Title: Soul Magic
Feedback: Of course I want to know what you think otherwise I'd hide it in a folder on my computer! Kristi@allengames.com
Disclaimer: They belong to Joss. If they were mine I'd be nicer to them! At least most of the time.
Spoilers: Only if you have lived in a cave and not seen any of Angel or Buffy.
Distribution: If you want it just ask!
Author's notes: The centered offset quotes are quotes pulled from the shows. I didn't write them, I didn't think of them. Also I wanted to thank everyone who sent me feedback! This is my first fanfic and it's very inspiring! If you'd like to see more of this story let me know!
Chapter 8
The day started busy. Everyone had gathered in the conference room. Harmony was serving bagels and juice. Angel met Buffy at the door with a light kiss. He took her hand and led her over to a group of people she'd never met.
"Buffy, these are my friends, Gunn, Fred and Lorne."
Buffy started shaking the hand of the handsome black man. "Buffy Summers."
"Charles Gunn. You know, somehow I thought you'd be bigger for a slayer." The man grinned.
She smiled back. "Maybe later I can kick Angel's ass and prove to you I'm big enough."
"Aw yeah, I'd sign up to watch a show like that." Gunn said. Angel smirked at him.
"I'm Fred. I've heard a lot about you, well actually not so much. Cordy told some though."
"It's nice to meet you, Fred." Buffy smiled at the pretty brunette. She found it was impossible not smile at her.
The green demon stepped forward and hugged her. Buffy was only slightly taken aback. "Oh Honey, I've seen you every time Angelcakes here sings. You're the love of his life, his very long life, and what a love! If Manilow had seen what I see when he sings, he'd be ashamed to write songs about love. It can't even compare."
Buffy looked to Angel with confusion. "Lorne is an anagogic demon. He sees your soul when you sing." Angel said.
"Alright, no singing around the green guy." Buffy said with fake resolve.
"Oh Sugarlips, with the love that's coming off you every time you look at Studmuffin there, you don't have to sing." Lorne said.
Buffy blushed and was extremely grateful when Willow's timely entrance interrupted Lorne. Everyone took a seat at the long table in the center of the room. Angel sat at the head of the table, Buffy sat to his left. Willow was on his right. Wesley sat next to Willow and Giles was next to Buffy. Everyone else had scattered around.
"Ok, most of you know Giles and I spent nearly two months in Romania doing research, gathering history stuff like that. When we came here I pretty much had all the information, I just wasn't sure what to do with it. The witches here were really helpful there." Willow smiled at Angel. "Anyway, in all my research I found out there's a lot more to this curse then just the happiness clause we knew about. It's particularly cruel. I'm not sure how they could do this to any living being, even one without soul. To do this to someone who cares, it's heinous. It's designed to make sure that Angel never forgets one single detail about any of the atrocities that Angelus committed. It's also designed to take any guilt or remorse Angel feels and magnify ten times. And then, there's the happiness clause. If you were to do this to a normal person, who had normal guilt about things like not tipping a waiter, not paying the electric bill right on time, casting a spell to make all their friends forget or dropping out of college and trying to end the world-I mean, sorry. A normal person with normal guilt would pretty much lose their mind. I don't know how Angel stood all these years."
"yeah, we've 'eard it all before. Peaches is a bleedin champion." Spike muttered from the end of the table. Buffy glared at him. He'd been around her long enough to know the look was a staking threat. He took a sip from his mug of blood and tipped his head at her.
Angel remained quiet. Buffy reached under the table and squeezed his hand. He looked up at her. Everyone in the room saw the message she relayed to him with her eyes, I love you.
Willow smiled at the couple and continued her speech. "What I want to do is take and extract all the bad parts of the curse and leave Angel's soul behind. I need all of you to do it. I've already talked to Angel about this but I'll go over it all for the rest of you. I've come up with a spell that resembles a soul extraction but it's designed to pull on the negative aspects of the curse. It's still going to try and take Angel's soul with it." Willow held up a hand as Buffy took a breath to speak. "Let me finish. Angel is going to have to fight for his soul, he can expect Angelus to be fighting to let go of the soul. The reason you all have to be there is to remind Angel of all the reasons he has to fight. It also creates a lot of good vibes and draws on any magical power you all have, consciously or not. Just in case it doesn't work, Angel will be chained with magical manacles."
