Title: Transformations
Rating: PG-14 give or take a few years
Spoilers: I reserve the right to claim that just about anything from the first three seasons is fair game.
Summary: Just the usual. Something decides to use Sunnydale as a playground and turn the scooby gang into scooby snacks but what's up with Xander?
Disclaimer: This is a fictional story. Joss & ME own the characters, I own nothing and make nothing from this story. In other words; Don't want them. Don't need them. Couldn't afforded them if I did.
Note - thoughts
Chapter Six
"Oh dear Lord." Giles whispered. "A Devilcat."
The room was eerily silent as the large cat's gaze swept across the room. The feline's red eyes settled on the burnt corpses in the middle of the room and twin puffs of smoke escaped from it's nose. Everyone watched as the cat sat on it's haunches, it's eyes changing from an angry, blood red to a soft, grassy green as it appeared to relax.
"Giles," Buffy whispered urgently. "That's the cat I was telling you about!" Buffy said nervously as the cat calmly began to clean one of it's large paws.
"Buffy, I want you to slowly back away from it," Giles slowly bent down to retrieve the axe that Buffy discarded. "You too, Xander."
"But Giles-"
"Just do what I say Xander. Devilcats are very dangerous and evil creatures"
"No," Xander said with a firmness that startled Giles. "Put the axe down Giles."
Giles stared at Xander as if he had grown a second head. "I will do no such thing Xander. Now back away from that creature."
Xander snorted loudly but made no attempt to obey. Movement behind Xander caught Giles' attention and the older man found himself staring straight into the eyes of the Devilcat. With great difficulty, Giles tore his gaze from the cat and looked to Xander only to find the young man staring at him with the same intensity as the cat.
While both men stared at each other, Buffy watched the cat. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off with the way the large cat's body language mimicked Xander's. Like it was ready to defend Xander from any attack. All the tension in the air had her senses screaming 'DANGER!' in a way that Buffy hasn't felt since the Mayor's ascension.
Looking back at her friends, Buffy saw that Oz had moved slightly in front of Willow as if to protect her while the redhead nervously watched as Giles and Xander stared at each other like a pair of dogs competing for dominance. Each silently waited for the other one to back down and Buffy had a feeling that things would go downhill if Giles won.
Buffy turned to Giles and said, "Drop the axe Giles."
"Buffy I -" Giles started to retort but something in the Slayer's expression stopped him.
"Put it down Giles." Buffy glanced at the cat and somehow knew that it wasn't here to attack them. "It'll be okay. Trust me."
Giles cast glances between Buffy and Xander. Giles sighed and, deciding to trust the instincts of his Slayer, set the axe down on the floor.
Turning back to her friend, Buffy asked. "Xander?"
The lop-sided grin that Xander gave Buffy was a complete one-eighty from the dark look that Giles received. "It's all good Buff."
Buffy smiled briefly in return before looking at the large cat again. She could've sworn that she could sense what felt like amusement coming from the cat.
Xander turned to follow Buffy's gaze and chuckled lightly, petting the large cat as he walked into Giles' bedroom. A second later Xander reappeared and sat down next to the cat. With both hands, he pulled the feline's head around so he could look her in the eyes. After a few seconds Xander relaxed, letting go of the cat's head and turned to face his friends.
"The guy's gone."
"Did.." Buffy trailed off, pointing to the cat.
"No," Xander placed his hand on the cat's head and started to scratch one of it's ears. A loud rumble could be heard coming from the very content looking cat as it rubbed itself against Xander. "Rysak or whoever he was just disappeared. Other than the mess he left, there was no sign of him."
"And you're positively sure that the Devilcat had nothing to do with this Rysak's disappearance?" Giles asked.
Looking at Giles, Buffy could see the starting signs of curiosity surface in the older man's face despite his fear of the cat. Buffy was a little worried too but thought that things couldn't be as bad as Giles believed if Xander was so friendly with the cat.
As if reading her mind, Xander spoke. "I'm sure Giles. She's my friend."
She.. That word struck a strange note in Buffy as she remembered Rysak's question; 'Where is Sheba?' Could that be.. Buffy looked at the cat and found the feline staring back at her with intense, unblinking eyes that spoke of intelligence.
