CROSS ROADS
Part 5
"So you are the Slayer's friend."
Willow was as far back into the corner of her cot as far as she could go. Her wrists were still bound together with the rope at the headboard. She was also still trapped in this nightmare without a ray of hope. Her friends were nowhere nearby, her parents were not with her, and Xander was all she could think about when she was not being tormented. She tried to keep Xander deep in her thoughts because it helped to pass the time.
She was terrified that something was going to happen to her every time that door opened. They never gave her a moment of rest. They were always keeping her off balance. But no matter what they did to her, nothing terrified her more than when the terrorist known as the Knife dropped by for a visit.
Whenever he entered into her tiny cell, she could feel the presence of evil. She wished that only the Speaker would see her for even though he was mean, she didn't sense evil like she did with the Knife.
And here the Knife had decided to visit her once more, taunting her with cruel words and waving his knife menacingly through the air. Sometimes, he would come dangerously close to her with that knife.
Rueben Julius scowled at her as if he were disgusted. "You chase vampires with the Slayer, do you? You like vampires. Is this true?" He shook his head at her. "Look at you! You are just a scrap of food not even fit for one single vampire! You are just a tiny morsel!" He tipped his head back and roared, "Hah! What would a vampire want with the likes of you?!"
Willow didn't answer. She didn't dare. She had decided that it would be safer to answer only when he made it clear that he wanted her to respond. So these questions he was throwing at her were only rhetorical ones, not truly meant for answering...At least she hoped that was the case.
Julius glared at her thoughtfully for a long time.
Willow hated when he did that. It made her feel like he could see her
innermost thoughts. That everything about her was being revealed to him. She felt so small and yet there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
Finally, he spoke again. "If I were a vampire, I know what I would do with you." He leaned menacingly over her, glaring into her face. "I would put a leash around your throat and keep you as a pet!"
Willow flinched, new tears rolling down her cheeks.
But Julius was down with his tirade...for the moment. He abruptly spun on his heel and left her alone to cry in her despair.
She put her face in her hands and did the only thing that was left to do. She had only one option.
She prayed. "Please...help me...I'm so scared...so alone...please..." She closed her eyes and prayed silently.
Jeremiah was suddenly there beside her. He put his hand on her head and said softly, "Rest, child. Sleep."
Since her captivity, which was nineteen hours ago, she had not been able to sleep. They wouldn't let her. But suddenly, she fell into a deep, restful sleep.
And Willow dreamed...
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{Willow was lying on the grass beneath a bright, blue sky. She looked
around her and she smiled. She was free. She looked happily at her wrists, which were no longer bound by ropes. There was no musty, old, filthy cot for her to lie on. There were no terrorists.
But there was a man.
She looked up at him and decided that whoever he was, he looked just like Christopher Walken. "Hello."
The man smiled down at her. "Hello, Willow."
"Who are you? Did...did you free me from the terrorists?"
"I am an angel of the Lord of Hosts, Willow. I have been sent to protect you." He smiled warmly. "You can call me Jeremiah. As for freeing you from your enemies...I am afraid that I did not. I brought you here to rest."
Willow looked sad for a moment as she realized that she must be dreaming. "Oh...Well...it is nice here. I-I like it better than my old cell." She regarded Jeremiah. She rose to her feet and still, she had to tilt her head to look up at him. "Well...you're really tall for Christopher Walken. You must be an angel. Uh...are you a real angel?"
"I am."
"You don't have any wings," she pointed out.
"I am revealed to you as your mind perceives me."
She looked at him. Then she giggled. "I saw Prophecy with Xander! That must be why I see you as...!" she trailed off as she realized something. "Uh...He was a bad angel in that movie. Um...you're not...?"
Jeremiah smiled reassuringly at her. "I am not a bad angel. Truthfully, Willow, a bad angel is nothing more than a demon."
She regarded him once more, thinking to herself about her situation. "Why am I here in this dream, Jeremiah? Are you supposed to show me something?"
"Perhaps you will show something to yourself."
She began to think about Xander and Julius threat about what he intended to do to him. She had to talk about what it was doing to her inside. "Jeremiah...I'm afraid."
Jeremiah misunderstood her fear. "Willow, you must have faith. Faith is the only thing that will save you. Without it, you will not be able to stand against what you will face."
