"So. You made it, did you?"
Buffy smiled at Spike. "Yeah. I did."
"So we're demon-free in there, yeah?"
"Should be. Right?" she asked Angel quietly.
"Once we killed the big guy, the rest of them probably scampered off. It's demon free."
"Well. Good," Spike said, obviously fighting with himself internally. Suddenly one of the two Gorons standing behind him happily went up to Spike and whispered excitedly in his ear. Spike rolled his eyes. "Oh. Right." He sighed and, judging by the expression on his face, he was only saying this to please his royal subjects. "For all your hard work how'd you like to be an honorary Goron."
"Um?"
"There's no ceremony or anything. I wasn't actually asking, I was telling. You're… family now." He said it as though he had something especially bitter in his mouth. He shook his head. "Well, you're better than that Wilkins fellow, the mayor of the Gerudos or whatever. He was the one who did this when I wouldn't give him the stone. So… I guess you can have it. For a while."
Buffy grinned as the Stone appeared above her head. Angel cleared his throat. "You obtained the Goron's Ruby! This Spiritual Stone of Fire was passed down from the Gorons. You don't know what he means by 'Honorary Goron', but no one really does, so we'll just let this pass."
Suddenly the two Gorons standing behind Spike applauded and grinned. One of them spoke up. "Let's see off our new Goron sibling with a Goron hug!" Spike rolled his eyes as both other Gorons walked toward Buffy like Zombies. Her eyes widened.
"No, really, that's okay, guys. I don't need a…." She tripped over something behind her and turned to run away, but was blocked by another Goron walking toward her in the same fashion. She screamed and ducked under his arm. Angel laughed hysterically and flew behind her as she ran as fast as she could without looking back.
"Buffy, Buffy," Angel breathed finally. "They're not there. You lost them."
She stopped and turned around fervently. It was true; there was only one Goron in sight and he was sleeping soundly. She smiled dimly and realized she hadn't run terribly far anyway; the pants flag flew soundly in front of her. "I know you warned me that the Gorons were vampires, but I had no idea vampires could be that scary."
"They've tamed over the years," Angel commented, trying to suppress the chuckles again."Ha, ha. Laugh it up, mister used-to-be-one-himself."
"Hey now. I was never a Goron. I was genuinely scary."
"And that wasn't?"
"Hmm. Having your jugular torn out versus being hugged. Which is scarier?"
"Being hugged."
"Boy. You wouldn't have been a fun victim."
"Okay, this conversation is going somewhere I don't want it to. Where do we go from here?" She frowned. "Why does that sentence sound familiar to me?"
Angel thought for a moment. "Remember when we passed here the first time, one of the Gorons mentioned a Great Fairy at the top of the mountain."
"Oh yeah. Okay. Up the mountain we go, then?"
"Equip the metal shield. I think this volcano is still active sometimes."
Buffy stopped walking. "It's a volcano? Why didn't anyone ever tell me that it was a volcano?"
"I thought you gathered that from the heaping lava pits in the cavern."
"I thought that was attributed to the forces of evil being present! I don't want to climb something called 'Death Mountain' that's actually 'Death Volcano' just to see another fairy. I've had enough of fairies."
"Hey!"
"What, do you see something?"
"No, that was protest again."
"I'm serious this time, Angel. You really have to find a new protest noise."
"A Great Fairy is totally different from a fairy like me. They're always female, for one thing. They actually look pretty much human, only bigger. They have… features… and stuff…"
"Angel. Is this fairy clothed?"
"Mostly." He caught a disbelieving look on Buffy's face. "Sort of."
"Sort of."
"Well, a little."
Buffy made a tut noise as she threw her twelfth bomb at the rock on the ledge across from her. This one finally took and the rock exploded, leaving 20 rupees. "That almost made it worth the trouble," she mumbled grumpily as she pocketed the money and jumped up on the next ledge. She stopped and frowned. "What is that noise? Do you hear it?"
"It's just a cow."
"Just a cow?"
"Sure. Probably under that rock."
"There's a cow under that rock."
"Never mind! Just go."
"Shouldn't we save the flattened cow?"
"No, we should save Sunnydale."
