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Chapter two: Awakening
The pain in Willow's neck was terrible but somehow wonderful at the same time but Willow's terror at what was happening was greater then any wonderful feeling the daemon could trick her body into feeling. She continued struggling and thrashing for as long as she could as the pain in her neck receded and the pleasure grew while ice seemed to form in her veins, freezing her from her toes up. Just as Willow had given up ad began to sink into the cold darkness she felt something warm against her frozen lips. Instinctively Willow knew this was a terrible warmth which would lead her to something worse than anything else. She couldn't spend the effort to figure out why this was when all the will and strength she had left was needed to try and avoid the warmth and keep herself from falling into the cold light or the putrid darkness which both seemed to be reaching towards her. Then the warmth was in her and Willow's body slumped against the creature holding her and her consciousness fled to the world of dreams.
Willow looked around her. The last thing she could remember was being attacked by Angelous and now she appeared to be sitting in the library and nothing seemed to be wrong except that she kept seeing wavy transparent flickers out of the corner of her eye. "What's going on?!"
"Well, you got bit by a vampire"Xander said from behind her. Turning around Willow stared at Xander in his Hawaiian shirt and baggy jeans with his unique goofy Xander grin and somehow knew that this wasn't Xander "Who are you, you're not Xander""No, I'm not"the creature wearing Xander's face said in surprise. "How'd you realize that?"Trying to answer the creature's question for herself Willow examined it. It appeared to be Xander from his mane of uncombed hair to his worn sneakers down to his goofy smile and the way he stood. Even the way he talked sounded like Xander so how did she know this wasn't Xander?
Deciding she wasn't going to answer the creature continued, "I'm a type of spirit, sent to help you decide if you'll stay on earth or move on, but the way I appear to you depends on your subconscious mind." "Most people take a while to realize I'm not who I appear to be"the creature continued in Xander's voice.
Looking into the spirit's eyes as it talked, Willow suddenly realized what was different about this spirit's appearance. Xander's eyes sparkled as he talked and showed emotion. The spirit's eyes also sparkled but it was a cold, artificial sparkle and as she stared into them Willow seemed to see through them and into a darkness so absolute she had no words to describe it. A darkness which resided where a person's soul should be. "What are you?!"The exclamation was torn from Willow's throat as she recoiled from the darkness
"I told you I'm a…"stopping suddenly the expression on the creature's face changed from Xander's goofy grin to a worried frown "You saw the darkness, didn't you? You don't need to fear that darkness. That's one of the last things I'd wish"As it spoke Willow sensed a ripple of power like those she'd felt around her but darker somehow, traveling from the creature to her. Jumping back the ripple seemed to follow her. Wishing she had someway of stopping the dark ripple Willow tried backing away but the ripple turned towards her only to be met by other ripples which tangled with it and the dark ripple disappeared. Looking somewhat pale the creature stared at her "You're a witch! How come I didn't know you're a witch"
"I don't know. I didn't even know I was a witch until a few days ago" Willow answered honestly, then with uncharacteristic directness demanded "Now show me who you really are. What's your true form?"As she voiced her demands a rainbow-colored ripple flew towards the creature where it lightened somewhat the dark ripples, which had appeared between it and the creature. "Watch it girl! You don't want to try me!"The creature snarled, it's face blurred for a moment before Xander's face returned but without Xander's grin. The expression the creature with Xander's face wore was as cold and cruel as that of any vampire.
Surprising herself as well as the creature Willow didn't back down or stutter. She faced it and yelled back at it "Show me who you are!" as a dozen rainbow hued ripples headed for him to lighten and then disperse the dark ripples which had suddenly filled the air between her and the creature. The ripples continued through the creature and when they'd passed instead of a Xander look-alike was a nine-foot four-armed slimy daemon grinning at her from a mouth full of sharp teeth. "I warned you girl, but you had to keep pushing. Now, if you surrender I promise you won't die."
Backing away from the daemon, which seemed to swell and grow with every instant Willow somehow managed not to stammer "How do I know you'll keep your word?"The daemon stared at her for a minute and then burst out with a roar which after an instant Willow decided must be the daemon's laughter "Keep my word?"the daemon laughed. "How do you think I'd manage to tell you something that wasn't true with both of us in the center of your mind the way we are?"
At Willow's confused look the daemon abruptly stopped laughing "You didn't realize this was all a representation of your mind? How can you be a witch and not realize something so basic?"
Suppressing the urge to explain to the daemon that she'd just had her first lesson in witchcraft earlier that day Willow tried to steer the conversation back to it's original track. "So what are you doing in my mind and why should I surrender to you?"Grinning toothily the daemon shrugged with all four arms "No soul has ever beat me, at most you would drive yourself insane, you wouldn't want to spend eternity as crazy as Drusilla? Would you?."The daemon smiled an incredibly toothy smile at her.
