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TITLE: Unexpected Consequences
SERIES: Casualties
AUTHOR: Peter J. Frigate
EMAIL: thetwis...gmx.de (thats my 'mostly spam' email, so I might miss your mail, if you want my personal email, just ask me)
FEEDBACK: Yes, please. Public, private, constructive, negative, I don't care. I don't even mind flames.
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: I post the chapters on the Buffy newsgroup, and usually a bit later on If you want to put my stuff on your page, I'll probably hug and kiss you, but you still have to ask first. I like to keep track of where my things go. In return, I'll offer to mail you any new chapters/stories or corrections.
TIMEFRAME: After the end of Season Six
'PREVIOUSLY ON': After being drained by Willow, Giles is in the
hospital's ICU, his body unable to function on it's own. Dawn figured
out the reason, Willow took more than the magic, she took Giles'
lifeforce. And she's the only one who can return it. The only problem:
when Willow let go of the magic, a part of her was lost as well. She is
currently in a mental institution, being unable to hold any thought for
more than a few seconds. Dawn has found a spell to restore her, and
convinced her sister to perform it. A call to Angel to come and protect
Buffy's body left them stranded with Spike. Not having any other
choice, they have decided to go through with the spell. The spell seems
to have worked, but Spike and Anya were badly hurt during the days of
defending Buffy and Willow. Now all that is left to do is to transfer
the part of Willow that Buffy brought back back to Willow.
Part 6 - Soul Seeking Part 2
"Buffy, are you certain you are ready for this?" Xander asked while
Dawn was preparing the spell in the living room. "I know Dawn ensures
me that this is all passive magic, but still, I think maybe you should,
you know, be rest-y slayer for a while before we continue."
"Xander, I'm not any more thrilled than you that we appear to have another spellcaster in the house, but I really need to get Willow out of my head. It's driving me crazy, it's like having too many books in a bag. I always feel like there is more in my head than belongs." Buffy explained. She looked tired. Xander didn't know if his best friend looked tired because of the mystical Willow-piece she had in her head or because of the knowledge that the man that tried to rape her was currently living in her basement. Of course they couldn't very well kick Spike out until he was healed up enough to at least walk again.
Xander looked towards the doorway, then continued with a more quiet voice. "There is one other thing we need to talk about, Buffy."
"Don't even get me started. Let's just hope it's a sideeffect of the spell and that it will go away once we finish the second part." Buffy replied harshly. "Trust me, I feel much less comfortable with this than you."
"As rude as it may sound, Buffy, getting 'rid of it' is not my only concern right now. What if you ... pass it on?"
"And what if I do? It might actually be a good thing." Buffy replied with a weak smile.
"Yes, it might be. It might also not be a good thing, and instead a kick-Willow-over-the-edge thing." He wasn't going to just let this go this easily. "I think you need to tell Dawn."
"Look, we've both been going over the spell description, and even us two bricks would have picked it up if there was ANY mention of anything like this, so talking to Dawn would not help us a bit. Right now we can chose between completely broken Willow and a chance to fix her. I'm going to take that chance, and you know that Dawn wouldn't care anyways."
"And let's assume you don't pass it on. What if it stays?" Xander continued to press.
"Then we will find another way. Heck, I might even talk to the shrink the council is sending over. You know, dying twice, falling in love with a vampire, killing my first love, falling in love with a secret agent, having my best friend trying to end the world and then falling in love with my best friend, I probably need it." Buffy laughed dryly.
"So this is how far is has come? You love her now?"
"It's not that black and white. I don't even like women like that,
Xander. It's just hard to see right now."
---
"So, can I leave yet?"
"I told you, your wounds need at least two more days to heal. Why are you in such a hurry to get away from us anyways?" Dawn snapped. She only went to the basement to get some more ingredients, hoping that Spike would be asleep.
"What, I thought you wanted me gone as soon as possible. I told you, I didn't want to come here in the first place."
"Yeah, I shouldn't be surprised that you are just burning to leave us again. It's a pattern." She replied bitterly.
"Bloddy he... are you saying that you don't want me to go?" The blonde vampire asked confused. He had barely talked to Dawn at all over the last days, but he was pretty certain that she shared his opinion that leaving as soon as possible was the best course of action.
"Why would you ask me that, it's not like you cared to get my opinion last time you abandoned us!" She shouted angrily and dashed out of the basement before he could reply, leaving him to wonder what exactly to make of it.