Buffy bit her lip. She wanted to ask, but she was afraid to know the answer. Willow looked at her and smiled sadly. "It's ok, Buffy. If it doesn't work, I've got the supplies on hand to do the old ensouling spell and I go do some more research."
Buffy nodded. She knew she couldn't actually talk without breaking down.
"So, I want you all to go rest, relax and make sure when you arrive at midnight you are all in good moods and well rested." Willow finished up.
Lorne pulled Angel and Buffy aside. "I think I can do something to comfort you two kids. I want to make sure I'm right though. Hum a few bars of something for me, Honey." Lorne looked at Buffy.
Buffy glanced at Angel. He nodded. Buffy hummed a little bit of nonsense.
"Your turn Angelcakes." Lorne said
Angel reluctantly hummed a couple of bars, badly, to Mandy.
Lorne chuckled. "Go on, have fun, Kids. You've got nothing to worry about. I see flowers and rainbows in your future, might take some fighting, but they're there." Lorne left the conference room smiling and singing to himself.
Willow hugged Buffy and Angel. "Lorne is right, go have fun, enjoy yourself. It's going to work."
"Thanks Will."
Angel took Buffy up to the Atrium again. In case the spell didn't work, he wanted to spend his last day with her in the sunlight. He'd remember for the rest of his life, the rest of eternity, how she looked sitting in the grass, the sun streaming through the trees, lighting her from behind.
Angel pulled Buffy into his arms. She seemed to fit so perfectly there. She was so tiny against him. "Make plans with me, Buffy. "
"I've done nothing but make plans for my future with you since I met you." She said.
-"Angel, when I look into the future all I see is you. All I want is you."-
-"I know the feeling."-
-"I want my life to be with you."-
"I was serious about donating an entire floor to your school. We could do it easily. The girls would all have apartments. Giles could have the other penthouse up here. Dawn could live here with us. I've got a spare bedroom. Faith could move here, along with Robin. Even Xander and Andrew."
"Why don't we just invite the Los Angeles Lakers Basketball team while we're at it?" Buffy teased.
"If it would get you here, I will."
"Are you sure Angel? I mean you saw the girls in action, and that was just 5 minutes. They are a handful, having them here all the time would be- "
"Great. It's safe. We could monitor where they were going and what they were doing all the time. There's a cafeteria to feed them. It'd be less work for you. I'll have a training room built for them. I've been planning to build one anyway." Angel said.
"You do realize that me living here and the school being here are not dependant on each other right?"
Angel nodded. "Yeah, but if you're here during the day I can come see you without ever having to leave the building."
"So your motives for the school moving here are entirely selfish?" Buffy asked.
Angel pondered a moment. "Entirely."
Buffy laughed. "How can I say no to such logic and reasoning?"
Angel giggled like a little boy and clutched Buffy so hard she had to remind him that one of them there had to breathe.
"Now that we've got our living arrangements and work schedules coordinated, I want to talk about the important stuff, like the wedding." Buffy smiled girlishly up at him.
While Buffy took a shower and changed for the spell casting, Angel went looking for Spike. He found him up on the roof of Wolfram and Hart, smoking.
"It's Captain Forehead to the rescue. Don't you have a damsel to comfort or something? Isn't this your finest hour or something?" Spike said before taking a long draw on his cigarette.
"I wanted to ask you a favor, Spike." Angel said.
"Ask me, a favor? That's bloody rich."
"I'm serious. If something goes wrong and I lose my soul and become Angelus again, I want you to stake to me."
"Al-bloody-right. I've been waiting to do this for a hundred years or so." Spike said gleefully.
"I don't want to put Buffy through that again and I can't live an eternity like this."
"You know the Slayer will stake me for it." Spike said.
"No, she won't. You've got a soul now. She might beat you into oblivion but she won't kill you." Angel assured him.
"Well, alright then. Sounds like a bleedin good time to me."
At Willow's request everyone gathered in a large empty room in the basement of Wolfram and Hart. She had prepared the room ahead of time. Buffy was glad to see Faith had come down from San Bernardino. She knew that Faith and Angel were close. She could accept that now, just the way Angel was going to have to accept that she and Spike were close.