"A Devilcat is no one's friend, Xander," Giles stressed, oblivious to his Slayer's thoughts. "They are chaotic creatures that live to kill. They're evil."
"This one isn't Giles." Xander thought for a moment. "Ok, maybe she can be a little sadistic but she isn't evil. I would know if she was."
"How would you know?" Willow asked walking closer. Oz followed behind his girlfriend, holding one of Giles' numerous knives, clearly intent on protecting Willow.
"I just would."
"Well I'm afraid that's not good enough Xander." Giles said.
The two men stared at each other for a second before Xander decided to back down. He sighed heavily as he sat down on the stairs. Xander looked at each of his friends in turn, noting their determined expressions. "It's a long story."
Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them. "Then it's probably best that you start at the beginning."
Xander looked at Giles in disgust. "At the beginning? Do I have to?"
"How else are we going to understand what has happened?"
Xander shrugged. "Okay, whatever." Xander cleared his throat and spoke in a deep voice. "This world is older than we know. It did not begin as a paradise and demons walked the Earth. They made it their home sweet Hell. They..." Xander trailed off under Giles' stern look and looked to Buffy for help. "You heard him didn't you? He did say to start at the beginning."
Buffy just shook her head and cast a disappointed glance at her mentor. "Giles, Giles, Giles," Buffy spoke up, shaking her head. "I would've thought by now that you would know better than to ask Xander such vague questions. You know that you'll never get a serious answer from him that way."
"Hey!" Xander pointed a finger at Buffy.
Buffy just smiled sweetly at her friend. That smile faltered slightly as her gaze drifted to the cat behind him. "Uh Xander? Could that cat be the Sheba that the runt was raving about?"
With a thoughtful look, Xander turned to the Devilcat and pointed at her. "Sheba?" Xander quickly pulled his hand back when the cat growled and tried to bite off the offending finger.
"Xander!" Willow shouted.
The boy in question ignored his friend and locked eyes with the powerful feline. Seconds stretched out as everyone watched a silent battle of wills being waged between Xander and the Devilcat. Buffy had to fight off the urge to get between the two in case the cat decided to attack her friend.
Then, to the shock of everyone except Xander, the large, several hundred pound Devilcat slowly shrunk in size till it was no bigger than a small housecat.
Xander smiled widely and the now smaller Devilcat jumped into his arms, then climbed her way up onto his right shoulder. Purring loudly, she rubbed her body up against the side of his head. "So Sheba's your name." Xander whispered as he affectionately scratched behind the cat's ear. Seeing the shocked expressions on his friend's faces, Xander asked, "What?"
"Xander," Giles started off weakly. "How was that creature able to change like that?"
Xander threw him a confused look. "She's always been able to do that. Can't all Devilcats change size?"
"No, they cannot Xander."
Xander was surprised but simply said, "Cool."
"Xander-" Giles growled.
"Look Giles," Xander cut him off. "I already said that she isn't evil which according to you makes her different from other Devilcats. Is it too hard to accept that maybe she can do things that the rest of them can't?"
Giles fumed for a bit. He knew enough about Devilcats to be sure that so-called 'good ones' don't exist. If they ever did, Giles was quite sure that they would have been killed by their parents shortly after being born.
The actions of this Devilcat however are unlike anything he had heard about the species. The cat seems playful, almost good natured which disturbed Giles very much, but at the same time seemed to prove Xander correct. "You might be right," Giles said, stressing the word 'might'. "but I would like to know more of what happened. Especially how you came to befriend.. Sheba."
"There really isn't much that I can tell you. One moment I was trying to save some kids and the next I'm waking up in a motel room with a large black cat and a note from Shay basically saying that the kids were safe and not to be afraid of the cat. She said that the cat would protect me even if I didn't need protecting."
"Who is Shay and why would she think that you didn't need protecting?" Willow spoke up.
"Shay is.. a very interesting woman," Xander eyes lost focus as a memory drifted to the surface.
~Flash~
"So let me get this straight Shay," Xander paced around the small room motel room. On the single bed sat a dark-haired woman. "You're telling me that you're a witch."
