TITLE: Remembered Love pt3
AUTHOR: Joe T
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy, WB, others, and just about everyone but me.
SUMMARY: Continuation of Forgotten Love.
SPOILERS: As always, everything is fair game
RATING: PG-13 implied sex.
Part 3
LA
Much to Gunn's relief, the phone in the Hyperion Hotel barely rings once before Wesley answers it, "Hello?"
"Wesley, it's me. Cordelia drove them to a Wal-mart."
"She didn't buy a gun did she?"
"No, waiting period, but she came out of there with a new pair of Dockers and a bat. I got cut off and lost them, but I think they were on their way to Sunnydale. Should I head there?"
"No, come back to the hotel, Angel will be here in ten minutes, we'll try and contact Buffy first. She should be able to keep things calm long enough for us to get there."
"I hope you're right, Cordelia looked like she wanted a fight, I don't think she's gonna care who it's with."
Sunnydale
As Cordelia finally slows her car to a speed near the legal limit, Fred and Tara thankfully relax their grips on the door handles. Offering a small prayer of thanks for having survived one of the more harrowing experiences she's had, Fred looks over at their driver and hopes she can talk her out of any rash actions.
"Cordelia, we really should go with your other plan."
"Which one was that Fred?"
"Where we wait for Angel and we all come here together. I thought that was a good plan, so did Wesley."
"I have a better plan."
"But you said Willow was a witch, and Buffy might help her too."
"We're not going to see Willow."
Tara leans forward from the backseat at this and asks, "Who are we going to see?"
"Anya. She set this up."
With a small apologetic glance at Tara, Fred asks, "I thought it was Willow, using spells and."
"I meant us finding out. Anya is smart, she's had Xander under a spell for at least a year, and no one suspected a thing. And in one day, one hour, she flips out and gives it all away for you and Gunn to pick up on. And why even mention Tara was there when Wesley called? Willow could have done some little light show and told us it was all in our heads, everything was fine. Anya set things up to get caught, and I want to know why."
"Turn left here, the first driveway." Tara says.
As soon as she finds a spot, Cordelia slams the car into parked, grabs the bag from the store, and rushes into the building, Tara and Fred closely behind. Piling into an elevator, she begins changing from her usual shoes to the heavier boots she had just bought. As they exit the elevator, heading down the hall, Fred asks, "What if Anya isn't here?"
Pausing for a moment outside the door to Xander's apartment, Cordelia answers, "Her shop is closed, and it's too early for them to be out patrolling yet. And if she isn't here yet we'll wait." That said, Cordelia then kicks the door as hard as she can, a second kick knocks it open and she enters.
As she walks into the apartment, she instantly sees the person she is looking for, seated at the kitchen table, two bottles of vodka are next to her.
"Anya."
Without even looking up, she takes a sip from her glass and answers, "Took you long enough to get here."
Stepping forward, Tara asks, "Why?"
Giggling slightly, "Which why is that?"
"Why the whole set up for us to find out?"
A small glare is apparent as Anya speaks, "Because it was never going to end. 'She' was never going to stop holding this all over my head." Finally looking up, she continues, "All she had to do was make the spell permanent, but it was more fun for her to do it every month or so, have a little playtime with my Xander."
Angrily, Cordelia snaps, "Your Xander? I don't think so. Why did you do it in the first place?"
"Do you remember the prom? I knew he'd bought your dress, and when I saw the look he gave you, I just.I just wanted him to look at me like that." Smiling a little, she continues, "For a little while he did, but eventually he would start remembering you."
"Where is Xander?" Cordelia asks.
"Willow asked him to fix some things at Buffy's for them." Answering their next question, she adds, "Buffy is meeting with Spike to go over patrol routes, and Dawn is staying at a friend's house."
"So she's probably going to."
Interrupting Cordelia, Anya says, looking at Tara, "I think she's waiting for you to get home before she does anything." Ignoring the glare Tara gives her, she reaches over to a drawer and pulls out a small leather bag, dumping out a scroll and an extremely large blue topaz.
"When I realized Willow really wasn't going to let me have Xander, I started working on a spell to bind her powers. It's so specific to her, even if the witch who casts it has her head chopped off, it will continue to work. I cast a spell on the gem for it to absorb magic out of the surrounding area, I lowered it on a rope into the Hellmouth two years ago."