Willow had made a circle of white candles within a circle of blessed salt. Inside the circle there were two pairs of magic enhanced manacles. There were three large crystals set around the circle. A bowl filled with various herbs smoked and filled the room with fragrance. Buffy sensed a hint of vanilla.
"It smells like vanilla in here, Will." She observed.
"Scent memory is one of the strongest types of memory. Even coma patients have scent memory sometimes. When Angel and I talked about the spell the other day he mentioned that the smell of vanilla always makes him think of you. I couldn't help but think it would help him stay focused when he's fighting." Willow said.
"This is going to work, isn't it, Will?" Buffy asked, her eyes pleading.
"I'm going to do my very best, Buffy. I promise and if it doesn't, I'll keep looking until I find something. Now go sit with Angel. We're going to have to lock him up soon and I want him to be as calm as possible before we do that."
Willow finished her preparations and instructed everyone where to stand. Buffy locked Angel up but remained sitting beside him, holding his head in her lap.
"Ok, I think we're ready. Once I start chanting, everyone needs to stay in their places. It's important that the circle not be broken. I'm not really sure what to expect, a lot of it will depend on Angel. Okay, places everybody."
Buffy stood at Angel's head, right in line with his heart. "Because you are his heart," Willow had said with a sweet smile. He would also be able to look up just a bit and see her standing there. Wes stood at his right hand. Gunn stood at his left. Fred stood beside Gunn, Lorne beside Wes, in line with Angel's abdomen, as his center. Faith and Spike stood at his feet, as his ground. Dawn and Willow stood just off to the right of that.
"How are we going to know if the spell works?" Dawn asked.
"The crystals will turn black, I think." Willow said, trying to sound confident.
Willow smeared a slightly shimmery oil on her forehead and a bit on Angel's. She stood at his feet, her hands held palm up. She closed her eyes and begin the spell.
"Gods bind his soul but cast aside the darkness tied there."
"Bind him yet release the remorse, the pain the grief."
"Bind him, anchor his soul."
"I implore you, Lord, do not ignore this request."
"Bind him! Bind him! BIND HIM!"
Angel's body arched and he reverted to his vamp face. He howled with pain and his body started to smoke. Buffy looked up at Willow, alarmed. Willow was beginning the chant again.
Angel struggled against the manacles. Occasionally his face would slip back to human but it always reverted to vamp. His screams grew louder, more anguished. Silent tears tracked down Buffy's face. Willow continued to chant. She begin to glow with a white light and started chanting louder, in Romanian.
Angel's eyes begin to glow with the same golden hue that Buffy had seen when Willow had re-ensouled him the first time. He snarled and growled, the vamp face having become a permanent fixture. Dawn was crying almost hysterically. Spike held her hand and talked to her.
"Just a bit longer, now Niblet. Red said it was important not to break the circle."
"Will! Stop it! You're killing him!" Buffy screamed.
"BUFFY!" It was the first intelligible word Angel had said since the spell began.
Buffy was the first to break the circle. She ran to Angel and dropped on her knees beside him. She gathered his head in her lap and tried to murmur soothing words to him. Tears fell from her eyes onto his face.
There was an explosion of white light. It threw everyone in the circle back and blasted the crystals to pieces. The golden light in Angel's eyes faded. The crystal pieces were black.
"Angel," Buffy whispered. His name was a prayer of hope, a plea, on her lips.
He lay perfectly still in the center of the circle. His eyes were closed. He didn't take unnecessary breaths. Buffy smoothed the ridges of his vamp face. There was no response.
"Angel," Buffy said a bit louder, her voice hitched with tears.
There was no way to tell if he was merely unconscious, or dead. As the seconds ticked by, Buffy grew more hysterical. She didn't even notice everyone filing quietly out of the room. Willow touched her shoulder.
"It-the crystals turned black." Willow said helplessly.
Buffy looked up with malevolent eyes. "You killed him. He was going to marry me, you killed him."
"Buffy, I'm sorry, I didn't- there was nothing to indicate-"
"Get out! Leave me alone with him! Get out!" Buffy screamed.
Willow scurried out of the room. Buffy bent over her lover and sobbed.
