Special Thanks to Miracle Angel Summers, Dilvish, TutorGirlTigger for reviewing!
First chapter contains disclaimer. Janine, Valerie (whom some of you might remember, I used her on "Resurface"; she was the sword-dancing girl. She's different here but there are similarities. Withering Light and Resurface are no longer archive. Those two fics were getting out of hand but I might think about reposting and rewriting it provided there's some interest. I got some good comments which is why I'm considering it.) are original characters. There other OC too. Please ask permission if you want to use the character.
CHAPTER 8: DIFFERENT KIND OF CHOSEN
"How long has she been in this state?" Giles stared at Buffy, who was bound by Willow's spell. He stared at her bravely, his face was that of stoic expression. Whatever he was feeling, he wasn't going to convey anytime soon.
"A few hours," Willow answered. She too looked at Buffy. The slayer had stopped struggling and her eyes were closed. She knows what's it like to be bound by magicks; after all, this was the same binding spell Giles had used on her only stronger. Even with all her struggles, she couldn't break free by her own. She had to brainwash Anya to do it for her. Her vision wandered on the floor; this memories wasn't a pleasant one to remember but these unfolding of events are triggering it. Her eyes once more set on Buffy. She could feel dark magicks emanating off her and it made her uncomfortable. Has she been too shocked at seeing Buffy that she hadn't notice it? No that couldn't be it. It was that explosion of violet magic. She didn't felt it at first but the Slayers did. When it strengthened, she too felt it. She looked up at him. "So, how are you doing?"
There was no answer from the Watcher.
"Giles?"
"Huh?" He shook his head. "I'm not sure really. I always hoped to see Buffy again but not in this state. It's...difficult to assess what I'm feeling right now."
The witch nodded her head. "I understand." Her attention went back to the motionless-Buffy.
"You believe the sword cause this change in Buffy?"
"It's the only thing that could have done it," Willow began, her eyes now on the enchanted blade. "It glowed a violet and then the energy like exploded and seeped through Buffy. It was scary." The witch shuddered as she recalled it. "Buffy was glowing violet and screaming in pain. It lasted for like a minute or so before it stopped. The sword wasn't glowing anymore and Buffy too. Then she went on a killing spree."
"That does sound definitive," The watcher agreed. "I think I'm familiar with this."
"You've seen the sword before?" Faith spoke up.
"No. But I believe I've read something about this sword." The watcher began heading to the library.
Faith and Willow looked at each other for a moment before following the Watcher. At the last moment, Faith turned around to the Slayers.
"No one goes near B got it? Those who do will be cleaning toilets for a month!" Faith whirled around to catch up with Willow.
A murmur of 'yes' elicited from the crowd. Their eyes were still fixed on Buffy
OOOBTVSOOO
"Oh dear lord!" Giles muttered as his eyes skimmed the textbook he was holding.
"Oh great," Willow and Faith simultaneously groaned out causing the Watcher to look up and glare at them.
"Bad news Giles?" Willow asked innocently.
"I'm afraid it's worse."
"How so?" Faith asked.
Giles cleared his throat, signaling a possible long explanation. "As you all suspected, Buffy is under the hold of the enchanted sword she's holding."
"So all we have to do is break the hold and we get good Buffy back right?" Willow asked.
"Yes but I'm afraid it's easier said than done." He looked down on the book once again. His finger tracing the information as he uttered his findings. "You see, the sword Buffy possesses originally belongs to the forgotten Princess of the Syrith dimension."
"So what if it belongs to some no-name royal chick? That doesn't make it..." Faith never finished the rest as Giles interrupted her with the clearing of his throat.
"If you would let me finish Faith." Faith nodded to him. "The forgotten Princess was the lord of the Syrith dimension, hence her title. The details gets a little irrelevant here...oh here we go, after ruling her dimension for unrecorded number of years she set her sights on our dimension. It didn't go according to her plans, an ancient order, the Order of Kaerlyn, sensed her arrival and ambush her along with her army. The skirmish left the forgotten Princess' army obliterated but so does most of the Order of Kaerlyn. Only the Princess remained but she still posed a threat. The remaining Order of Kaerlyn wasn't strong enough to destroy her but they managed to cast her away from this dimension."