"I-I don't care about what I will face!" she exclaimed. "I'm afraid that X- Xander will do something crazy, Jeremiah! If...if he tries to find me, they'll hurt him." There were tears in her eyes. "The Knife will kill him. Please...please don't let that happen!"
"Willow, I am amazed at you. I thought you were afraid for yourself, but your love is clearly strong for Xander." He smiled at her warmly. "You truly do love him, don't you?"
She nodded. "I do."
"Do you think he loves you?"
She looked up at the blue sky and focused her thoughts on Xander. "I-I
don't know," she said quietly, in hushed tones. "I mean, he-he likes me..." She trailed off. She remembered what Julius had said about making Xander confess that he felt nothing for her. "I just don't want him to hate me."
"Willow...look out there..." He pointed. "What do you see?"
Willow looked off in the distance and she thought she could see a tower of some kind. Then her eyes widened. "I...I know that tower..." Suddenly, she took off at a run and ran through a meadow. The meadow eventually stopped and she found herself on top of a cliff that overlooked a quarry. A huge, metallic frame structure formed a tower in the center of the quarry.
Looking down into the quarry, Willow saw an amazing site. A little girl was running as fast as her legs would allow her toward that huge tower.
Her breath caught in her throat, and Willow gasped.
"What is it, Willow?" Jeremiah asked her. He was standing beside her.
She pointed excitedly. "Th-that...that girl down there! Uh-th-that's me! Me, Jeremiah, when I was seven years old!"
"Where are you going?"
The memory of that day flooded into her mind and she stared at the running girl below. "I-I was going into the tower to be rescued by the knight from the evil dragon." She paused as she realized..."We've been here before..."
And there behind the running girl, but a bit further away, was a running boy.
"Willow!!" the boy called. "Stop running!!"
From the cliff, Willow stared. It was Xander.
Again, Willow began to point and wave excitedly. "That-that-that's Xander!" She looked at Jeremiah and it seemed that she couldn't stand still for the excitement she felt. "It's Xander, Jeremiah!!" She looked down into the quarry. "Xander...Xander!" she called.
Jeremiah shook his head. "They cannot hear you, Willow."
Willow looked at him. "Oh...They can't?"
He shook his head again.
"Oh..." She thought about that. "It's because this is a dream...right?"
"Yes...and no."
She tilted her head and looked puzzled. "You're beginning to sound like a certain librarian. Giles can get pretty confusing at times."
Jeremiah smiled. "This is a dream, yes. But what you are seeing here is also a memory."
Willow looked down once again and was just in time to watch herself as a child of seven begin to climb the tower.
"You said that you wanted to climb the tower to be rescued by a
knight...from a dragon?" Jeremiah watcher her with a bemused smile.
"Oh...well...uh...not a real, real dragon," Willow replied, looking slightly embarrassed. "Uh...you know, from a pretend dragon. And Xander...well, he was my pretend knight." She looked down as the child Willow was already high into the tower and the child Xander was standing nervously at the bottom of the steps. He was quite hesitant.
Jeremiah glanced at Willow. "The young girl seems to have no fear about climbing on such a dangerous, unstable structure."
She nodded in agreement. "I wanted to see Sunnydale from the top. But, Xander...he was afraid of heights."
"But he followed you up, didn't he?"
She nodded again, just as the boy below mustered his courage and began the long climb. "I-I didn't know that he was afraid. I found out years later that he only went up because..." Tears welled in her eyes.
"Because...?" Jeremiah gently prodded.
She looked at him. "Because he didn't want me to go alone." She returned her attention to the tower, and she saw the child Willow step onto a makeshift catwalk. The rotting wood burst apart beneath her feet and she fell through, screaming. Somehow, the little girl managed to grab at the metal edge and she hung on for dear life.
"Xander!! Xander!!" the girl screamed.
Willow was rooted to the spot. She couldn't move. She could hardly
breathe. Her eyes were fixed on the scene. The child Xander seemed to have immediately overcome his fear of heights and he shouted, "Hold on!" He climbed as fast as he could.
The child Willow's fingers were bleeding. The metal she had a grip on was sharp. She was starting to slip. "Help!! Help!! Help!!" Just as her fingers slipped free, Xander dove onto the very edge and grabbed her outstretched hand. He pulled her to safety and for the longest time, he held her trembling body close to his, stroking her hair.
