Anyway, feedback (as always) is welcome.
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Awakenings III - Into the light
What we once were informs all that we have become.
The same love will infect our hearts, even if they no longer
beat.
Simple death won't change that.
-Darla
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Willie's bar was oddly empty. Although the air was still clogged with the smoke created by those recently vacated, only the most staunch or the most naive remained now.
"There ya' go." Willie exhaled as he deposited the drink on the bar next to Xander. "Never say your friend Willie don't come through in a pinch."
Xander looked uncomprehendingly at Willie before groggily swiping the drink from the bar and knocking it back in one swig. This was obviously not his first drink of the night.
"You're gonna put me out of business you know." Willie said, gesturing in a grandiose motion that encompassed the entire bar. "All my best customers are gone the minute you walk in that door."
"No one's brave enough to share the bar with the great Xander Harris." Xander couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it as he spoke.
"You better believe it." Willie said, pouring another measure of the golden liquid into Xander's glass. "You killed yourself a slayer. That kinda news travels fast."
Xander snapped his head back, tipping the golden yellow liquid down his throat in one fluid motion. "All these things I've done,.. was meant to do. You wouldn't think that something such as me could feel bad about them." As the glass slammed down onto the bar he placed his hand on top of it, signalling that he'd drunk enough.
Willie carried the bottle over to it's home. Placing it on the shelf he turned and walked back over to Xander, observing him carefully as he did so.
"It is true then? A soul?" He finally said, and a good deal quieter than Xander expected. "There were rumours that said as much, but nobody would believe them after you killed a Slayer."
Xander simply looked at him, the expression on his face saying more than his words ever could.
"You are in it then.." Willie continued. "Right up to your eyeballs. What do you figure to happen now?"
"By the time I sober up It'll be back in the driver's seat." Xander said, referring to the demon. "After that we'll have to wait and see how long it takes before I can take over again."
Willie shook his head, but the expression on his face was one of sympathy. "That's not something I'd wish on anyone. I'd stake you here and now, be doing you a favour... But if I did that, no one would ever come to my bar again."
"No... I wouldn't stick my neck out either if I were you." Xander responded.
Willie chuckled. "At least we understand each other. There's a
lot to be said for that."
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Giles sighed as he sat at the library desk. The words didn't come easily, he'd given words of this sort more times than he liked and they never came easily. He was aware of the attention on him and that his pause seemed to be growing rather too long.
"She was a brave girl." He let out the words that he had, aware of how inadequate they sounded. "A death like the one she had fits a warrior, but it's not a death I'd wish upon anyone."
Muted sounds of approval let him know that the words were anything but inadequate.
"Who's the vampire that we need to repay the debt to?" Robert spoke from near the back of what might manage to pass itself off as a crowd. Buffy, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Giles, and himself were the only occupants of the library, but the way they clumped around the central table made a fairly passable crowd.
The room fell silent as Buffy's response was awaited, the moment stretching out into a tangible, measurable amount of time. After what seemed a lot longer than it actually was, Willow broke the silence.
"It was Xander." She said in a tone quiet enough that it carried over the table only with great difficulty.
Buffy said nothing, a slight bow of her head being sufficient confirmation.
What followed was a different reaction from everyone.
Giles simply looked down at the floor, pulling a handkerchief from the front pocket of his tweed jacket and holding it to the bridge of his nose with one hand as he removed his glasses with the other.
Buffy on the contrary, looked for all the world like a great burden had been lifted from her. Robert could still tell that she bore more than someone of her years should have to, but it seemed greatly lessened by sharing such terrible news.
Willow hardly seemed to react at all, but her eyes told the story. She had always held hope that Xander could be redeemed, the ritual of restoration had been testament to the determination behind that hope. He could see that the hope was still there, although the chances for Xander's glorious redemption dwindled with every action he took. Robert could see how that cut her up inside. And evidently he wasn't the only one.
The look on Oz's face was easy enough to see, but Robert couldn't for the life of him pin down what was behind it. The only thing Robert could guess was that Willow, rather than Xander was the source of Oz's downcast expression.
Cordelia, much like Oz was an unknown to Robert. Just about the only thing he could tell was that this revelation was causing her much pain.
Giles was the first to speak. "I had held hope that the ritual of restoration had been successful after a fashion." He paused to exhale slowly. "But if Xander is capable of such a thing, then... I can't see how such a thing could be possible."
"I'm gonna have to slay him." Buffy said quietly, her eyes directed downwards to avoid the gaze of everyone in the room.