"Fine, fine." She surged forward and stopped dead when the ground started to shake.
"Shield! This is Boulder Stretch, it's notorious for being the active bit of the volcano. Just hide until the wave of rocks stops."
"I hate you for taking me up here."
"You're just grumpy because I didn't let you save the cow."
"No, I'm grumpy because my hair is on fire."
"Oh." Angel flew around Buffy's head in an attempt to put out the flames, but a second wave of flaming rocks nipped the effort in the bud. Buffy extinguished her own hair with her shield and grumpily carried on until she hit a rock wall. She took out a slingshot and took down two of the skullwalltulas at once before climbing to the second highest platform and shooting down another one.
"Shit," Buffy whispered when they reached the top. "Drusilla."
"I don't think she sees you. And why is she in plain sunlight? Why isn't she catching on fire?"
"I have to walk right past her."
"And put a bomb to her left."
"Huh? How do you know?"
"I know this mountain pretty well."
"Why?"
"Come on. Vampire, Death Mountain… how would I not think it would have something to offer? I assure you, bomb the wall. That's the Great Fairy's domain."
"All right. What should I do about Drusilla?"
"Say hi to be polite or something."
"I guess. Okay." Buffy walked to her left. "Hey," she said cautiously.
"The Great Fairy lives up here," Drusilla said shakily.
"Thanks. I gathered."
"If you want me to take you into town in my talons, let me know."
"Oh. Okay. Thank you." Buffy raised her eyebrows at Angel after she bombed the wall and stole inside. "Do most vampires have talons?"
"If they do I've been out of the loop about it."
"Box of Gavrok on the ground there."
"Oh yeah. Ouvre, par puissance du roi." Suddenly a high-pitched shrieking that might have been laughing filled the room. Buffy winced and resisted temptation to put her hands to her ears. She glanced at Angel and rolled her eyes when she saw the goofy smile on his face. A scantily clad female was floating in front of them. Buffy was so distracted by the sparkling pink hair and Angel was so distracted with how little she had on that neither of them tuned in until the fairy said something about a power meter. Buffy felt a surge of energy and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she felt a lot more confident.
"That spell you incanted… you're a messenger to the royal family! I have a friend who lives by the castle. Next time you're over there you should give her a visit.""Okay," said Angel, already looking forward to the next visit. Buffy rolled her eyes and thanked the fairy.
"When battle has grown you weary, come back to see me!" And with another shriek that may have been laughter, the fairy disappeared back into her fountain. A slow grin spread across Buffy's face as she turned and walked from the room.
"See? Was that not cool? I thought it was pretty cool."
"Yeah, I'll bet you did," Buffy said back to her fairy. "Okay, Drusilla. Can I take you up on that offer to bring me back to town?"
"Yes! Oh, yes," Drusilla said, thrilled to be of help. Suddenly she sprouted a pair of wings and talons. Angel shouted and hid in Buffy's hat.
"So… Drusilla… Angel tells me you're a vampire."
"What are you doing? Don't mention my name in her presence!" Angel hissed in Buffy's ear. Instantly the look on Drusilla-bird's face was one of sorrow.
"My Angel?" she asked hesitantly. "You've seen my Angel?""…Yes. He was… just… in town… a few days ago. He's probably long gone by now," Buffy breathed. Drusilla's lower lip quivered.
"He was stabbed, right through the heart by a mean lady. She thought he was a bad man."
"He was a bad man," Buffy said.
"No! He was my Angel."
"We've established that."
"He even grew wings."
"So you know he's a fairy, then?"
"They gave him a soul," she moaned, as if it was an incredible tragedy. "Then that mean lady stabbed him through the chest with a fairy sword and he grew wings."
"So… did that same mean lady stab you through the heart with a sword?"
"No! Not at all. The lady who gave him a soul gave me wings to match." She grinned.
"So you're not a vampire anymore."
"No," she moaned again.
"Do you have a soul?"
"I'm not sure," she said, appearing genuinely confused. "I can't tell. But I haven't killed anyone lately."
"Well, that's a start."