Shay grimaced but then shrugged. "Basically."
Xander looked at her suspiciously, "What do you mean, 'basically'?"
"I have some unique abilities but I'm not a real witch and I don't like being called one."
Xander filed that away to ask about later. "And you want my help with finding some missing kids."
"Yes."
Xander stopped in front of Shay and asked, "So tell me again, why am I here?"
Shay sighed. "Because I could use your help."
"Once again with the 'why me'."
"Are you saying that you won't help?" Shay asked incredulously.
"No!"
Shay smiled. "I thought so. C'mon, We need to make a stop at the police station."
~Flash~
"Why did you have to go to the police?" Willow asked.
"She'd wanted to show me the case she was following. There were a total of six missing kids with ages ranging from eight years old to thirteen. Each one had been abducted over a period of two months."
"I remember that," Buffy spoke softly, recalling what she saw in her dreams, "She was arguing with a couple of officers about the last one kidnapped, in front of a pegboard."
"You remember?" Xander questioned. "How? You weren't even there."
Giles coughed. "Xander," he faltered for a second when two sets of eyes, one human one feline, turned in sync to regard him. "What you don't know is that, for the past week, Buffy has been having dreams about your experiences that took place your trip.
"Her Dreams?" Xander asked, confused for a minute before remembering that he heard Buffy describing her dreams about his road trip. "That's right," Xander turned to Buffy. "I heard you telling Giles about them when I first got here."
"That is correct," Giles said before Buffy could respond. "And before you passed out, you said that what Buffy saw actually happened."
Xander's face twisted slightly in pain for a moment before nodding that he remembered. Then he started to dig into one of his bags.
"Xander," Giles tried to get the young man's attention. "Shay was with you that night, right?"
"Yeah."
"Did she see what happened?"
"Yes but I haven't talked to her since the following morning after that night. She checked up on me but all she would tell me was that the magic I was exposed to that night had changed me." Xander shrugged. "After that, Shay up and left, saying that she wanted to make sure that all the kids made it home alright.
Xander's words sparked a memory in Buffy. A memory of a short paragraph in a journal; 'I still don't remember what happened that night. From what I was told, I changed that night somehow. I just hope Giles can help me.'
"What do you mean by 'changed'," Willow asked, breaking Buffy from her thoughts.
Looking at her friend, Buffy could see an intense fear in her eyes even though Willow successfully kept it from showing in her voice. Fear for Xander.
Xander looked up with a wane smile. "Truthfully I don't know. Shay only said that I had changed." Xander stopped and turned to Giles. "Between that and what she said earlier that night, I knew that I'd better get back here and talk to you."
"What did she say?" Giles asked.
"Right before we crashed that ritual sacrifice, she said that of the two of us I had a better chance of surviving against any magic that they might throw at us."
Surviving? Willow's emotions became a whirlwind as thoughts shot through her mind. How could Xander survive a magical attack. Then she remembered the fire spell that she had mistakenly cast at Xander. Maybe it didn't fail but that could only mean....
"Do you know why she would believe that?" Giles asked, not realizing how close his question was to Willows thoughts.
"No I never got an answer from her that night."
"I have a possible idea." Willow spoke up drawing everyone's attention.
"Yeah?" Xander perked up considerably.
"First tell me, did you feel anything out of the ordinary when you came in the door a few minutes ago?"
"Sure," Xander warily replied. "I felt an intense flash of heat."
"But you're ok now, right?" Willow quickly asked.
Xander was about to answer when Giles interrupted. "Willow, what are -"
Willow had walked over to Giles and place her hand over his mouth, effectively silencing the older man. "Please Giles. I've an idea but I need to ask Xander a few questions."
Giles reluctantly nodded behind her hand assuring Willow that he wouldn't interrupt her. For now.
Willow turned back to a nervous looking Xander. "Well Xander? Do you feel okay?"
Xander's eyes narrowed. "Yes Willow. I'm fine."
"You said that you felt a flash of heat. Have you ever felt that before?"
"Not exactly like that Willow but close."
Buffy looked back and forth between her best friends in confusion. "What are you guys talking about?"