"No you're not." Robert cut in after a moment of uneasy silence.
Buffy looked up at him. "You're going to take on Xander? In your condition? I think you must have damaged something in your head as well."
"I might not be on top form right now, but I'm still combat ready." Robert said. "And you're going to need all the help you can get. Walking in there on your own would be glorified suicide, even with me helping I'm not sure how much better it would be."
"Well,...." Willow began, somewhat unsure of herself. "You'll have me helping too."
"Are you sure?" Giles asked.
"I can help." Willow replied. "And there's no way I can stand and watch knowing I could have done something."
Giles nodded. "We'll have to see what we can do to prepare you in that case."
"I think I can help there." Robert said.
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Willow rubbed her temples from where she sat off to one side of the library. Robert stood a short distance away intently reading the one tome that he had with him, whilst around the main table Giles and Oz pored over a depressingly large pile of books. Buffy and Cordelia were currently facing the marginally less daunting task of exams.
Willow looked up at Robert and after a moment of contemplation, spoke. "I don't know if I'll be able to do this."
"I would have preferred to take far longer than this to teach you." Robert said, looking up from the book. "but we just don't have the luxury of time."
"I think there's a spell in one of Giles' books that will lift this." Willow said, gesturing to the book that lay on the floor before her. "But lifting it myself? I've not got any idea how to start."
"The trick.." Said Robert. "Is to harness the energy around yourself. If you're desperate you can power that kind of thing from within yourself, but it really takes it out of you,... And most of the time you'll be able to accomplish more with the energy all around you anyway."
"Okay..." Willow said.
Robert continued his explanation. "The energy is all around you, like air it permeates everything. There are very few places that you won't find a supply to draw on. Conventional magick uses ritual and ingredients to focus the energy, It's a highly ritualistic form of what you will learn to make second nature to yourself."
"So I draw the energy in, how? And then what do I do with it?" Willow asked.
"The easiest way to draw energy in, at least until you are experienced, is to try and visualise it." Robert explained. "If you can visualise the energy as being part of the air we breath, then by consciously focusing on it as you take a deep breath should enable you to draw it in. After you can manage that, it will become easier over time."
"Then what do I do with it?"
"Then you need to make your best effort to put the energy toward the task that you want to accomplish. Try to visualise the energy as a tangible entity, flowing out of you and doing what you need it to do."
"There's no risk here, right?" Willow asked, slightly nervous.
"Well, the only risk is that you won't draw properly, but will still manage to lift the book." Robert said. "In which case you'll be powering it from inside yourself. no real risk, chances are you'll just faint if you manage that. I did the first time I messed up like that."
Willow managed a small smile. "Okay, here goes nothing."
Closing her eyes, Willow breathed in deeply. After a moment of holding the breath in she extended her hand, palm up. Raising her hand fractionally eyes still closed, the book wobbled as it lifted a few inches into the air. Then suddenly without warning the book shot straight upwards. Willow's eyes snapped open as she heard the loud thud of the book hitting the ceiling. As Willow looked nervously to Robert the book landed unceremoniously on the floor as second or two later, more or less where it had been before.
"That's the other thing I don't like about our situation." Robert
said. "This close to the Hellmouth there's almost too much energy."
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Xander groaned as he woke up. Slowly his vision cleared, the darkness of the room resolving itself into clarity. He almost chuckled when he saw the half empty whiskey bottle lying on it's side just out of reach.
"Drowning your sorrows? I didn't think you were rattled that easily." He said quietly to himself as he got up.
As the dizziness from standing up cleared he scanned the room for anything out of place.
"Well, you didn't destroy my work." He muttered to himself. "And you didn't do yourself in. You should have stayed sober, you might have been thinking more clearly."
Still hung over, Xander wasn't aware of Drusillia until she emerged from the shadows in the corner of the room.
"Whispers to him...." Drusillia crooned in her usual melodic tones as she waltzed over to Xander. "Two of them.... Devil on one shoulder, Angel on the other." Drusillia Whipped her head from side to side as she spoke, as if conversing with two invisible creatures perched one on each shoulder.
"What do you know about it?" Xander said cautiously
"Soul.... Ugh! Filthy little soul!" Drusillia stepped back, revolted. "Can smell the stink of it on you."
"I'm in control here, not the soul." Xander stated.
"Not so." Drusillia waggled a finger at Xander. "It speaks louder and louder to you. Makes you do things."
"I can handle it."
"That's not to know yet." Dru said. "But I'll keep your little secret. I won't tell my precious Spike about this."
"Why?"