Feedback: Of course I want to know what you think otherwise I'd hide it in a folder on my computer! Kristi@allengames.com
Disclaimer: They belong to Joss. If they were mine I'd be nicer to them! At least most of the time.
Spoilers: Only if you have lived in a cave and not seen any of Angel or Buffy.
Distribution: If you want it just ask!
Author's notes: The centered offset quotes are quotes pulled from the shows. I didn't write them, I didn't think of them. Also I wanted to thank everyone who sent me feedback! This is my first fanfic and it's very inspiring! If you'd like to see more of this story let me know!
Chapter 8
The day started busy. Everyone had gathered in the conference room. Harmony was serving bagels and juice. Angel met Buffy at the door with a light kiss. He took her hand and led her over to a group of people she'd never met.
"Buffy, these are my friends, Gunn, Fred and Lorne."
Buffy started shaking the hand of the handsome black man. "Buffy Summers."
"Charles Gunn. You know, somehow I thought you'd be bigger for a slayer." The man grinned.
She smiled back. "Maybe later I can kick Angel's ass and prove to you I'm big enough."
"Aw yeah, I'd sign up to watch a show like that." Gunn said. Angel smirked at him.
"I'm Fred. I've heard a lot about you, well actually not so much. Cordy told some though."
"It's nice to meet you, Fred." Buffy smiled at the pretty brunette. She found it was impossible not smile at her.
The green demon stepped forward and hugged her. Buffy was only slightly taken aback. "Oh Honey, I've seen you every time Angelcakes here sings. You're the love of his life, his very long life, and what a love! If Manilow had seen what I see when he sings, he'd be ashamed to write songs about love. It can't even compare."
Buffy looked to Angel with confusion. "Lorne is an anagogic demon. He sees your soul when you sing." Angel said.
"Alright, no singing around the green guy." Buffy said with fake resolve.
"Oh Sugarlips, with the love that's coming off you every time you look at Studmuffin there, you don't have to sing." Lorne said.
Buffy blushed and was extremely grateful when Willow's timely entrance interrupted Lorne. Everyone took a seat at the long table in the center of the room. Angel sat at the head of the table, Buffy sat to his left. Willow was on his right. Wesley sat next to Willow and Giles was next to Buffy. Everyone else had scattered around.
"Ok, most of you know Giles and I spent nearly two months in Romania doing research, gathering history stuff like that. When we came here I pretty much had all the information, I just wasn't sure what to do with it. The witches here were really helpful there." Willow smiled at Angel. "Anyway, in all my research I found out there's a lot more to this curse then just the happiness clause we knew about. It's particularly cruel. I'm not sure how they could do this to any living being, even one without soul. To do this to someone who cares, it's heinous. It's designed to make sure that Angel never forgets one single detail about any of the atrocities that Angelus committed. It's also designed to take any guilt or remorse Angel feels and magnify ten times. And then, there's the happiness clause. If you were to do this to a normal person, who had normal guilt about things like not tipping a waiter, not paying the electric bill right on time, casting a spell to make all their friends forget or dropping out of college and trying to end the world-I mean, sorry. A normal person with normal guilt would pretty much lose their mind. I don't know how Angel stood all these years."
"yeah, we've 'eard it all before. Peaches is a bleedin champion." Spike muttered from the end of the table. Buffy glared at him. He'd been around her long enough to know the look was a staking threat. He took a sip from his mug of blood and tipped his head at her.
Angel remained quiet. Buffy reached under the table and squeezed his hand. He looked up at her. Everyone in the room saw the message she relayed to him with her eyes, I love you.
Willow smiled at the couple and continued her speech. "What I want to do is take and extract all the bad parts of the curse and leave Angel's soul behind. I need all of you to do it. I've already talked to Angel about this but I'll go over it all for the rest of you. I've come up with a spell that resembles a soul extraction but it's designed to pull on the negative aspects of the curse. It's still going to try and take Angel's soul with it." Willow held up a hand as Buffy took a breath to speak. "Let me finish. Angel is going to have to fight for his soul, he can expect Angelus to be fighting to let go of the soul. The reason you all have to be there is to remind Angel of all the reasons he has to fight. It also creates a lot of good vibes and draws on any magical power you all have, consciously or not. Just in case it doesn't work, Angel will be chained with magical manacles."