Willow turned to her friend. "Buffy, do you remember the spell I used against the Trolls." Willow paused as Buffy nodded yes. "Well just as Xander crashed through the door, I cast the same spell at him."
Willow's admission sparked a heated lecture from Giles about the dangers of using magic while Buffy just stared at Willow in horror. The Slayer remembered what happened to the Trolls and stomach lurched painfully at the thought of that happening to Xander. Oz simply wrapped Willow into his comforting arms.
"Giles!" Xander shouted, stepping between the older man and his childhood friend with Sheba still perched on his shoulder. It was the growl that came from the cat that ultimately caused Giles to swallow the lecture he wanted to give Willow.
Once Giles had backed down, for now, Xander turned his attention back to Willow. With a soft smile to tell her that he forgave her, Xander asked, "What's your idea?"
Willow returned his smile with one of her own. "I think that maybe, just maybe you can absorb magic."
"What?"
* ~ * ~ *
"Well Rysak, what do you have to say for yourself."
Rysak leaned against the wall of the spartan room. He was carefully holding his left forearm to his chest. Images of Sheba biting his arm just before he felt a spell of teleportation latch onto his body and bring him here, was still fresh in his memory. "Sheba attacked me."
The man shook his head in disgust. "Get a hold of yourself Rysak. The Master needs all of us grounded for the ritual. If you can't clear your mind of you trivial problems, I will make sure it's a blank slate."
Rysak cowered in fear of the man.
"I take it that you understand how things are now."
Rysak nodded, clearly aware of his diminished status within the group. Once he lost his bond with Sheba, he lost all of the attributes he had gained from the joining, which left him low man on the totem pole. Not only that but he also lost two powerful artifacts in his lust for revenge which lowered him even further in the eyes of his Master.
Rysak kept his head bowed until the other man left the room, then he turned and launched a powerful punch at the wall, causing cracks as long as half a foot to form in the cement wall, around his fist. He threw several more punches as he vented his anger and frustration at the boy who stole his property.
"Xander Harris will pay for what he did to me if it's the last thing I do!"
* ~ * ~ *
Rating: PG-14 give or take a few years
Spoilers: I reserve the right to claim that just about anything from the first three seasons is fair game.
Summary: Just the usual. Something decides to use Sunnydale as a playground and turn the scooby gang into scooby snacks but what's up with Xander?
Disclaimer: This is a fictional story. Joss & ME own the characters, I own nothing and make nothing from this story. In other words; Don't want them. Don't need them. Couldn't afforded them if I did.
Note - thoughts
"Oh dear Lord." Giles whispered. "A Devilcat."
The room was eerily silent as the large cat's gaze swept across the room. The feline's red eyes settled on the burnt corpses in the middle of the room and twin puffs of smoke escaped from it's nose. Everyone watched as the cat sat on it's haunches, it's eyes changing from an angry, blood red to a soft, grassy green as it appeared to relax.
"Giles," Buffy whispered urgently. "That's the cat I was telling you about!" Buffy said nervously as the cat calmly began to clean one of it's large paws.
"Buffy, I want you to slowly back away from it," Giles slowly bent down to retrieve the axe that Buffy discarded. "You too, Xander."
"But Giles-"
"Just do what I say Xander. Devilcats are very dangerous and evil creatures"
"No," Xander said with a firmness that startled Giles. "Put the axe down Giles."
Giles stared at Xander as if he had grown a second head. "I will do no such thing Xander. Now back away from that creature."
Xander snorted loudly but made no attempt to obey. Movement behind Xander caught Giles' attention and the older man found himself staring straight into the eyes of the Devilcat. With great difficulty, Giles tore his gaze from the cat and looked to Xander only to find the young man staring at him with the same intensity as the cat.
While both men stared at each other, Buffy watched the cat. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off with the way the large cat's body language mimicked Xander's. Like it was ready to defend Xander from any attack. All the tension in the air had her senses screaming 'DANGER!' in a way that Buffy hasn't felt since the Mayor's ascension.