"Cast someone into another dimension? Wow! Those guys must pack some firepower!" Willow exclaimed. Magickal stories always made her giddy, even if for a moment.
"Yes, they do. The power of each member of Kaerlyn is harmonious to their fellow member. Their power acts like synergies to power-up their brethren. This made them strong enough to battle the Princess' army but when they were decimated, the Order weakened considerably leaving them incapable of destroying the Princess. However, they had enough power to cast her away and trapped her in an alternate realm."
"Still can't see what does this have to do with the sword Giles," said Faith.
"Before the Princess was cast away, she created the sword. She infused it with a part of herself giving the sword its mystical properties. Before her last day in this dimension, she teleported the sword to a surviving member of her army. The sword's primary purpose was to make a tear in the dimensional walls to release her from her holding dimension but no one was able to unlock the sword's power. According to this, through the sword the Princess can choose who is the rightful wielder of the sword: a champion who was torn between the darkness and light."
"Buffy," Willow whispered.
"The wielder's will be bound to the Princess' and shall be the Princess' Chosen Knight and carry out her wishes," Giles closed the book and let out a heavy sigh.
"B gets another Chosen One banner, only it's the evil kind. So... how do we get B back?" Faith asked.
Giles, in a familiar habit to those who know him, took off his glasses to clean them. "The only way to do that is to severe the connection between Buffy and this forgotten Princess which could only be done by destroying the sword which is protected by wards. I doubt Buffy would just let us borrow the sword and 'disable' the wards."
"Giles, were you zoning out back there or something?" Faith made a gesture with her head, indicating the place where Buffy is. "We got B all tied up, all we have to do is take the sword from her."
"Yes, yes, we do but I can't shake off this feeling...this isn't as easy as we think..." Giles' rambling was interrupted by a slayer who barge in with a frightened look on her face.
"Sir Giles, something is happening to that wicked girl," she cried out. She made frantic gestures with her hands, begging them to follow her.
The three followed the Slayer who took off running. Willow's mind was forming an army of thoughts while she ran. The strengthening presence of dark magicks made her more worried. They reached the training room and horror greeted them.
Buffy was still bound except there was electricity and energies surrounding her. Magick was blasting off her occasionally like solar flares. It's like a mystical whirlwind made up of energies are surrounding her. The Slayer's eyes were pure black and she was shouting loudly.
Willow visibly gulped in nervousness. She was trembling for she knew what is about to come if this continued. The bindings that were holding Buffy were weakening in strength. She hastily started whispering words to strengthen the spell but to no avail. The energies that were dancing wildly around the Slayer is growing more chaotic by the second. She turned to Giles with a panic expression.
"Giles, if this keeps up she'll break free!" Willow exclaimed.
"We'll get hurt if we go near her. Have you tried strengthening it?"
"Yes. No luck in that department Giles."
"I'm afraid there's nothing that we could do but hope the spell holds out." Giles looked at the chaos swirling before him with a trembling expression. He undervalued the level of power the sword has infused in Buffy. The text he had read mentioned it so casually like the weather. The Knight of the Princess will be infused with powers. Giles dared not think how powerful this forgotten Princess is if she could bestow such power.
"The spell is breaking up..." Willow pointed out. The binding spell was now moving like a frail, flimsy rubber band. The catastrophic energies ebbed out. Everyone tense up as the binding spell faded into nothing, landing the slayer back on her feet. The black eyes faded, normal hazel once more visible.
Even without the black eyes, the strength of the dark powers she was sensing frightened her. It was MUCH stronger than before. The redhead assumed that Buffy was as strong as she was during her evil stint if not stronger.
Everyone stood in their place; they were hesitant but ready for action.
"Nice spell Willow. For a second there, I thought that was it for me." Buffy said with a smirk.