Buffy bit her lip. She wanted to ask, but she was afraid to know the answer. Willow looked at her and smiled sadly. "It's ok, Buffy. If it doesn't work, I've got the supplies on hand to do the old ensouling spell and I go do some more research."
Buffy nodded. She knew she couldn't actually talk without breaking down.
"So, I want you all to go rest, relax and make sure when you arrive at midnight you are all in good moods and well rested." Willow finished up.
Lorne pulled Angel and Buffy aside. "I think I can do something to comfort you two kids. I want to make sure I'm right though. Hum a few bars of something for me, Honey." Lorne looked at Buffy.
Buffy glanced at Angel. He nodded. Buffy hummed a little bit of nonsense.
"Your turn Angelcakes." Lorne said
Angel reluctantly hummed a couple of bars, badly, to Mandy.
Lorne chuckled. "Go on, have fun, Kids. You've got nothing to worry about. I see flowers and rainbows in your future, might take some fighting, but they're there." Lorne left the conference room smiling and singing to himself.
Willow hugged Buffy and Angel. "Lorne is right, go have fun, enjoy yourself. It's going to work."
"Thanks Will."
Angel took Buffy up to the Atrium again. In case the spell didn't work, he wanted to spend his last day with her in the sunlight. He'd remember for the rest of his life, the rest of eternity, how she looked sitting in the grass, the sun streaming through the trees, lighting her from behind.
Angel pulled Buffy into his arms. She seemed to fit so perfectly there. She was so tiny against him. "Make plans with me, Buffy. "
"I've done nothing but make plans for my future with you since I met you." She said.
-"Angel, when I look into the future all I see is you. All I want is you."-
-"I know the feeling."-
-"I want my life to be with you."-
"I was serious about donating an entire floor to your school. We could do it easily. The girls would all have apartments. Giles could have the other penthouse up here. Dawn could live here with us. I've got a spare bedroom. Faith could move here, along with Robin. Even Xander and Andrew."
"Why don't we just invite the Los Angeles Lakers Basketball team while we're at it?" Buffy teased.
"If it would get you here, I will."
"Are you sure Angel? I mean you saw the girls in action, and that was just 5 minutes. They are a handful, having them here all the time would be- "
"Great. It's safe. We could monitor where they were going and what they were doing all the time. There's a cafeteria to feed them. It'd be less work for you. I'll have a training room built for them. I've been planning to build one anyway." Angel said.
"You do realize that me living here and the school being here are not dependant on each other right?"
Angel nodded. "Yeah, but if you're here during the day I can come see you without ever having to leave the building."
"So your motives for the school moving here are entirely selfish?" Buffy asked.
Angel pondered a moment. "Entirely."
Buffy laughed. "How can I say no to such logic and reasoning?"
Angel giggled like a little boy and clutched Buffy so hard she had to remind him that one of them there had to breathe.
"Now that we've got our living arrangements and work schedules coordinated, I want to talk about the important stuff, like the wedding." Buffy smiled girlishly up at him.
While Buffy took a shower and changed for the spell casting, Angel went looking for Spike. He found him up on the roof of Wolfram and Hart, smoking.
"It's Captain Forehead to the rescue. Don't you have a damsel to comfort or something? Isn't this your finest hour or something?" Spike said before taking a long draw on his cigarette.
"I wanted to ask you a favor, Spike." Angel said.
"Ask me, a favor? That's bloody rich."
"I'm serious. If something goes wrong and I lose my soul and become Angelus again, I want you to stake to me."
"Al-bloody-right. I've been waiting to do this for a hundred years or so." Spike said gleefully.
"I don't want to put Buffy through that again and I can't live an eternity like this."
"You know the Slayer will stake me for it." Spike said.
"No, she won't. You've got a soul now. She might beat you into oblivion but she won't kill you." Angel assured him.
"Well, alright then. Sounds like a bleedin good time to me."
At Willow's request everyone gathered in a large empty room in the basement of Wolfram and Hart. She had prepared the room ahead of time. Buffy was glad to see Faith had come down from San Bernardino. She knew that Faith and Angel were close. She could accept that now, just the way Angel was going to have to accept that she and Spike were close.
