hasn't been lucid in over an hour. She's getting really weak Giles, Willow is sapping her energy completely."
"Buffy," Giles said quietly, "pull over."
"What?"
"Pull over!"
Buffy pulled the van over to the side of the road. "I'm going to speed things up," Giles said.
They were flying, literally flying, down the highway. As in, the van had grown wings and same flamey things and they were going 200 miles an hour down the highway.
"Oh my God, we're going to die," Buffy said, horrified and glued to her seat.
"My van is cooler than I thought it was."
"You thought it was cool?" Buffy said incredulously.
"Well, I had sex in it more than once. That made it cool I guess."
Giles frowned, but didn't say anything, still flooring the accelerator of the magically modified van.
"Gotta ask this Giles, don't ya think that a flamey van flying down the highway might be a bit, uh, conspicuous?"
"Nonsense." He said.
"I don't know how you do things in England," Oz muttered, "but over here, we tend to keep the wheels on the ground and the flame to a minimum."
"It's invisible," Giles said, rolling his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I have no idea why I didn't think of that…" Buffy mumbled sarcastically.
"Cheek."
Thanks to Giles' man-witchy modifications, they reached Angel Investigations within five minutes, parking their…van-plane-dragon-thing and bolting through the door. The sight that greated them was utterly terrifying.
Willow was standing in the middle of the room, a huge glowing orb spinning form her hand, flames roaring around her head. Her eyes were black as night and she was shuddering with the effort of her spell. Across the room from her was Cordelia, rearing, her eyes also blackened.
"You wanna go, Glinda? Let's go." Cordelia threw a wall of solid energy at Willow, who lazily deflected it.
"That all you got, bitch's master?" Willow slammed the possessed Cordy with a flaming Orange light.
"There goes the hallway," Buffy muttered, imagining the horrors that the others were facing back in Sunnydale.
"Buffy!" Wesley exclaimed.
"Sorry to poop the party, but we're on a mission."