"I won't let you go, Willow," the boy said softly to her. "I promise
you...I will never let you go."
Willow felt the tears rolling down her cheeks. And then she realized
something...She realized what Jeremiah was doing. She turned to look at him. "We've been here before...And he did save me then...Xander did save my life."
Jeremiah nodded. "And now...?"
She stared down at the quarry and immediately saw the change. The children of Xander and Willow were gone. In their place, she saw two black vans with men hanging around them. She saw Jhamel, the Speaker shouting out orders. She looked at the tower. She had the strangest impression that where her life had once been saved was now going to be where her life would end.
She fell on her knees. "Oh, Xander...I-I miss you so much."}
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The dream was over.
Her faith, just when it had begun was now put to the test.
Willow opened her eyes only to find Julius screaming at her in his language, and roughly shaking her awake. She cried out and when he was satisfied that he had her full attention, he showed her his knife.
It was stained with blood.
"Do you know what this is?" he demanded. "Tell me!!"
She swallowed nervously, although her mouth and throat were so dry.
"B-blood."
Julius nodded his head once. "Yes! It is blood." He leaned closer to her, glaring into her eyes. "But now the question is...who's blood is it?" He studied her closely.
Willow kept eye contact with him. She dared not risk looking away. But how was she to know who's blood was on that knife...She saw him begin to grin, and it was an evil grin. That's when she recalled the threat he had initiated earlier about...
"No..." It came out as a hoarse whisper.
Julius looked at her. "What did you say, girl?"
The tears began to blur her vision. "No," she said, more forcefully for she felt constricted in her breathing. "Please...don't do this..."
He stepped back. Then without warning, he grabbed her leg and pulled her leg out straight. He wiped the blood on her pant leg and moved back. "You can wear his blood," he snarled. "Call it his last parting gift to you."
"X-Xander...?"
"Xander." Julius tossed his head back and laughed. He was still laughing as he left her cell.
Willow fell back into her corner in shock. Then she screamed out Xander's name and wept bitterly.
TO BE CONTINUED--
Part 5
"So you are the Slayer's friend."
Willow was as far back into the corner of her cot as far as she could go. Her wrists were still bound together with the rope at the headboard. She was also still trapped in this nightmare without a ray of hope. Her friends were nowhere nearby, her parents were not with her, and Xander was all she could think about when she was not being tormented. She tried to keep Xander deep in her thoughts because it helped to pass the time.
She was terrified that something was going to happen to her every time that door opened. They never gave her a moment of rest. They were always keeping her off balance. But no matter what they did to her, nothing terrified her more than when the terrorist known as the Knife dropped by for a visit.
Whenever he entered into her tiny cell, she could feel the presence of evil. She wished that only the Speaker would see her for even though he was mean, she didn't sense evil like she did with the Knife.
And here the Knife had decided to visit her once more, taunting her with cruel words and waving his knife menacingly through the air. Sometimes, he would come dangerously close to her with that knife.
Rueben Julius scowled at her as if he were disgusted. "You chase vampires with the Slayer, do you? You like vampires. Is this true?" He shook his head at her. "Look at you! You are just a scrap of food not even fit for one single vampire! You are just a tiny morsel!" He tipped his head back and roared, "Hah! What would a vampire want with the likes of you?!"
Willow didn't answer. She didn't dare. She had decided that it would be safer to answer only when he made it clear that he wanted her to respond. So these questions he was throwing at her were only rhetorical ones, not truly meant for answering...At least she hoped that was the case.
Julius glared at her thoughtfully for a long time.
Willow hated when he did that. It made her feel like he could see her
innermost thoughts. That everything about her was being revealed to him. She felt so small and yet there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
Finally, he spoke again. "If I were a vampire, I know what I would do with you." He leaned menacingly over her, glaring into her face. "I would put a leash around your throat and keep you as a pet!"
Willow flinched, new tears rolling down her cheeks.
But Julius was down with his tirade...for the moment. He abruptly spun on his heel and left her alone to cry in her despair.
She put her face in her hands and did the only thing that was left to do. She had only one option.
She prayed. "Please...help me...I'm so scared...so alone...please..." She closed her eyes and prayed silently.