Willow had made a circle of white candles within a circle of blessed salt. Inside the circle there were two pairs of magic enhanced manacles. There were three large crystals set around the circle. A bowl filled with various herbs smoked and filled the room with fragrance. Buffy sensed a hint of vanilla.
"It smells like vanilla in here, Will." She observed.
"Scent memory is one of the strongest types of memory. Even coma patients have scent memory sometimes. When Angel and I talked about the spell the other day he mentioned that the smell of vanilla always makes him think of you. I couldn't help but think it would help him stay focused when he's fighting." Willow said.
"This is going to work, isn't it, Will?" Buffy asked, her eyes pleading.
"I'm going to do my very best, Buffy. I promise and if it doesn't, I'll keep looking until I find something. Now go sit with Angel. We're going to have to lock him up soon and I want him to be as calm as possible before we do that."
Willow finished her preparations and instructed everyone where to stand. Buffy locked Angel up but remained sitting beside him, holding his head in her lap.
"Ok, I think we're ready. Once I start chanting, everyone needs to stay in their places. It's important that the circle not be broken. I'm not really sure what to expect, a lot of it will depend on Angel. Okay, places everybody."
Buffy stood at Angel's head, right in line with his heart. "Because you are his heart," Willow had said with a sweet smile. He would also be able to look up just a bit and see her standing there. Wes stood at his right hand. Gunn stood at his left. Fred stood beside Gunn, Lorne beside Wes, in line with Angel's abdomen, as his center. Faith and Spike stood at his feet, as his ground. Dawn and Willow stood just off to the right of that.
"How are we going to know if the spell works?" Dawn asked.
"The crystals will turn black, I think." Willow said, trying to sound confident.
Willow smeared a slightly shimmery oil on her forehead and a bit on Angel's. She stood at his feet, her hands held palm up. She closed her eyes and begin the spell.
"Gods bind his soul but cast aside the darkness tied there."
"Bind him yet release the remorse, the pain the grief."
"Bind him, anchor his soul."
"I implore you, Lord, do not ignore this request."
"Bind him! Bind him! BIND HIM!"
Angel's body arched and he reverted to his vamp face. He howled with pain and his body started to smoke. Buffy looked up at Willow, alarmed. Willow was beginning the chant again.
Angel struggled against the manacles. Occasionally his face would slip back to human but it always reverted to vamp. His screams grew louder, more anguished. Silent tears tracked down Buffy's face. Willow continued to chant. She begin to glow with a white light and started chanting louder, in Romanian.
Angel's eyes begin to glow with the same golden hue that Buffy had seen when Willow had re-ensouled him the first time. He snarled and growled, the vamp face having become a permanent fixture. Dawn was crying almost hysterically. Spike held her hand and talked to her.
"Just a bit longer, now Niblet. Red said it was important not to break the circle."
"Will! Stop it! You're killing him!" Buffy screamed.
"BUFFY!" It was the first intelligible word Angel had said since the spell began.
Buffy was the first to break the circle. She ran to Angel and dropped on her knees beside him. She gathered his head in her lap and tried to murmur soothing words to him. Tears fell from her eyes onto his face.
There was an explosion of white light. It threw everyone in the circle back and blasted the crystals to pieces. The golden light in Angel's eyes faded. The crystal pieces were black.
"Angel," Buffy whispered. His name was a prayer of hope, a plea, on her lips.
He lay perfectly still in the center of the circle. His eyes were closed. He didn't take unnecessary breaths. Buffy smoothed the ridges of his vamp face. There was no response.
"Angel," Buffy said a bit louder, her voice hitched with tears.
There was no way to tell if he was merely unconscious, or dead. As the seconds ticked by, Buffy grew more hysterical. She didn't even notice everyone filing quietly out of the room. Willow touched her shoulder.
"It-the crystals turned black." Willow said helplessly.
Buffy looked up with malevolent eyes. "You killed him. He was going to marry me, you killed him."
"Buffy, I'm sorry, I didn't- there was nothing to indicate-"
"Get out! Leave me alone with him! Get out!" Buffy screamed.
Willow scurried out of the room. Buffy bent over her lover and sobbed.