"That's a powerful focus for spells." Tara says.
"Two whole years! You've been planning this for two years!" Cordelia shouts.
"A little longer, a millennia of instincts die hard." Anya states as she hands the items to Tara.
After reading the scroll and examining the gem closely, Tara looks at the two women with her and asks, "Should I? If I use this, there really won't be any turning back; her powers will be gone for a long time. There isn't any way to undo this."
"What's a long time?" Fred asks.
"Decades, if Tara knows how to burn up a focus." Anya answers.
"I do."
"I knew you had more skill than Willow."
"Why are we debating this? Do it." Looking Tara in the eyes, Cordelia continues, "Willow is waiting for you to get home to do more of whatever you remembered, to play with your head some more. She can live without being a witch."
"Alright, I'll do the spell for Xander first, I can use the gem and some of his hair to restore his memories from here." Tara answers, as she heads to the bathroom and returns with Xander's brush.
Tara quickly has the spell finished, and once the residual flash of light has passed, begins setting up for the next spell.
The instant she is ready, Tara casts the spell from the scroll, as she finishes the gem crumbles into a powder and seems to dissolve into air. This time, instead of a flash, a bolt of light bursts up into to ceiling, and Tara drops to the floor, a small trickle of blood coming from her nostril.
"How much energy did you use?" Anya asks as she goes to help her up, before being pushed aside by Cordelia.
"I won't be casting any spells at all for about a week."
"You completely burnt up the focus, I'd say it'd be fifty years before Willow casts anything more than a fishing line."
Glaring at Anya, Cordelia speaks, "Get out. Now. Don't sit around reminiscing; don't wonder about where to go, just grab your shit and be gone by the time we get back here. If you're here when I come back I'll hand you over a vampire for dinner, I swear I will."
"Where are you going?"
"Now we're going to see Willow."
"I have to call her." Seeing the look Cordelia is giving her, Tara says, "I just have to."
Sighing, Cordelia sits down, "Fine, but the instant you hang up I'm out the door."
Summer's residence
After setting up several candles in the large bedroom, Willow heads downstairs to find Xander. Locating him laying on the couch, she notices the glassy look in his eyes, a sure indication he is coming out from under her spell.
"At least it happened here." Willow says as she starts back up the stairs; stumbling a little as she suddenly feels weak.
As she gathers the items to cast the spell, the phone by her and Tara's bed rings. Answering it, she is surprised to here Tara's voice.
"Willow."
"Tara, when are you getting back?"
"I'm at Xander's with Cordelia and Anya."
Willow quickly pushes down a sudden rush of fear, "How are they doing? Cordelia and the others I mean."
"We know Willow. I know."
"Tara, whatever they said."
"You were wearing that green button up shirt, the one I'd pointed out to you a few weeks before in the mall. Strange, how that's the thing that sticks out the most. Do you 'remember' that shirt Willow?"
Remembering the feeling she'd had climbing the stairs, Willow asks, "Tara, what did you do?"
"I bound your powers. Count on the next fifty years being magic free."
"I'm stronger than you are, Tara, I can break the binding. Just undo it and."
"A battle axe is stronger than a scalpel too, but what do they use in surgery though? The spell was very specific Willow, even if I die, it'll last."
"Anya." Willow spits the name out of her mouth, more a statement than a question.
"Yeah, Anya. And Cordelia is bringing us there right now, so I'd grab what you can and run. I don't know if I can stop her from whatever she's going to do, heck, I don't know if I'll even try."
"You can't do this Tara. When I get the binding removed."
"You know what the funniest thing is? The best sex I had with you was when you sat in the corner and watched Xander and me. You're not just a bitch, you're a bad lay."
Click.
"Damnit!" Willow screams as she throws the phone across the room. For a few seconds she just stands there, then the fear returns.
They're on their way.
They might not have been at Xander's, they could be at the payphone right up the street.
The words she had said to Anya come back to her, '.Cordelia will take a bat and beat your head in, and I mean right the fuck in'.
Scrambling, she grabs her purse and is heading out the door to the hallway when an impossibly strong hand grabs her around the throat and forces her back into the room, pushing her head into the mirror hard enough that Willow can feel the mirror fracture around her head.