"My Spike would take you away from us...... Poof! All ashes and dust." Dru said with a hint of sadness to her voice. "Just like he did to my Angel, not to you too he won't"
"How?......" Xander started to say.
"Can't keep anything from me, my precious." Dru replied. "Thinks he can, but clear as crystal to me." Dru sidled up to Xander, "You have your precious, she can see through you too."
"Can't get her out of my head even now." Xander replied.
"She is your precious." Dru said in a matter of fact tone.
"She is."
"Soon she'll come for you," Dru crooned. Clapping her hands together twice she continued, "We must throw her a party! And our friend must be ready in time." She said gesturing toward the books and texts that Xander had been studying.
"Oh he will be," Xander responded "But there's one thing I need
to do. It won't take too long."
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Buffy sighed as she leant on the Library door, pushing it open with her weight and slipping through the gap into the library. Willow rubbed her eyes, looking up from a book at Buffy as she approached.
"Exams go well?" Willow asked preemptively.
"Well, they certainly made me sweat for that..... D, I think" Buffy answered. "Give me vampires and icky demons any day. I mean, when in the real world are you going to need to know what covalent bonds are?" Buffy paused for a moment. "What are they by the way?"
"Well...." Willow began just as Cordelia heaved the library doors open carrying with her a long flat package, about four feet by eighteen inches by six inches.
"Cordelia," Buffy said in greeting. "What's in the box?"
"Damned If I know, but it sure is heavy." Cordelia replied setting the box down on the table.
"It's addressed to Giles." Willow observed, inspecting the label.
"Well.. Yeah." Cordelia responded. "like anyone would ever send anything to us. I suppose you want me to go and get him, he's in the stacks?"
Willow nodded.
"Y'know, you're lucky I'm in a giving mood today." Cordelia said as she went into the stacks to get Giles.
"Well, she seems to be handling this with her usual tactful flair." Buffy said, forcing a smile. "Where's Robert got to by the way? I thought he was training you or something."
"Oh, he is." Willow replied. "He just had to run and get something. Some crystal or something to help me focus."
"Uh-huh." Buffy mused as she picked at the edge of the label on the box. "So, what's he like? Apart from the martyr complex I mean."
"He's not really been that forthcoming. Apart from the training and whatnot." Willow said. "He did say something about his master dying, so he's probably just down right now."
"Makes sense." Buffy responded. "I mean... If it were Giles....."
"If what was me?" Giles asked as he walked over from the stacks.
"Nothing." Buffy replied casually.
"Just trying to y'know.... psychoanalyse Robert." Willow chipped in.
"Hmm.... This it?" Giles asked, placing a hand on the box.
"One and the same." Buffy said.
Carefully Giles split the seal open and opened the box up.
"Who sent it?" Buffy asked. "And why would they send us a sword? We have lots of those." She added as she observed the box's contents.
"Express air mail." Giles said as he retrieved the piece of paper that sat atop the sword. "From Kendra's watcher no less."
"It's a little late." Buffy said.
"Indeed." Giles confirmed. "It was supposed to arrive yesterday, but by the looks of this letter we may still have a use for it."
"Oh?" Willow asked.
"Yes. Apparently this sword was blessed by the warrior who first slew Acathla. Mr Zabuto thinks it may be able to return Acathla to his dormant state if the worst happens and he is Awakened."
"That's...... Actually quite useful." Buffy said.
"There's no specifics on exactly how the sword would be employed to that end." Giles said. "But I think I should be able to find that out for you."
"Well, at least now we have a last resort." Buffy said.
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The sun beat down on the ground, the heat of the day forcing refuge in the shade. Robert paused to mop the sweat from his brow as he passed into the shade offered by the wall of his building.
"Can't keep away, can you?" He said to whistler as he entered his abode.
"Well, it does have a certain quality, but I'm sure that's nothing to do with the company." Whistler joked.
"Or the location, or the landlord or the visitors." Robert finished.
"Must be hard for you right now." Whistler said. "I'm glad to see you've still got it in you to make jokes."
"I've officially gone past the point of caring about it any more." Robert said. "My master is dead, I've been a party to the death of Malek, who was for the longest time my best friend. The prophecy says that the order must die before it is reborn. Well I'm pretty much all there is of the order, so no points for guessing how that's gonna work."
Whistler shook his head. "You gotta have something to drive you, something to go on for. This ain't open to debate, The powers ain't gonna like it if you throw yourself on the first sword to cross your path."
"Uh huh... Like what?" Robert enquired.