"Thanks," Willow said. Her eyes narrowed as Buffy started changing before everyone. Whether the Slayer is aware of it or not, the golden sun roots of her hair darkened into violet. The violet slowly spilled through her whole locks. 'She's got a violet theme thing going on here,' she thought with amusement. Willow wasn't surprised with the change though she thought her hair would turn black instead.
"Nice hairdo bitch," Kennedy commented snidely. All this standing around was driving her berserk. She had an overwhelming need to pummel the now violet brunette. The headstrong Slayer never liked Buffy. In her view, she was a pathetic excuse of a Slayer ever since she met her in Sunnydale. All lame, supposed-inspiring speeches; cold demeanor, self-absorbed and holier-than thou attitude. She wondered why her friends (especially Willow) had stuck by her.
Buffy turned her attention to Kennedy. "You still haven't change since the last time I saw you. Still the same annoying prima-dona... glad to know that some things stay the same."
Willow knew that comment was enough to bring Kennedy over the edge. It didn't take much to enraged her girlfriend. Usually, she feared for the target of the rage but this time, she feared for Kennedy's life. Willow noticed Kennedy tensed up -ready to fight. "Kennedy, don't!"
Her plea fell to deaf ears as her girlfriend dashed towards Buffy. Her sights set on Buffy, who raised her arms and in an instant, a blast of dark magick sent Kennedy hurling in the air and slamming down on the floor roughly. Kennedy gritted her teeth in pain, she tried to get up but the pain was too much and she lost consciousness. Buffy chuckled casually as if Kennedy fell down on her own. Willow, tapped on her magicks. Her hair quickly turned to white and her eyes followed suit. She raised one arm in the same manner.
"Dislovo!"
The ball of light zoomed towards Buffy at blazing speed. Surprised crossed the super witch's feature as Buffy erected a wall of energy in front of her. Willow's spell splattered like a water balloon against the energy wall.
"This magick thing is pretty amazing," Buffy examined the magick wall before her. "I haven't read one single spell book yet here I am with the magick wall things. It's like I've known how to do magick all along but I just forgot. And now I'm remembering. This feels awesome! I can see why you can get addicted." The wall faded in front of her. Without a warning, Buffy shot her palm out towards Willow and a violent, invisible force smacked the witch, roughly slamming her against the wall with quick speed. Willow fell down on the floor, her consciousness wandered off.
OOBTVSOO
"That was..." Buffy never finished as Faith's fist buried into her face. Quickly, a blizzard of punches shot her body never letting her recover. A roundhouse kick to the stomach followed knocking Buffy down.
The other slayers were on full-action mode now. Three stalked towards the fallen slayer, waiting for her to get up. In a surprising move, Buffy swept her feet around her knocking down them down. Quickly, she got up but just as quickly, she found herself subdued by a Slayer. Her sword was wrench away by one Slayer who had gotten up. Buffy felt like a punching bag; the girls were raining in blow after blow to her while she could do nothing as she was subdued.
"Janine, may I please see that sword?" Buffy heard the familiar voice. She turned and saw the watcher; she didn't notice him at all at first.
"What do you know, it's Jeeves." Buffy smiled at Giles' stoic expression. She knew it was just a mask; fear lay underneath it. Fear of her.
She flinched as she received a blow to the stomach. She had to get out of this so she could get her sword back; she knew overpowering the girl wasn't an option as another Slayer will just assist in subduing her so she went another way. Her feet pushed off the floor and up into the air and landed at the rear of the Slayer that was holding her. She wrenched her arms free and wasted no time wrapping her arms around the poor girl's neck and twisted it. Before the girl even fell to the floor, Buffy was already on the move towards Giles, who now holds her sword. Faith blocked her way and delivered a heavy punch to stop her but she merely ducked through it and continued towards Giles. She could feel Faith on running after her.
The watcher saw her advance, and readied himself but he still was just a Watcher. He could only hope to defend himself. Buffy greeted him with a kick to the stomach and a leaping swing kick to the cheek combo, effectively knocking him out. The Slayer quickly picked up the sword and turned just in time to see Faith delivered a wide right. Again, she ducked but this time she seized her turn and buried the sword's point to Faith's stomach. Buffy looked at Faith's shaking eyes.