"Xan."
AUTHOR: Joe T
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy, WB, others, and just about everyone but me.
SUMMARY: Continuation of Forgotten Love.
SPOILERS: As always, everything is fair game
RATING: PG-13 implied sex.
Part 3
LA
Much to Gunn's relief, the phone in the Hyperion Hotel barely rings once before Wesley answers it, "Hello?"
"Wesley, it's me. Cordelia drove them to a Wal-mart."
"She didn't buy a gun did she?"
"No, waiting period, but she came out of there with a new pair of Dockers and a bat. I got cut off and lost them, but I think they were on their way to Sunnydale. Should I head there?"
"No, come back to the hotel, Angel will be here in ten minutes, we'll try and contact Buffy first. She should be able to keep things calm long enough for us to get there."
"I hope you're right, Cordelia looked like she wanted a fight, I don't think she's gonna care who it's with."
Sunnydale
As Cordelia finally slows her car to a speed near the legal limit, Fred and Tara thankfully relax their grips on the door handles. Offering a small prayer of thanks for having survived one of the more harrowing experiences she's had, Fred looks over at their driver and hopes she can talk her out of any rash actions.
"Cordelia, we really should go with your other plan."
"Which one was that Fred?"
"Where we wait for Angel and we all come here together. I thought that was a good plan, so did Wesley."
"I have a better plan."
"But you said Willow was a witch, and Buffy might help her too."
"We're not going to see Willow."
Tara leans forward from the backseat at this and asks, "Who are we going to see?"
"Anya. She set this up."
With a small apologetic glance at Tara, Fred asks, "I thought it was Willow, using spells and."
"I meant us finding out. Anya is smart, she's had Xander under a spell for at least a year, and no one suspected a thing. And in one day, one hour, she flips out and gives it all away for you and Gunn to pick up on. And why even mention Tara was there when Wesley called? Willow could have done some little light show and told us it was all in our heads, everything was fine. Anya set things up to get caught, and I want to know why."
"Turn left here, the first driveway." Tara says.
As soon as she finds a spot, Cordelia slams the car into parked, grabs the bag from the store, and rushes into the building, Tara and Fred closely behind. Piling into an elevator, she begins changing from her usual shoes to the heavier boots she had just bought. As they exit the elevator, heading down the hall, Fred asks, "What if Anya isn't here?"
Pausing for a moment outside the door to Xander's apartment, Cordelia answers, "Her shop is closed, and it's too early for them to be out patrolling yet. And if she isn't here yet we'll wait." That said, Cordelia then kicks the door as hard as she can, a second kick knocks it open and she enters.
As she walks into the apartment, she instantly sees the person she is looking for, seated at the kitchen table, two bottles of vodka are next to her.
"Anya."
Without even looking up, she takes a sip from her glass and answers, "Took you long enough to get here."
Stepping forward, Tara asks, "Why?"
Giggling slightly, "Which why is that?"
"Why the whole set up for us to find out?"
A small glare is apparent as Anya speaks, "Because it was never going to end. 'She' was never going to stop holding this all over my head." Finally looking up, she continues, "All she had to do was make the spell permanent, but it was more fun for her to do it every month or so, have a little playtime with my Xander."
Angrily, Cordelia snaps, "Your Xander? I don't think so. Why did you do it in the first place?"
"Do you remember the prom? I knew he'd bought your dress, and when I saw the look he gave you, I just.I just wanted him to look at me like that." Smiling a little, she continues, "For a little while he did, but eventually he would start remembering you."
"Where is Xander?" Cordelia asks.
"Willow asked him to fix some things at Buffy's for them." Answering their next question, she adds, "Buffy is meeting with Spike to go over patrol routes, and Dawn is staying at a friend's house."
"So she's probably going to."
Interrupting Cordelia, Anya says, looking at Tara, "I think she's waiting for you to get home before she does anything." Ignoring the glare Tara gives her, she reaches over to a drawer and pulls out a small leather bag, dumping out a scroll and an extremely large blue topaz.
"When I realized Willow really wasn't going to let me have Xander, I started working on a spell to bind her powers. It's so specific to her, even if the witch who casts it has her head chopped off, it will continue to work. I cast a spell on the gem for it to absorb magic out of the surrounding area, I lowered it on a rope into the Hellmouth two years ago."
