Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, guys, I've rethought the motivations and feelings of the characters because of them, to hopefully make the fic seem more 'real'.
I'd like to answer 'Lakrids' review in particular; although Anya was supportive, she was new to being a human, and didn't understand emotions, friendship, or any other bonds. Thus, although she had good intentions, really didn't help. As for the evil possession, well, I'll deal with that in this chapter. Thanks for the review (I had honestly forgotten that Xander hated and was embarrassed by the hyena Thanks!)
I'd like you all to know that this is a Xander-centric fic, though these first chapters may not seem like it, they are necessary to set the scene.
I also have my first major magic spell in this chapter; feedback on how it is would be appreciated.
Xander was having second thoughts. He sat back on his chair, never breaking eye contact with a particular paragraph in the book he had 'borrowed' from Giles.
"Animal possessions, as a rule, completely overwhelm the soul, and thus spirit of the possessee. However, if one had been previously possessed, but in some fashion had the possession removed, they would not be overwhelmed by the spirit should they be repossessed, rather, they would control it…"
Control. Something that was very important to him. He hated the fact that he had never, in his life had any control. He wasn't smart like Giles, wasn't strong like Buffy, wasn't magical like Willow. He had no control over slaying, relying on others to save him. Although he though of himself as a new age guy, equal rights and all that, it still sometimes irked him that he had to hide behind his life long friend, who he had always protected in the past. Zeppo, Cordy had called him, and she was right. He had no control, because he had no power. In front of him was the means to gaining it. However, in his rage at being useless, he had forgotten what happened last time he had been possessed. He had attacked Buffy. Hurt Willow. Ate a pig. Was it really worth it? What if it went wrong? He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He really didn't know.
"Kyle Haksey looked around in disgruntlement. He, Heidi, Richard and Laura had never managed to quite get over what happened in Sunnydale, those three long years ago, although they had moved to Goldelwith, a town over two hundred miles away for that purpose. They had never been under suspicion for Principle Fluties death (It had been put down as an attack by 'wild dogs') and no one at Goldelwith high had known about their dark past. Except them. Their dark past that had changed them from petty bullies to model students, had also kept them together. A school psychiatrist had called it 'post traumatic stress syndrome', but Kyle knew the real reason why. Guilt. Guilt of killing a human being. Guilt of committing one of the most deplorable acts known to man; cannibalism. And neither he, nor the other, knew why they did it. And that kept him awake at night, wondering why, at that place and time, killing and eating Principle Flutie had felt right. They had made it easily to the local college, and had made other friends. Perhaps they could finally put their dark past behind them.
"Are, are you ready?" Tara asked nervously. Willow nodded firmly. "Lets begin." The two witches closed their eyes, and chanted softly. They were seated in Willow's dorm room, cross-legged on the floor, opposite each other. Amy, in her cage, was sitting in between them. A large Circle was chalked on the carpet, and five candles stood, four white candles on the outskirts of the circle, two on each side of the witches, and one green in the middle, resting on top of Amy's cage. The curtain had been drawn, and the only light in the room came from the candles, bathing the scene in a soft glow. The chanting increased in pace, and in volume, and on cue, the four surrounding candles flared to an impressive foot long flame, while the central candle's flame became blue, and lifted from the wick, to hover in mid air above the cage. The candle below silently crumbled to dust. Neither witch observed this, as both had their eyes tightly shut, concentrating fiercely on the ritual. The chanting grew louder and faster, and the flames from the surrounding candles grew in response, until both witches were screaming, and as the crescendo reached its climax, as one, stopped. Catching their breath, they opened their eyes to witness the incredible scene. The surrounding candles had crumbled to dust, though the flames had remained, narrow as if trapped in glass tubes, large enough to lick the ceiling, and touch the floor. The yellow-red flames did no damage, and were strangely silent, though illuminating the room better than a florescent light. The central flame had rotated higher, a beautiful blue glow becoming a glowing blue ball, and as the girls watched, spell bound, blue flames, in thin lines, stretched horizontally in four directions, until reaching the pillars of flame. As they touched, the blue colour washed over each pillar, before washing back, pillars regaining their red colour. Tara looked at Willow for an explanation, who nervously consulted her spell book. "The Four Towers of Fire." She explained to Tara in a whisper, before pointing to each in turn "Osoth, Enes, Abalas, and Fiskes." She turned back to Tara, excitement in her eye "The middle one must be Keleseth, Keeper of the flame." Tara nodded, fascinated by the movements of the blue flame along the extended arms to the towers, much like waves, the blue would move forward and back, very slowly being pushed by the movements of the red flames. "Now what happens?" She asked in a whisper.
"Well, we have to wait." Replied Willow. She pointed to the center of the blue flame, which was still hovering over Amy's cage. "We summoned Keleseth, who had the power to remove a curse by the goddess Hecate, but we have to wait for him to be charged by the Four Towers before he can do anything." Tara nodded
"How long will that take?" She asked, looking nervously at the flames, which, although not burning anything – in fact she didn't even feel any heat coming off them – but it still looked dangerous. Pillars of fire in the living room were never a good thing.