"Not the same steel but feels familiar doesn't it?" Buffy chided before violently pulling her sword and delivered a backhand to the former rouge slayer. Faith was down for the count.
The two slayers who enjoyed punching-bag Buffy rushed over to Faith. They looked up at her and Buffy was taken aback by the hatred burning in their eyes.
"Hmmph. I never thought I would see a day where someone actually cares that you're hurt, F," Buffy looked at the bleeding, unconscious Faith.
"She's a lot better of a Slayer than you are!" The voice came from her side. Buffy saw the girl that fetched the sword to Giles, Janine, enraged and after her. Buffy easily dodge the opening blow and countered with a kick to the knee triggering a reflex that made Janine lower herself to touch the hurting knee. Buffy abused the current height advantage with a devastating kick to the face.
"I don't know who trained you but you guys suck!" Buffy laughed. Only two slayers were left. She turned her attention towards them.
"So you guys up for a little fight?" she asked though she wasn't offering a choice.
One of the girl answered her. "We're more than up. Let's go Valerie!" The two tackled her at the same time, bringing her down. She quickly flipped herself up on her feet and the fight began.
Buffy was amazed but more surprised. Valerie and whoever the other one worked together perfectly. Every time she had her chance for the offense, the other girl would defend whoever she was going for and the defended girl would attack. The two must be best friends to develop such unity. They made sure that she never got the chance to use her sword. Buffy only got a handful of hits in but they were still devastating. Buffy finally got the upper hand as she forced them to make a mistake of hitting each other. Then she quickly delivered a knockout blow to Valerie and then an incapacitating combo to the other girl.
"Buffy," a voice called out softly. Buffy was sure that was all of them so who was calling her now? Buffy turned around and saw Willow. The once more redhead had her right arm over her chest. She stretch her left hand and a blue burning orb of fire shot out of her palm.
Buffy merely slapped the flame away. "I know you've love to go another round Will but I have to go. I have a damsel-in-distress to free." Dark Violet energies circled Buffy from head to toe like a tornado. The energies disappeared along with Buffy.
OOBTVSOO
"Is violet the new color of evil today?" Willow muttered bitterly.
A groan sounded out in the room and Willow saw the watcher attempting to get up. Willow rushed over to help Giles. "Giles, you okay?"
"My face in in great deal of pain but I'll manage," the Watcher groaned out. His eyes fell upon the bleeding Faith. "Oh dear, we have to get her to the infirmary!"
Willow nodded alertly. She moved towards Faith. How is she going to move her? She wasn't strong enough and Giles is hurt. Fortunately, the two slayers regained their consciousness. Kennedy woke up upon Giles' shaking. She ordered them to take Faith to the infirmary.
"Valerie! Jennalyn! After you get Faith to the infirmary, we need you back here!" Willow called out.
"Yes ma'am," the two replied in unison.
The three were alone now. Willow, Kennedy, Giles looked down upon the Slayer who died with a twisted neck.
"She got Claudine. I knew we should have killed her!" Kennedy pointed out glumly and then stormed off to see Faith.
"Perhaps she's right..." Giles whispered.
Willow couldn't believe she was hearing this. "Giles! You can't even think about that! Buffy's not herself. When I went evil and veiny, I tried to end the world! You guys didn't kill me, you guys or more specifically Xander reached out to me. You all tried! Why can't we do the same for Buffy."
"It might not worth all the lives she took and might take in the future just to get her back."
"You guys weren't sure that I would come back from the evilness but you guys didn't give up on me. We can't just give up on her Giles!"
"Yes, we owe Buffy that. She must have went to a surviving member of the Princess army. We have to get her back before she frees the Princess. If the Princess manages to cross over to this dimension, we'll end up wishing for an apocalypse to escape the pain she'll bring to this dimension." Giles spoke gravely.
To be continued...(I'd say three, four or maybe even five more chapters before the end. I might end up writing more because something unexpected might come up during the process.) Till then please R&R!