Looking back at her friends, Buffy saw that Oz had moved slightly in front of Willow as if to protect her while the redhead nervously watched as Giles and Xander stared at each other like a pair of dogs competing for dominance. Each silently waited for the other one to back down and Buffy had a feeling that things would go downhill if Giles won.
Buffy turned to Giles and said, "Drop the axe Giles."
"Buffy I -" Giles started to retort but something in the Slayer's expression stopped him.
"Put it down Giles." Buffy glanced at the cat and somehow knew that it wasn't here to attack them. "It'll be okay. Trust me."
Giles cast glances between Buffy and Xander. Giles sighed and, deciding to trust the instincts of his Slayer, set the axe down on the floor.
Turning back to her friend, Buffy asked. "Xander?"
The lop-sided grin that Xander gave Buffy was a complete one-eighty from the dark look that Giles received. "It's all good Buff."
Buffy smiled briefly in return before looking at the large cat again. She could've sworn that she could sense what felt like amusement coming from the cat.
Xander turned to follow Buffy's gaze and chuckled lightly, petting the large cat as he walked into Giles' bedroom. A second later Xander reappeared and sat down next to the cat. With both hands, he pulled the feline's head around so he could look her in the eyes. After a few seconds Xander relaxed, letting go of the cat's head and turned to face his friends.
"The guy's gone."
"Did.." Buffy trailed off, pointing to the cat.
"No," Xander placed his hand on the cat's head and started to scratch one of it's ears. A loud rumble could be heard coming from the very content looking cat as it rubbed itself against Xander. "Rysak or whoever he was just disappeared. Other than the mess he left, there was no sign of him."
"And you're positively sure that the Devilcat had nothing to do with this Rysak's disappearance?" Giles asked.
Looking at Giles, Buffy could see the starting signs of curiosity surface in the older man's face despite his fear of the cat. Buffy was a little worried too but thought that things couldn't be as bad as Giles believed if Xander was so friendly with the cat.
As if reading her mind, Xander spoke. "I'm sure Giles. She's my friend."
She.. That word struck a strange note in Buffy as she remembered Rysak's question; 'Where is Sheba?' Could that be.. Buffy looked at the cat and found the feline staring back at her with intense, unblinking eyes that spoke of intelligence.
"A Devilcat is no one's friend, Xander," Giles stressed, oblivious to his Slayer's thoughts. "They are chaotic creatures that live to kill. They're evil."
"This one isn't Giles." Xander thought for a moment. "Ok, maybe she can be a little sadistic but she isn't evil. I would know if she was."
"How would you know?" Willow asked walking closer. Oz followed behind his girlfriend, holding one of Giles' numerous knives, clearly intent on protecting Willow.
"I just would."
"Well I'm afraid that's not good enough Xander." Giles said.
The two men stared at each other for a second before Xander decided to back down. He sighed heavily as he sat down on the stairs. Xander looked at each of his friends in turn, noting their determined expressions. "It's a long story."
Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them. "Then it's probably best that you start at the beginning."
Xander looked at Giles in disgust. "At the beginning? Do I have to?"
"How else are we going to understand what has happened?"
Xander shrugged. "Okay, whatever." Xander cleared his throat and spoke in a deep voice. "This world is older than we know. It did not begin as a paradise and demons walked the Earth. They made it their home sweet Hell. They..." Xander trailed off under Giles' stern look and looked to Buffy for help. "You heard him didn't you? He did say to start at the beginning."
Buffy just shook her head and cast a disappointed glance at her mentor. "Giles, Giles, Giles," Buffy spoke up, shaking her head. "I would've thought by now that you would know better than to ask Xander such vague questions. You know that you'll never get a serious answer from him that way."
"Hey!" Xander pointed a finger at Buffy.
Buffy just smiled sweetly at her friend. That smile faltered slightly as her gaze drifted to the cat behind him. "Uh Xander? Could that cat be the Sheba that the runt was raving about?"
With a thoughtful look, Xander turned to the Devilcat and pointed at her. "Sheba?" Xander quickly pulled his hand back when the cat growled and tried to bite off the offending finger.
"Xander!" Willow shouted.