"Drusilla? What do you…You're a vampire! And you want to turn me into one!"
"Good guess but no. I'm not a vampire, I'm the daemon in a vampire which gives it it's enhanced senses and abilities and I don't want to turn you into a vampire. You already are a vampire, you just haven't woken up and you won't until I'm in control so save yourself some trouble and surrender so we can get on with it."
Willow didn't bother asking "get on with what", she knew what the daemon meant. Get on with killing and destroying everything and everyone that had touched her life, get on with being a soulless daemon. Get on with making hunt her down and kill her like they had to with Jess. "So daemon, you say that until you've gotten control I won't wake up?"Willow asked with a grin, she knew there was no way she'd beat the daemon but she didn't need to, she just needed to hold on long enough for Xander or Buffy to find her body and stake her before she woke up as a soulless daemon.
Cocking his head at her the daemon grinned "So that's the way you want to do it"he said, hazy and indistinct through the colorful swirls of energy which collected around Willow. "So be it." The daemon shrugged and with a wave of one of its hands the doors to the library burst open, revealing a dozen vampires led by Darla and Jesse. They rushed towards Willow, who had only the time to wish Buffy was there before Darla reached her. Setting herself for a futile fight, Willow hit Darla directly in the face, not fazing the dead vampire in the least. She reached to grab Willow by the neck until a second hand landed on the vampire's shoulder and with a heave propelled it into the opposite wall. Turning Willow watched in amazement as Buffy thrust a stake into another vampire turning it into a pile of drifting dust. "How did you get here?" Willow asked Buffy as she stumbled away from the fight.
"You made me."Buffy answered as she staked another vampire and send a third into the wall with a powerful kick "Made you?" Willow echoed her in confusion. "Sure, nothing here is real so when you wished I was here to help you, you created me out of your memories and the magic in you." Anything else Buffy might have had to say was cut off by a second wave of vampires rushing through the doors.
"What will you do now, girl?"The daemon tauted "Not even the greatest slayer of all times can survive for long against those odds."
"Angel!" Willow screamed. "I wish Angel was here to help Buffy!" Willow shouted as colorful swirls of magic bunched together and coalesced into Angel's form. Just as the form became visible under the swirl of magic Willow 'felt' a twist in the magic and suddenly she knew it was Angelous standing before her, not Angel. Concentrating on the image of Angel helping Buffy patrol Sunnydale and fight vampires Willow felt the magic trying to twist away from her but Angel was already moving and he was Fighting alongside Buffy, helping her.
Concentrating on the differences between Angelous and Angel and on keeping the one in the room with her Angel and not Angelous Willow was hardly aware of the fight going on. After a while she felt the magic fading away trying till the last to twist into some evil shape. Feeling a hand on her shoulder Willow looked up at Buffy "Stay strong Wills. You can do this, I know you can."Buffy whispered as she faded into stray swirls of magic.
Just as Buffy faded completely the Master let a horde of vampires through the broken doors of the library "Go ahead girl, call back your warriors"The daemon laughed "I can keep this up for ever, you can't and not even your two defenders could stop this horde."Watching the master slowly stalking towards her she was afraid he was right. Nothing short of a miracle would save… "A miracle, that's it!"at her exclamation the master sent 6 vampires to rush her but Willow had already found the solution and concentrated on the Image of the Angel Gabriel and his flaming sword she'd seen in a book once and as the vampires reached her a 7-foot angel wearing silver armor and carrying a huge flaming sword descended onto them and began killing vampires. His mere touch burned them, but his flaming sword caused the library to catch fire and the flames were reaching towards Willow.
"There's an excellent fire suppression system in the library, it puts out the flames instantly."Willow announced concentrating on sprays of white mist putting out the flames and they began appearing first directly around her and then spreading around the library. As the fire-suppression mist reached Willow she began coughing and choking as she breathed in the mist. Harmless! Willow tried concentrating on the mist being harmless but the magic kept twisting and the increasingly heavy mist kept choking her. "I wish I was outside, somewhere windy to clear all the mist away"Willow thought and just like that she was on top of a windy mountain and the toxic mist was blown away instantly.
Willow was still on her hands and knees when she sensed something above her. Rolling to the side Willow saw some sort of flying daemon which tried to snatch her up and did manage to leave a long scratch along her arm. Looking Willow saw several more flying daemons towards her and there was no way she could just keep dodging them, sooner or later, probably sooner they'd get her. She was figuring out the rules of this place, she could create anything she could imagine but the daemon could twist them so they'd kill her. Except she'd managed to keep hi from turning Angel into Angelous so why hadn't she felt anything until it was too late with the mist. As a second daemon began to dive at her she had it. The mist being poisonous didn't change what she'd specified, which was a fire suppression mist while changing Angel into Angelous changed what she'd asked for. So could she do the same Willow wondered desperately as she dodged the second daemon earning her another scratch, this time one on her other arm.