"What about the girl?" Whistler put forward. "How's she supposed to be the rebirth of the order if you don't teach her properly?"
"She's strong, she'll get by." Robert replied. "Where's this all heading anyway?"
"Sometimes the hardest thing is to keep going." Whistler said. "You'll find out what I mean."
"Never ask a Verrach demon for a straight answer." Robert said in response. "But while you're here, can you tell me anything about Acathla?"
"Acathla......" Whistler mused. "Let me think..... Ooh, Wait, I know this one." He said jokingly.
"Nasty demon. Sword gets pulled out, he opens his moth and sucks the world down to hell." Robert said. "I'm betting you can get a bit more specific than that.... And maybe give us a solution for if the worst does happen."
"Well it works like this...." Whistler explained. "Blood is the key. It takes the blood of someone worthy. The sword comes out. Acathla opens his big mouth, creates a vortex. This world and everything in it is sucked down to hell."
"So how do you close it?"
"Again, blood is the key. Once the portal is opened you'll want the blood of the person who opened it to close it again. One blow'll send 'em both down to hell. Did I mention that you also need the sword to do it?"
"And if that fails?" Robert asked.
"There's always more than one way to skin a cat." Whistler replied. "Can't say that I know of any other ways to close it, but that don't mean they don't exist. But chances are, if they do exist they're even less pretty than that one."
"So don't mess the sword up basically?"
"Yep, that's right." Whistler replied.
"Well, I got what I came for." Robert said, picking a sizeable Quartz Amethyst off his table. "Are you gonna be here when I get back?"
"Probably not." Whistler said. "Contrary to appearances I am actually kept quite busy. In fact I'm gonna have to skip town in a day or so.... Don't worry, you'll get on just fine without me."
"Just so long as you leave something in the fridge." Robert replied.
"Unless my destiny is to starve to death."
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Xander glanced up at the sky as he made his way down the street. The sun was only a few minutes below the horizon, and it's heat could still be felt in the air. It felt odd to be out this early, but it had to be this way, he had other things to get to.
He reached a house, recognisable amongst the row of houses by the unkempt state of the front garden. Trampling the border, he strode over the lawn and across to the front door. First knocking soundly on the door he then proceeded to pull out his key and push the door open.
"I'm back." He preemptively called into the house.
"Where th'ell you been?" The guttural voice slurred a response from somewhere in the living room.
"Around." Xander replied curtly."
"Don't get smart with me!" The voice shouted in reply. "Th'ain't a clean plate in the bloody house!"
"I've had some things to sort out."
"Well what the hell are ya standin' out there for? Get your ass in here before I get up and drag you inside!"
Without word Xander stepped over the threshold and into his house, smiling to himself and gently closing the door behind him.
The shouts, the screams, and the muffled thumps that emanated from the house were much the same as what could be heard on any given night. Except that this was the last night that they would ever be heard.
About an hour later Xander stepped out through the front door,
wearing the same quiet smile he had worn when he entered.
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"Okay, that's as much time as I think we can risk." Robert said to Willow, who sat cross legged in the middle of the library floor.
Willow opened her eyes and regarded Robert, as if she had just woken up.
"Already?" She asked.
"Yes." Giles Answered for Robert. " don't believe we can afford the time for any more preparations. It'll be daybreak in a few hours, what little information my research has yielded indicates that we cannot afford to leave it any later than this."
"In that case we'd best get going." Buffy said.
"I still think it's unwise for you to be going in there without backup." Giles said to Buffy.
"I won't be." Buffy responded. "Witness my backup." She said, gesturing to Robert and Willow.
"Any objections I may have about your choice of backup aside, I don't see why you shouldn't take advantage of extra backup when it's available." Giles said in response.
"Once we get in there you stop being backup and become collateral damage." Buffy said. "That's not going to happen. I'm not going to put you in that position. I appreciate you wanting to help, but I don't know that there's anything you can do."
"No, I don't suppose that we could be of any great assistance in the combat department." Giles said. "You should probably go while we're actually in agreement over something."
"We got everything there?" Buffy asked Robert.
"Stakes, check. Crossbow, check. Sword, check." Robert replied.
"Right then, lets get going." Buffy said.
Giles watched as Buffy, Robert and Willow purposefully marched out of the library. He waited until they were well gone before turning to Oz and Cordelia who were seated at the library table.
"Well, what gives?" Cordelia said. "Are we gonna help them or not?"
"Of course we're going to help." Giles said, but not by fighting."
"because the thing I want most in the world is to fight a load of skanky undead demons." Cordelia responded, lacing her voice with sarcasm.