The boy in question ignored his friend and locked eyes with the powerful feline. Seconds stretched out as everyone watched a silent battle of wills being waged between Xander and the Devilcat. Buffy had to fight off the urge to get between the two in case the cat decided to attack her friend.
Then, to the shock of everyone except Xander, the large, several hundred pound Devilcat slowly shrunk in size till it was no bigger than a small housecat.
Xander smiled widely and the now smaller Devilcat jumped into his arms, then climbed her way up onto his right shoulder. Purring loudly, she rubbed her body up against the side of his head. "So Sheba's your name." Xander whispered as he affectionately scratched behind the cat's ear. Seeing the shocked expressions on his friend's faces, Xander asked, "What?"
"Xander," Giles started off weakly. "How was that creature able to change like that?"
Xander threw him a confused look. "She's always been able to do that. Can't all Devilcats change size?"
"No, they cannot Xander."
Xander was surprised but simply said, "Cool."
"Xander-" Giles growled.
"Look Giles," Xander cut him off. "I already said that she isn't evil which according to you makes her different from other Devilcats. Is it too hard to accept that maybe she can do things that the rest of them can't?"
Giles fumed for a bit. He knew enough about Devilcats to be sure that so-called 'good ones' don't exist. If they ever did, Giles was quite sure that they would have been killed by their parents shortly after being born.
The actions of this Devilcat however are unlike anything he had heard about the species. The cat seems playful, almost good natured which disturbed Giles very much, but at the same time seemed to prove Xander correct. "You might be right," Giles said, stressing the word 'might'. "but I would like to know more of what happened. Especially how you came to befriend.. Sheba."
"There really isn't much that I can tell you. One moment I was trying to save some kids and the next I'm waking up in a motel room with a large black cat and a note from Shay basically saying that the kids were safe and not to be afraid of the cat. She said that the cat would protect me even if I didn't need protecting."
"Who is Shay and why would she think that you didn't need protecting?" Willow spoke up.
"Shay is.. a very interesting woman," Xander eyes lost focus as a memory drifted to the surface.
~Flash~
"So let me get this straight Shay," Xander paced around the small room motel room. On the single bed sat a dark-haired woman. "You're telling me that you're a witch."
Shay grimaced but then shrugged. "Basically."
Xander looked at her suspiciously, "What do you mean, 'basically'?"
"I have some unique abilities but I'm not a real witch and I don't like being called one."
Xander filed that away to ask about later. "And you want my help with finding some missing kids."
"Yes."
Xander stopped in front of Shay and asked, "So tell me again, why am I here?"
Shay sighed. "Because I could use your help."
"Once again with the 'why me'."
"Are you saying that you won't help?" Shay asked incredulously.
"No!"
Shay smiled. "I thought so. C'mon, We need to make a stop at the police station."
~Flash~
"Why did you have to go to the police?" Willow asked.
"She'd wanted to show me the case she was following. There were a total of six missing kids with ages ranging from eight years old to thirteen. Each one had been abducted over a period of two months."
"I remember that," Buffy spoke softly, recalling what she saw in her dreams, "She was arguing with a couple of officers about the last one kidnapped, in front of a pegboard."
"You remember?" Xander questioned. "How? You weren't even there."
Giles coughed. "Xander," he faltered for a second when two sets of eyes, one human one feline, turned in sync to regard him. "What you don't know is that, for the past week, Buffy has been having dreams about your experiences that took place your trip.
"Her Dreams?" Xander asked, confused for a minute before remembering that he heard Buffy describing her dreams about his road trip. "That's right," Xander turned to Buffy. "I heard you telling Giles about them when I first got here."
"That is correct," Giles said before Buffy could respond. "And before you passed out, you said that what Buffy saw actually happened."
Xander's face twisted slightly in pain for a moment before nodding that he remembered. Then he started to dig into one of his bags.
"Xander," Giles tried to get the young man's attention. "Shay was with you that night, right?"
"Yeah."
"Did she see what happened?"
"Yes but I haven't talked to her since the following morning after that night. She checked up on me but all she would tell me was that the magic I was exposed to that night had changed me." Xander shrugged. "After that, Shay up and left, saying that she wanted to make sure that all the kids made it home alright.