The question was what could she do to the daemons that didn't change them being out to kill her but saved her? As the third daemon stooped down like a hawk spotting a rabbit she had her answer Hawks were very territorial she'd heard so she'd make the daemons the same so they'd fight amongst themselves. No sooner was the thought completed then the first daemon struck the one diving down on her and a free-for-all fight among the flying daemons began.
"That fixed them."Willow had time to think before dizziness overcame her and she collapsed into the snow. "Good work Willow" Buffy said from beside her. "You beat him, I knew you could do it now just rest, you've earned it, just lie down beside me on the soft snow and relax, just rest and relax."Buffy whispered her voice calming and growing quieter as she spoke as if laying a spell on her.
Willow lay back in the snow looking up into Buffy's face, looked into her eyes as Buffy turned her head to the side and saw just before Buffy turned the same darkness their 'd been in the Xander Image "No!"Willow shouted, shattering the spell he'd tried to lay on her. As the spell broke Willow suddenly felt the cold around her freezing her in her summer clothes and the burning pain from the wounds the daemons dealt her. "Clothes, I need good, warm clothes" Willow thought fuzzily as she struggled dizzyingly to get up out of the wet snow. "What's wrong with me, I feel so dizzy, as if I were drunk…or drugged!"the realization hit her. The daemon had drugged her! Willow began concentrating with all her might on not being affected by the drug and immediately felt the daemon's magic resisting her' preventing her from recovering.
Finally managing to stand Willow tried to take a step and immediately stumbled. The daemon, which still looked like Buffy, caught her and prevented her from sprawling into the snow.
"There, there," the daemon murmured quietly, "Everything's okay. Just lay down on the soft snow and rest. Everything will be all right now."
Willow tried to push the daemon away, tried to use her magic to fight him but it wouldn't come. The struggle with the daemon and then the poison and cold had drawn away her strength till nothing but Ice was left when she tried to call her magic. The only warmth left in the world was the daemon so even while she tried to fight off the effects of the cold and poison Willow clutched at the daemon and his warmth. Trying like any chilled person to draw as much warmth as possible into herself.
Willow was felt the warmth flow into her, chasing the ice from her limbs and with it she felt her magic returning. With her renewed magic Willow imagined the poison flowing from her to the daemon, much as the warmth flowed to her.
With a startled gasp the daemon dropped Willow and turned to run, slowed only for an instant by Willow's death grip on his hand. Watching the daemon run Willow saw a stream of darkness from the center of the daemon flow towards her, fragmenting like a beam of light going through a prism and with it flowed into her strength and magic. With a startled exclamation of her own Willow got up and began chasing the daemon, focusing on the stream of prismed energy fluctuating between them.
As the daemon drew away from her the rainbow stream of magic thinned. Concentrating on the stream caused it to thicken once more. Concentrating on the stream being a cable Willow was instantly pulled off her feet, dragged by the magic cable connecting her to the daemon. For what seemed like forever Willow was dragged and battered over and into every tree, rock and bush. Willow tried again and again to push herself up, away from the painful collisions and then suddenly they stopped as Willow found herself floating two feet above the ground , which was rushing past at an incredible speed. Her instinctive attempt to push away from the ground had translated into an invisible force bubble protecting her from being battered all over the landscape .
Before Willow could begin to relax her force bubble slammed into a brick wall through which her link to the daemon passed. A moment's concentration and a touch of Willow's stolen magic caused the wall to crumble to dust, but beyond that was a barbed wire fence. That broke under a magical blow to let Willow proceed to a bramble hedge, which flared into flame and ash with a touch of magic. Beyond that Willow encountered a wall of fire, which scarcely singed her hair before she used a thin streamer of magic to bend the flames away.
Just as Willow was getting suspicious of how easy it was to break through these barriers she noticed the line of power connecting her to the daemon and through which she was stealing his power was getting thinner. In a flash the daemon's strategy was clear. Each time she was stopped by one of the barriers the daemon pulled farther away from her, thinning the line connecting them and reducing the amount of power she could steal from it. To counter it she needed some way of bypassing the barriers without being slowed down by them, whatever form they take.