"Do you still wish to go to town?" she asked. Buffy realized for the first time that Drusilla and Spike had identical accents. She still didn't recognize it. Buffy nodded and braced herself as Drusilla grabbed her shoulders with her talons and swooped them down to town in an instant, dropping them in a nearby town and flying away without a word. It was as though she'd forgotten they'd been in her talons at all.
"Is she gone?" Angel whispered after a while.
"Yeah, she's gone." He came out from her hat and breathed a sigh of relief. "Geez, you really did a number on her, didn't you?"
Angel took a deep breath. "I did a lot of horrible things in my time as a vampire, but Drusilla was the worst. I tortured her, killed her entire family, and then when I was sure she was insane, I turned her."
"Why would you do that?"
"I was evil, Buffy. I reveled in it."
"Can you… not tell me these things anymore?"
"You should know how ruthless vampires are. You need to understand them so you can kill them."
"Okay. Whatever," she said quietly, and jumped off the corner of the roof. Her fall was cut short, however, when she landed on a platform above the pen with the children in it. She turned around in confusion and decided to crawl into the hole behind her. Suddenly she found herself inside a cage with a cow in it inside a house. "Ah!" she proclaimed happily and petted the cow. "A non-flattened cow. I'm sorry I didn't save your cousin, but mister torture-first-ask-questions-later over here wouldn't let me." She looked around the cage and spotted a red thing that looked suspiciously like part of a heart in the corner of the cage. She went over to it and picked it up disgustedly. It, instead, went straight above her head and floated there. "Good. An explanation."
"You found a heart piece!" Angel said, happy to have the spotlight off him.
"You're kidding me."
"Collect three other pieces to make a full heart, and you'll have yourself a new heart container." The piece disappeared and Buffy heard a slight squish noise somewhere in her head.
"Angel, did you put that heart piece in my START menu?"
"No," he said, and Buffy sighed in relief as she went through the hole again and jumped to the ground. "It went there automatically."
She stopped in her tracks. "Sometimes I really, really hate this gig."
Angel chuckled. "All right. Two Spiritual Stones and a brand spanking new power meter. All that's left now is the last Spiritual Stone and we get to save the world. Hey, why don't you talk to Xander?"
"Really?" she asked hopefully.
"Sure."
"Yes!" she said, and started running for the exit of the town.
"Wait, stop. I meant that you can talk to him telepathically using the spell he gave you."
Buffy's face fell. "So I don't actually get to see him?"
"Nope. Just hear his voice inside your head."
"La Bastrangue," Buffy muttered, and then started thinking really loudly. Xand? You there?
Buffy? came his unmistakable voice. Oh my God. How are you?
I'm… okay, I guess. Listen, I need some info. Do you know anything about the Spiritual Stones?
Some. I did some research after I last saw you. You got the one from the Great Watcher Giles, right? Yeah, that would have been the forest one. That leaves Fire and Water.
I got fire already. Water was the other one? Hm. Any idea where that might be?
Aw Buff, I know almost nothing outside this forest. Why don't you ask that genius fairy of yours?
Good plan. Hold on. "Hey Angel, where would the Spiritual Stone of Water be?"
The fairy frowned. "I'd guess either Lake Hylia or… actually, Zora's Domain would be a more likely bet. The Zoras work for the Royal Family and they live in an aquatic wonderland, so…""Do you know where that is?"
"I think I remember. It's been a while, but I think I can swing it."
"Cool." Thanks Xand, we've got it. You're a life saver.
That makes two of us, I guess. He laughed. Buffy tried to prevent the tears from springing to her eyes. It had been less than a week, but it seemed like a lifetime since she'd last seen Xander.
I miss you, Xander.
I miss you too, Buff. Longest week of my life not having you around. But the sooner you get that stone, the sooner we can talk in person. Hurry up and save Sunnydale, will you?
Buffy gave a burst of laughter and gave Xander a sniffly goodbye, cutting off the conversation before it rambled on too long. When Xander's farewell stopped echoing in her head, she looked up with pride. "That's my Xand. Make a spell that does more than one thing." She took a deep breath and walked out into Central Sunnydale. "All right, Angel my friend. Point me in the direction of Zora's Domain."