"That's a powerful focus for spells." Tara says.
"Two whole years! You've been planning this for two years!" Cordelia shouts.
"A little longer, a millennia of instincts die hard." Anya states as she hands the items to Tara.
After reading the scroll and examining the gem closely, Tara looks at the two women with her and asks, "Should I? If I use this, there really won't be any turning back; her powers will be gone for a long time. There isn't any way to undo this."
"What's a long time?" Fred asks.
"Decades, if Tara knows how to burn up a focus." Anya answers.
"I do."
"I knew you had more skill than Willow."
"Why are we debating this? Do it." Looking Tara in the eyes, Cordelia continues, "Willow is waiting for you to get home to do more of whatever you remembered, to play with your head some more. She can live without being a witch."
"Alright, I'll do the spell for Xander first, I can use the gem and some of his hair to restore his memories from here." Tara answers, as she heads to the bathroom and returns with Xander's brush.
Tara quickly has the spell finished, and once the residual flash of light has passed, begins setting up for the next spell.
The instant she is ready, Tara casts the spell from the scroll, as she finishes the gem crumbles into a powder and seems to dissolve into air. This time, instead of a flash, a bolt of light bursts up into to ceiling, and Tara drops to the floor, a small trickle of blood coming from her nostril.
"How much energy did you use?" Anya asks as she goes to help her up, before being pushed aside by Cordelia.
"I won't be casting any spells at all for about a week."
"You completely burnt up the focus, I'd say it'd be fifty years before Willow casts anything more than a fishing line."
Glaring at Anya, Cordelia speaks, "Get out. Now. Don't sit around reminiscing; don't wonder about where to go, just grab your shit and be gone by the time we get back here. If you're here when I come back I'll hand you over a vampire for dinner, I swear I will."
"Where are you going?"
"Now we're going to see Willow."
"I have to call her." Seeing the look Cordelia is giving her, Tara says, "I just have to."
Sighing, Cordelia sits down, "Fine, but the instant you hang up I'm out the door."
Summer's residence
After setting up several candles in the large bedroom, Willow heads downstairs to find Xander. Locating him laying on the couch, she notices the glassy look in his eyes, a sure indication he is coming out from under her spell.
"At least it happened here." Willow says as she starts back up the stairs; stumbling a little as she suddenly feels weak.
As she gathers the items to cast the spell, the phone by her and Tara's bed rings. Answering it, she is surprised to here Tara's voice.
"Willow."
"Tara, when are you getting back?"
"I'm at Xander's with Cordelia and Anya."
Willow quickly pushes down a sudden rush of fear, "How are they doing? Cordelia and the others I mean."
"We know Willow. I know."
"Tara, whatever they said."
"You were wearing that green button up shirt, the one I'd pointed out to you a few weeks before in the mall. Strange, how that's the thing that sticks out the most. Do you 'remember' that shirt Willow?"
Remembering the feeling she'd had climbing the stairs, Willow asks, "Tara, what did you do?"
"I bound your powers. Count on the next fifty years being magic free."
"I'm stronger than you are, Tara, I can break the binding. Just undo it and."
"A battle axe is stronger than a scalpel too, but what do they use in surgery though? The spell was very specific Willow, even if I die, it'll last."
"Anya." Willow spits the name out of her mouth, more a statement than a question.
"Yeah, Anya. And Cordelia is bringing us there right now, so I'd grab what you can and run. I don't know if I can stop her from whatever she's going to do, heck, I don't know if I'll even try."
"You can't do this Tara. When I get the binding removed."
"You know what the funniest thing is? The best sex I had with you was when you sat in the corner and watched Xander and me. You're not just a bitch, you're a bad lay."
Click.
"Damnit!" Willow screams as she throws the phone across the room. For a few seconds she just stands there, then the fear returns.
They're on their way.
They might not have been at Xander's, they could be at the payphone right up the street.
The words she had said to Anya come back to her, '.Cordelia will take a bat and beat your head in, and I mean right the fuck in'.
Scrambling, she grabs her purse and is heading out the door to the hallway when an impossibly strong hand grabs her around the throat and forces her back into the room, pushing her head into the mirror hard enough that Willow can feel the mirror fracture around her head.
"Xan."