Going over her previous magical experiences Willow was depressingly aware of how sparse it was. Going over the lessons Miss Calender's lessons took less than a minute even while breaking through a wall of lead but neither centering, nor sensing magical power or her natural spell, telekinesis would be any help in this situation. Thinking of her experiences since meeting Buffy as she dissolved a hole in a stone wall, diverted a torrent of water and calmed an ice blizzard Willow realized that although there had been much weirdness there hadn't been much straightforward magic. The only pure magic incidents she could think of were Xander's Hyena possession and Ethan Rayn's Halloween magic. Even while she burned a line of trees growing so closely together that a rat would have difficulty passing through Willow flushed with embarrassment as she remembered running around town practically naked when her ghost costume turned her into a ghost although being able to pass through walls was fun even if at the time she.. "That's it!"no barrier could stop a ghost so if she was a ghost she could pass through the barriers as if they weren't there.
At the next barrier, a series of giant glass shards, which would shred anyone trying to pass through instead of breaking or melting the shards Willow dropped her force bubble and concentrated on becoming a ghost who'd float through the glass as if it wasn't there. It took all her self control not to call back the force bubble to push the glass razor-sharp edges away from her and concentrate on being a ghost. As Willow reached the first shard she cringed back in expected pain which never arrived as Willow glided through the glass feeling nothing more then a faint tingling where the glass passed through her.
As Willow passed through the barriers without slowing she stopped falling farther back but she wasn't closing the distance which meant the daemon had all the time it wanted to find something which did work and once he managed to break the connection Willow doubted it'd make the mistake of getting close enough for her to grab it a gain.
She needed to get closer to the daemon so she'd have more magic to use. She had to hold on long enough for Buffy to find her body and stake her so they wouldn't face another vampire with a friend's voice.
Since thinking of the magical connection as a cable had caused her to be pulled along Willow concentrated on the cable being rolled up in her and quickly felt the magic in her building and the cable thickening as she began closing the distance on the daemon and drawing more and more magic from it. After the daemon saw its barriers were no longer slowing Willow down it stopped making them and began to try thinning the line down, trying to slow Willow down. Nevertheless, after half an hour of pulling Willow had closed the distance between them to about 100 yards and was closing fast. The closer she got to the daemon, the more magic she could get from him to use to close the distance.
Abruptly the daemon changed tactics and instead of trying to keep the distance between them, turned towards Willow, Changing into a monster made of fire and darkness which Willow knew could hurt her, ghost or not. Throwing a wall of ice at the daemon slowed it down only a little but was enough for Willow to steady herself. Neither Willow not the daemon paid any attention to their surroundings. They passed through trees, rocks or hills as though they were no more solid then a rainbow throwing blasts of fire , ice, lightning or even pure force and deflecting or absorbing attacks without damage. As they fought they began to look less like real creatures and more like a network of colorful swirls. Willow all bright colors with a mass of darkness where she drew the stolen power into her and the daemon a whirl of black and brown, dull red, and sickly yellow. A thick rope of power flowed from the daemon to Willow, fracturing in color from black when it left the daemon to a range of muted colors tinted with gray where it entered Willow.
As the awareness of the energy nets overcame that of physical being Willow realized there was a second stream of magic flowing into the daemon and more than matching the stream flowing out of it to her. If she could somehow block that stream she could hold off the daemon indefinitely. Quickly Willow formed some of her stolen magic into a barrier which would cut the daemon off from that stream of magic and threw it at the stream of magic. As soon as her stolen magic touched the stream of magic the structure she created collapsed. Willow tried drawing back the magic but instead of returning to her it slipped along the stream and into into the daemon. The magic became a stream of power flowing from her and into the daemon. It was a much smaller stream then the one from the daemon to her but began swelling quickly. Panic flashed through Willow's mind. Without that extra magic she wouldn't last a minute against the daemon and she had to last long enough for Buffy to find her body!
Having Buffy find her dead would be bad enough, having to stake her would be worse. However if they had to face her as a vampire and kill her it would kill Xander, especially after he'd had to kill Jesse, and with both Xander and herself dead she knew Buffy wouldn't last long. She had to hold the daemon for long enough. If only there was a way to hold the magic…Maybe there was! Everything here was imagined so maybe she could hold the magic stream with her body, even though her magic was exhausted. She couldn't block the stream going from her to the daemon any more then the daemon could cut the one leading from it to her since it was flowing out of her entire body but she might be able to break the one going into the daemon from elsewhere.
Gathering the last remains of her own energy Willow leaped, not towards the daemon secure in the knowledge of it's impending victory, but towards the stream of magic feeding it from elsewhere. At the touch of the magic stream Willow nearly threw up. She kept herself from pulling back in revulsion as rage, despair, blood lust and plain lust washed over her. The vile power couldn't seem to touch her, sliding over her and around her.
The plan hadn't worked perfectly but she did reduce the power reaching the daemon a little by making it go around her. Stretching, Willow tried to block as much as she could but the power just continued flowing around her. Stretching even more Willow found her arms stretching longer and longer and as she strained to block more of the stream. Her body also began flattening out to spread until she covered the daemon entirely blocking the stream of magic and everything disappeared.