Willow audibly gulped as she exited the taxi cab. She had split from the others just a little while ago and went on her way to meet Doctor Strange. She gave the cabbie, Latka she thinks his name was, the instructions to Doctor Strange's Bleeker Street residence and with a "Thank you very much" which displayed Latka's poor grasp of English he took her there. After paying him (to which he again responded with "Thank you very much"), she got out and marveled the mansion before her. It was like Angel's old mansion on Crawford Street back in Sunnydale, only larger. She gulped again, realizing inside was potentially the most powerful magick user on the planet. And she had to go meet him.
Willow sighed and walked to the huge iron gates of the estate, which opened of their own accord, which oddly relaxed Willow. She strode up to the house with weak knees, hoping she didn't babble too much. She marched up on the porch and rang the bell and waited for what seemed like an eternity (though it actually about fifteen seconds), before a thin, bald, Asian man in a green gi answered the door.
"May I help you?" he greeted in English with excellent diction.
"Uh hi. I'm Willow Rosenberg. I'm here to see Doctor Strange." She replied shakily.
The Asian man smiled warmly and allowed passage into the house.
"Ah yes, the Doctor said you would be coming today. I am Wong, the Doctor's man servant. Please enter." Wong said cheerfully.
Willow smiled politely and walked inside and gasped. The interior of the house was extravagant. Tapestries, amulets, and other things of mystical significance adorned the area. The smell of incense was in the air, and it smelled absolutely heavenly.
"Please, allow me to lead you to the drawing room. The Doctor will attend to you shortly." Wong said leading her, "Would you like something to drink? Tea perhaps? Or lacking that I believe we have some soda."
"No thank you. I'm fine." Willow said smiling as she sat down in the drawing room, in a large comfortable chair.
"Should you need anything, please merely pull the velvet rope in the corner and I will attend to you shortly. Oh and for your own safety I must insist that you do not go wandering around. The hallways twist and turn of their own volition here. You may find yourself in another dimension if you stray too far." Wong explained.
"Oh okay. Thanks." Willow replied.
Wong customarily bowed and walked out of the room. Willow looked around. It was nice here. It looked like an old fashioned Victorian era room. More than likely, it was an old fashioned Victorian era room. Pictures adorned the walls. Willow got up and gazed at one of a short, slightly ugly man with pointed teeth.
"Alistair Crowley.", a voice from behind her said
Willow turned and saw a tall, gaunt man dressed in blue, Eastern garb, with a long flowing red and yellow cloak with a simply gigantic collar on it. He was Caucasian and middle aged. His hair was black with the sides beginning to gray. Additionally he had a pencil thin mustache, and Willow thought he looked somewhat like Vincent Price.
"Excuse me?" Willow asked.
"Alistair Crowley. Chaos magician from the late eighteen hundreds. He filed his teeth down so he could better bite women on the neck. Believed himself to be the Anti-Christ in addition to being believed to be the most evil man in the world at one point.", the man said.
"Also immortalized in the song "Mr. Crowley" by Ozzy Osbourne.", Willow smirked.
"Impressive. You listen to much Black Sabbath?" the man asked.
"Not really, but I used to date a guy in a band. You must be Doctor Strange?" Willow asked.
"And you must be this Willow Rosenberg Rupert's told me so much about." Doctor Strange said shaking her hand, "would you care to sit?"
"Sure." Willow said returning to her previous chair. She was slightly surprised when Doctor Strange simply sat down Indian Style four feet in the air.
"I'm not trying to show off. It's just better for my back." Doctor Strange explained.
"Oh okay." Willow replied.
"So, has Wong offered tea yet?" Strange asked.
"Yeah but I'm not exactly thirsty." Willow stated.
"Well I must insist you try some before you leave. It's really quite good." Doctor Strange told her. He observed her a moment more before speaking again, "So where would you like to begin?"
"Well, Doctor, I'm not exactly sure." Willow said feeling her stomach knot up.
"Please call me Stephen." Strange smiled, "Well let me see. How long have you been practicing magick?"
"Around five years." Willow said quickly.
"That would have made you what? Sixteen? Seventeen?" Stephen asked.
"Sixteen.", Willow said.
"Hmm. Just from observing you I can see the power flowing off you. You're so young and yet so powerful. Could you go into further detail about your training?" Strange asked.
"Well I never had any real formal training," Willow said nervously, "What I know I either learned myself or from Tara."
"Tara?"
"My lover. Well, former lover. It's complicated. We met in college. Before that I really didn't have much power to speak of. Just minor stuff really. Tara kind of took me under her wing. She had the skills and I had the power I guess. Pretty soon I surpassed her."
"So your current level of power is merely from learning from Tara for a few years? I find that somewhat hard to believe. No offense." Stephen replied.