Jeremiah was suddenly there beside her. He put his hand on her head and said softly, "Rest, child. Sleep."
Since her captivity, which was nineteen hours ago, she had not been able to sleep. They wouldn't let her. But suddenly, she fell into a deep, restful sleep.
And Willow dreamed...
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{Willow was lying on the grass beneath a bright, blue sky. She looked
around her and she smiled. She was free. She looked happily at her wrists, which were no longer bound by ropes. There was no musty, old, filthy cot for her to lie on. There were no terrorists.
But there was a man.
She looked up at him and decided that whoever he was, he looked just like Christopher Walken. "Hello."
The man smiled down at her. "Hello, Willow."
"Who are you? Did...did you free me from the terrorists?"
"I am an angel of the Lord of Hosts, Willow. I have been sent to protect you." He smiled warmly. "You can call me Jeremiah. As for freeing you from your enemies...I am afraid that I did not. I brought you here to rest."
Willow looked sad for a moment as she realized that she must be dreaming. "Oh...Well...it is nice here. I-I like it better than my old cell." She regarded Jeremiah. She rose to her feet and still, she had to tilt her head to look up at him. "Well...you're really tall for Christopher Walken. You must be an angel. Uh...are you a real angel?"
"I am."
"You don't have any wings," she pointed out.
"I am revealed to you as your mind perceives me."
She looked at him. Then she giggled. "I saw Prophecy with Xander! That must be why I see you as...!" she trailed off as she realized something. "Uh...He was a bad angel in that movie. Um...you're not...?"
Jeremiah smiled reassuringly at her. "I am not a bad angel. Truthfully, Willow, a bad angel is nothing more than a demon."
She regarded him once more, thinking to herself about her situation. "Why am I here in this dream, Jeremiah? Are you supposed to show me something?"
"Perhaps you will show something to yourself."
She began to think about Xander and Julius threat about what he intended to do to him. She had to talk about what it was doing to her inside. "Jeremiah...I'm afraid."
Jeremiah misunderstood her fear. "Willow, you must have faith. Faith is the only thing that will save you. Without it, you will not be able to stand against what you will face."
"I-I don't care about what I will face!" she exclaimed. "I'm afraid that X- Xander will do something crazy, Jeremiah! If...if he tries to find me, they'll hurt him." There were tears in her eyes. "The Knife will kill him. Please...please don't let that happen!"
"Willow, I am amazed at you. I thought you were afraid for yourself, but your love is clearly strong for Xander." He smiled at her warmly. "You truly do love him, don't you?"
She nodded. "I do."
"Do you think he loves you?"
She looked up at the blue sky and focused her thoughts on Xander. "I-I
don't know," she said quietly, in hushed tones. "I mean, he-he likes me..." She trailed off. She remembered what Julius had said about making Xander confess that he felt nothing for her. "I just don't want him to hate me."
"Willow...look out there..." He pointed. "What do you see?"
Willow looked off in the distance and she thought she could see a tower of some kind. Then her eyes widened. "I...I know that tower..." Suddenly, she took off at a run and ran through a meadow. The meadow eventually stopped and she found herself on top of a cliff that overlooked a quarry. A huge, metallic frame structure formed a tower in the center of the quarry.
Looking down into the quarry, Willow saw an amazing site. A little girl was running as fast as her legs would allow her toward that huge tower.
Her breath caught in her throat, and Willow gasped.
"What is it, Willow?" Jeremiah asked her. He was standing beside her.
She pointed excitedly. "Th-that...that girl down there! Uh-th-that's me! Me, Jeremiah, when I was seven years old!"
"Where are you going?"
The memory of that day flooded into her mind and she stared at the running girl below. "I-I was going into the tower to be rescued by the knight from the evil dragon." She paused as she realized..."We've been here before..."
And there behind the running girl, but a bit further away, was a running boy.
"Willow!!" the boy called. "Stop running!!"
From the cliff, Willow stared. It was Xander.
Again, Willow began to point and wave excitedly. "That-that-that's Xander!" She looked at Jeremiah and it seemed that she couldn't stand still for the excitement she felt. "It's Xander, Jeremiah!!" She looked down into the quarry. "Xander...Xander!" she called.
Jeremiah shook his head. "They cannot hear you, Willow."