Willow looked thoughtful "It says here that Keleseth will be charged when the 'Power of the Towers infuse his being'" She shrugged "I guess that means when the red flames make it to the center." Tara looked up, and sure enough, the red had crept partway across the horizontal bars. It reminded her suddenly of a computer game, when it was loading, and the bar had to make it across the screen. She grinned, "I wonder what game we're about to play," Willow didn't hear her.
"Oh! Look! Tara!" Tara looked up in concern, to see Willow with a smile on her face, pointing at one of the bars. "It moved! Really! I mean, I was just sitting here, and wham!" Willow emphasized by clapping her hands, causing Tara to jump at the unexpected sound "It moved." Willow beamed. Tara looked up. The bar had moved half an inch. Which meant it had about five feet eleven and a half inches to go. Willow looked concerned at Tara's less then stellar reaction. "Didn't yours move? Because, if you want, we could swap? I mean, this baby's a track champ" She offered, pride in 'her' bars speed. Tara smiled, before getting up, and pulling Willow up as well. "Come on, sweaty, if you stare at a kettle, it'll never boil" she said, leading a protesting Willow out of the room. Amy looked thoughtfully at the pillars of fire, then up at the blue ball of fire above her. "Squeek" She remarked resignedly, before returning to nibbling a piece of cheese.
"Okay, one, two, three, good." Buffy wiped her face with a towel, before dropping it to the mat. They were deep underground in the Initiative base, in a training facility. Read – gym. It was good to train with people who were probably as close to slayer strength and skill that humans could get to. No offence to Giles, who was skilled in many forms of combat, but he was no marine. Buffy counted at least five in the gym with her. "Buffy?" Buffy looked up to see Riley coming towards her. "Hey!" She smiled "What's up?"
"We found a new demon" Riley answered "Nasty thing. We're calling it a Felix, as its black and white and has sharp claws"
Buffy giggled "A Felix demon"
Riley smiled good-naturedly "Well, we don't have ancient books to tell us their names, so we make them up as we go along"
Buffy shrugged, "I wouldn't worry about it, the Council probably has named it 'cat which looks like cartoon character' in Latin"
Riley laughed before responding, "You want to look over it's specs? We don't have fourth century engravings, but we do have 3D holographic images."
"Cool! I'm in" Buffy grabbed her gym bag before following Riley out of the gym, a slight nagging in the back of her mind wanting to ask Giles about the demon. 'You have to stand on your own feet' She scolded herself mentally 'you can't lean on Giles anymore.' Shaking the slight fear away, she wowed at the beautiful computer-generated image of the incredibly ugly demon. "Ew, I think I prefer the engravings"
Giles shook his head before sitting at the desk again. He picked up the document lying there, before angrily throwing it down, and standing again. "I'll not do this again" He muttered, pacing the room, his gaze never leaving the innocent looking document lying on his desk. He sighed, stopped, and sat down again. Pulling his glasses of, he gave them a quick rub before replacing them on the bridge of his nose. He picked up the document again. Watchers Council; Contract of employment.
1: Mr Rupert Giles will have complete responsibility for the Slayer 'Faith' including training, and deployment.
This was fine, and what Travis had promised earlier. A chance to train Faith without interference.
2: Mr Rupert Giles will be granted access to the Council's resources, including but not restricted to; Council Librarys
Armaments
Special Operation teams
Informant rings
Spell Casters /w all spell componentsThis was a nice treat, having the full weight of the Council behind him should make dealings on the hellmouth much easier to circumvent.
3: Mr Rupert Giles will have full Health and dental insurance.
This little luxury made him smile as he thought about Buffy complaining that the Council had no health and dental plan, before the smile turned to a frown as he remembered what exactly the contract entailed.
4: Miss Faith Wilkins will not be influenced, attacked, reprimanded, or in any other way contacted by any member of the Council without specific instruction from Mr Giles.
This particular clause was the main reason Giles was considering agreeing, as it would ensure Faiths safety, and prevent another attempt from the Council on her life.
5: Mr Giles will be given full discretion in his use of Council resources.
Giles smirked as he read this. Free use of the Council's resources. Travis must have sweated bullets before adding this. Giles thought with a grin.
6: Mr Giles will be given full discretion in the Council's relations with rogue slayer 'Buffy'This clause ensured the safety of Buffy, from any of the Councils attempts to eliminate or reeducate Buffy.
7: Mr Giles will not disclose any information related to the supernatural to any not either slayer or watcher.
It was this clause that made Giles stop and think. If he agreed to it, there would be no more 'Scooby gang' or anything of the sort. It was Travis's way of not so subtly attempting to get back to the traditional methods, with a slayer having no friends or family around. Faith had no family, and if he signed this… Giles shivered and looked at the last clause.
8: Should clause 7 be willfully broken, then contract will be considered null and void, Mr Giles will be recalled to London, and action will be taken against the party responsible, and the slayer 'Buffy'
That was a threat, plain and simple. 'Tell anyone, and we'll kill them, and Buffy'.
On the one hand, the contract would mean that the hellmouth would be much more secure than ever. On the other, it meant that Giles would probably never contact Willow, Xander, or the others. Giles stared at the bottom line.
Sign here_______________________________End note: What do you think? Please please please review!
Remember it's your review that shape the story. I'd like everyone who reads the story to email or review the story with their opinion: Should Giles rejoin the council?