Willow was quite for a moment, "When we were sophomores in college, my friend Buffy….she's the Slayer….you do what a Slayer is right?"
"Oh yes." Stephen replied.
"Well, Buffy had an enemy. A goddess called Glory. Glory fed on people's sanity, not food like humans. She fed on Tara's mind. So I absorbed magickal energy from a few dark texts and confronted Glory. She kicked my ass. But eventually I found a way to get Tara's mind back, weakening Glory a little for Buffy to beat her. That's not all though.
A year or so later, Tara was….shot. That sent me off the deep end. I absorbed more magicks and upped my current level much, much higher. I killed the man who had taken Tara from me. In my grief, I even went after his partners even though they had nothing to do with Tara getting shot. Buffy and I even exchanged blows. Then I tried to raise this artifact that would have destroyed the world. But my friend Xander, he managed to talk me down and stop me. After that Giles took me to England where I studied under a coven of witches. I learned to control my power somewhat. But now I've been under so much stress. The world's going to end soon and Tara came back from the dead, and I feel the magick deep inside me wanting me to do things that I know are wrong. It's like it's a part of me. It's just crazy." Willow finished.
"Understandable. Tell me, your power, does it manifest itself when you become angry or injured?" Doctor Strange asked.
"Yeah. That's when it's most potent." Willow said.
"I see. That's perfectly understandable. If your magick is literally a part of you, then of course its intensity would depend on your physical and mental state. It's like an adrenaline rush. A colleague of mine, the Hulk, has a similar problem. He has enormous power that generally manifests itself when he becomes angry. Your problem is slightly different but luckily can be rectified." Strange said as he began to stand and walk over to a book case.
"It can be fixed?" Willow asked.
"Yes. Through meditation and lighter magicks you can work your way through it. The only factor is time. Your reactions are actually very normal. People in stressful professions such as your own often act uncharacteristically. Grief and anger are powerful emotions, but they are natural. You think your friend Buffy or Xander wouldn't react in a similar way were the situation the same? You just need to meditate, practice a few lighter spells, and perhaps seek some therapy for a time. I can recommend you a good therapist, Leonard Samson. He did wonders for the Hulk." Strange said as he took a few books off of a shelf, "Additionally, you may want to look at these texts. They contain cleansing rituals that may help if you decide to use them. I think Rupert Giles was possibly overreacting when he sent you to see me. You just need some time and speak your mind. It isn't good to keep emotions bottled up. You may also train with me if you would like to. A word of warning though, I'm not an easy teacher."
"So you have some sort of teleportation spell I can use to travel across the country everyday?" Willow asked jokingly.
"Yes, but I was thinking I could make house calls. I'm more experienced at mass teleportation than you." Strange replied.
"Wow. And to think all this started with a soul restoration spell." Willow mused as Strange handed her a few books.
"Excuse me?" Strange asked.
"Oh. Was just thinking out loud. All my magick problems would have never happened if I hadn't done this one spell a few years ago, but the world kind of depended on me doing it so here we are." Willow explained.
"You said a soul restoration?" Strange asked, "That's an incredibly complex spell."
"And I did it from my hospital bed too." Willow smirked, "A friend of ours back home named Angel needed it. He's a vampire and he was under this curse that if he ever became truly happy he'd lose his soul. I restored it."
"No you didn't and yes you did. The exact definition of souls is tricky. Vampires have souls. It's just that when they're turned, their demon unleashes their id. They have souls, just no guilt or inhibitions. What you did was probably simply block the demon and set inhibitions in place again. Did the spell require an Orb of Thessala?" Strange asked.
"Yeah. Wow, are you sure about that?" Willow asked puzzled.
"Oh yes. Some vampires are good upstanding people. For example, a friend of mine named Hannibal King. I am impressed that you actually performed that spell however. You have a natural talent for magick." Strange replied.
"If it's so natural, I should have been able to anchor it so he wouldn't be able to lose it again." Willow stated.
"You didn't anchor it?" Strange asked.
"You mean it can be done?!" Willow asked wide eyed.
"Yes. It just simply would take more experience. I could assist you sometime if you desire." Strange stated.
"Wow. I can give Angel his soul back, permanently. Buffy would be so happy!" Willow shouted.
Just then, Wong entered the room with a cordless phone.
"Phone call Doctor: For Ms. Rosenberg." Wong stated. Strange nodded to Willow and slightly puzzled at who would call her here took the phone from Wong.
"Hello? Giles? Uh huh. Uh huh." Willow said before going pale, "You're sure? Oh God. Yes, I'll get there as soon as I can. Thanks for giving me the message. Bye."
"What is it?" Doctor Strange asked.
"Ironic. A friend of ours from L.A. called. It looks like we'll be doing that soul restoration sooner than we thought. Angel lost his soul." Willow said swallowing in fear.