Xander's words sparked a memory in Buffy. A memory of a short paragraph in a journal; 'I still don't remember what happened that night. From what I was told, I changed that night somehow. I just hope Giles can help me.'
"What do you mean by 'changed'," Willow asked, breaking Buffy from her thoughts.
Looking at her friend, Buffy could see an intense fear in her eyes even though Willow successfully kept it from showing in her voice. Fear for Xander.
Xander looked up with a wane smile. "Truthfully I don't know. Shay only said that I had changed." Xander stopped and turned to Giles. "Between that and what she said earlier that night, I knew that I'd better get back here and talk to you."
"What did she say?" Giles asked.
"Right before we crashed that ritual sacrifice, she said that of the two of us I had a better chance of surviving against any magic that they might throw at us."
Surviving? Willow's emotions became a whirlwind as thoughts shot through her mind. How could Xander survive a magical attack. Then she remembered the fire spell that she had mistakenly cast at Xander. Maybe it didn't fail but that could only mean....
"Do you know why she would believe that?" Giles asked, not realizing how close his question was to Willows thoughts.
"No I never got an answer from her that night."
"I have a possible idea." Willow spoke up drawing everyone's attention.
"Yeah?" Xander perked up considerably.
"First tell me, did you feel anything out of the ordinary when you came in the door a few minutes ago?"
"Sure," Xander warily replied. "I felt an intense flash of heat."
"But you're ok now, right?" Willow quickly asked.
Xander was about to answer when Giles interrupted. "Willow, what are -"
Willow had walked over to Giles and place her hand over his mouth, effectively silencing the older man. "Please Giles. I've an idea but I need to ask Xander a few questions."
Giles reluctantly nodded behind her hand assuring Willow that he wouldn't interrupt her. For now.
Willow turned back to a nervous looking Xander. "Well Xander? Do you feel okay?"
Xander's eyes narrowed. "Yes Willow. I'm fine."
"You said that you felt a flash of heat. Have you ever felt that before?"
"Not exactly like that Willow but close."
Buffy looked back and forth between her best friends in confusion. "What are you guys talking about?"
Willow turned to her friend. "Buffy, do you remember the spell I used against the Trolls." Willow paused as Buffy nodded yes. "Well just as Xander crashed through the door, I cast the same spell at him."
Willow's admission sparked a heated lecture from Giles about the dangers of using magic while Buffy just stared at Willow in horror. The Slayer remembered what happened to the Trolls and stomach lurched painfully at the thought of that happening to Xander. Oz simply wrapped Willow into his comforting arms.
"Giles!" Xander shouted, stepping between the older man and his childhood friend with Sheba still perched on his shoulder. It was the growl that came from the cat that ultimately caused Giles to swallow the lecture he wanted to give Willow.
Once Giles had backed down, for now, Xander turned his attention back to Willow. With a soft smile to tell her that he forgave her, Xander asked, "What's your idea?"
Willow returned his smile with one of her own. "I think that maybe, just maybe you can absorb magic."
"What?"
"Well Rysak, what do you have to say for yourself."
Rysak leaned against the wall of the spartan room. He was carefully holding his left forearm to his chest. Images of Sheba biting his arm just before he felt a spell of teleportation latch onto his body and bring him here, was still fresh in his memory. "Sheba attacked me."
The man shook his head in disgust. "Get a hold of yourself Rysak. The Master needs all of us grounded for the ritual. If you can't clear your mind of you trivial problems, I will make sure it's a blank slate."
Rysak cowered in fear of the man.
"I take it that you understand how things are now."
Rysak nodded, clearly aware of his diminished status within the group. Once he lost his bond with Sheba, he lost all of the attributes he had gained from the joining, which left him low man on the totem pole. Not only that but he also lost two powerful artifacts in his lust for revenge which lowered him even further in the eyes of his Master.
Rysak kept his head bowed until the other man left the room, then he turned and launched a powerful punch at the wall, causing cracks as long as half a foot to form in the cement wall, around his fist. He threw several more punches as he vented his anger and frustration at the boy who stole his property.
"Xander Harris will pay for what he did to me if it's the last thing I do!"