Willow looked at him. "Oh...They can't?"
He shook his head again.
"Oh..." She thought about that. "It's because this is a dream...right?"
"Yes...and no."
She tilted her head and looked puzzled. "You're beginning to sound like a certain librarian. Giles can get pretty confusing at times."
Jeremiah smiled. "This is a dream, yes. But what you are seeing here is also a memory."
Willow looked down once again and was just in time to watch herself as a child of seven begin to climb the tower.
"You said that you wanted to climb the tower to be rescued by a
knight...from a dragon?" Jeremiah watcher her with a bemused smile.
"Oh...well...uh...not a real, real dragon," Willow replied, looking slightly embarrassed. "Uh...you know, from a pretend dragon. And Xander...well, he was my pretend knight." She looked down as the child Willow was already high into the tower and the child Xander was standing nervously at the bottom of the steps. He was quite hesitant.
Jeremiah glanced at Willow. "The young girl seems to have no fear about climbing on such a dangerous, unstable structure."
She nodded in agreement. "I wanted to see Sunnydale from the top. But, Xander...he was afraid of heights."
"But he followed you up, didn't he?"
She nodded again, just as the boy below mustered his courage and began the long climb. "I-I didn't know that he was afraid. I found out years later that he only went up because..." Tears welled in her eyes.
"Because...?" Jeremiah gently prodded.
She looked at him. "Because he didn't want me to go alone." She returned her attention to the tower, and she saw the child Willow step onto a makeshift catwalk. The rotting wood burst apart beneath her feet and she fell through, screaming. Somehow, the little girl managed to grab at the metal edge and she hung on for dear life.
"Xander!! Xander!!" the girl screamed.
Willow was rooted to the spot. She couldn't move. She could hardly
breathe. Her eyes were fixed on the scene. The child Xander seemed to have immediately overcome his fear of heights and he shouted, "Hold on!" He climbed as fast as he could.
The child Willow's fingers were bleeding. The metal she had a grip on was sharp. She was starting to slip. "Help!! Help!! Help!!" Just as her fingers slipped free, Xander dove onto the very edge and grabbed her outstretched hand. He pulled her to safety and for the longest time, he held her trembling body close to his, stroking her hair.
"I won't let you go, Willow," the boy said softly to her. "I promise
you...I will never let you go."
Willow felt the tears rolling down her cheeks. And then she realized
something...She realized what Jeremiah was doing. She turned to look at him. "We've been here before...And he did save me then...Xander did save my life."
Jeremiah nodded. "And now...?"
She stared down at the quarry and immediately saw the change. The children of Xander and Willow were gone. In their place, she saw two black vans with men hanging around them. She saw Jhamel, the Speaker shouting out orders. She looked at the tower. She had the strangest impression that where her life had once been saved was now going to be where her life would end.
She fell on her knees. "Oh, Xander...I-I miss you so much."}
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The dream was over.
Her faith, just when it had begun was now put to the test.
Willow opened her eyes only to find Julius screaming at her in his language, and roughly shaking her awake. She cried out and when he was satisfied that he had her full attention, he showed her his knife.
It was stained with blood.
"Do you know what this is?" he demanded. "Tell me!!"
She swallowed nervously, although her mouth and throat were so dry.
"B-blood."
Julius nodded his head once. "Yes! It is blood." He leaned closer to her, glaring into her eyes. "But now the question is...who's blood is it?" He studied her closely.
Willow kept eye contact with him. She dared not risk looking away. But how was she to know who's blood was on that knife...She saw him begin to grin, and it was an evil grin. That's when she recalled the threat he had initiated earlier about...
"No..." It came out as a hoarse whisper.
Julius looked at her. "What did you say, girl?"
The tears began to blur her vision. "No," she said, more forcefully for she felt constricted in her breathing. "Please...don't do this..."
He stepped back. Then without warning, he grabbed her leg and pulled her leg out straight. He wiped the blood on her pant leg and moved back. "You can wear his blood," he snarled. "Call it his last parting gift to you."
"X-Xander...?"
"Xander." Julius tossed his head back and laughed. He was still laughing as he left her cell.
Willow fell back into her corner in shock. Then she screamed out Xander's name and wept bitterly.
TO BE CONTINUED--