---
"Flowers are not going to get you get laid, Harris." Came a cold voice from the bed.
"I didn't expect that. And what fun would that be with both of your
hands in casts anyways?" Xander replied smugly, putting the flowers
down on the nightstand next to Anya's bed. "I just wanted to see how
you were doing. You did get those injuries defending Dawns and my life,
after all."
"So if you don't want sex, why are you coming over? Do you have any questions regarding the carpentry work in the Magic Box? Is something wrong with the Box?" She added the last question in a concerned voice.
"No, An, the Magic Box is fine. My guys are actually putting in the new
windows as we speak. I just came because I, you know, I care about you.
And after spending the last one and a half week with you, I suddenly
found myself missing your company." He confessed.
Anya sighed. Clearly, she couldn't scare him out of the room. She felt vulnerable and confused as she lay helpless in the bed with casts on both of her hands and lower arms. "Alright. So tell me what has been going on."
"Well, Spike is still injured in the basement, driving Dawn insane. I
don't even know why it bugs her so much, they never speak and it's not
like hes here to stay." He explained. He never quite understood Dawn's
relation to Spike, but the last few days had confused him even more. He
suspected that Dawn wasn't dealing well with the news that Spike had a
soul now, although he personally didn't care much. Spike hurt Buffy,
and he was lucky to leave the Summers house alive.
"You shouldn't be so hard on him. You don't know." Anya said softly as Xander sunk into thought.
"I don't know what? I know he hurt Buffy, I know what he tried to do. I don't understand what more there is to know!" Xander shouted, the reconsidered. "Sorry, it's not like any of this is your fault. I just don't get it, you know?"
"Xander." Anya waited until her former fiancé turned towards her.
"Lloyd doesn't just hand out souls like cheap candy. There are .
trials ... fighting, torture ... no demon has managed to pass those
trials for over ten thousand years, each single one has given up before
the end. Everyone but Spike." She looked at him, her face displaying
awe. "I don't know if I should tell Dawn or Buffy. I don't understand
these kind of things. Why would anyone want to go through that kind of
torture?"
"So thats why ..." Xander trailed off, clearly surprised by his friends words.
"Yes. No one who went through those trials would hurt the person that was the reason they managed to get through them."
"I understand why you didn't tell us." Xander gave in. "But it doesn't mean he should be forgiven." He added firmly. "I think it's better you don't tell anyone about it."
---
"Dawn, how long will this take? My legs are starting to go numb." Buffy
complained. Dawn had been walking around her and Willow for hours,
reciting ancient chants, dispersing herbs and powders, yet nothing
seemed to happen.
"It's not as easy as handing someone a book, Buffy. You are the one that wants to help Willow, aren't you?"
"Yes, of course, she's my ev... my best friend." Buffy tried to cover.
Dawn looked at her suspicious, but continued her chanting. Something
was definitly wrong with Buffy, she had behaving odd ever since she
returned from the spirit travel. Dawn just hoped it was because of her
sister carrying a piece of Willow's mind, a piece that didn't belong
into her sister's head. If she was right, Buffy would return to
normality as soon as the piece was transferred to Willow.
"It just doesn't seem like it's worki..." Buffy suddenly trailed off,
making Dawn look at her. "Dawn ... something is happening!"
Buffy looked around her confused. She couldn't describe her feeling,
but it was definitly nothing natural. "Dawn?" She asked in a shakey
voice. Then, without any control of her own, her hands rushed to the
temples of Willow, almost as if a magnetic force drew them there. The
moment her fingertips touched her best friends temples, her arms and
hands started to glow.
"Dawn, what the he..." Buffy's question was interrupted as her body stiffed for a second. Only moments later, Buffy burst into a scream of agony that made Dawn's neckhair stand up. As Buffy kept screaming at the top of her lungs, Dawn was harshly reminded of the time she had seen Glory brainsuck one of her victims. Only that this time, it seemed to work in reverse; instead of draining something from the pale redhead, it was clear that something was flowing from Buffy's head through her arms and hands into Willow's head.
---
"So what about Buffy, did she get the piece she was looking for?" Anya quizzed Xander.
"She seems to think so." He replied dryly.
"But you don't?" Anya asked, sensing that there was more to tell.
"Oh, I trust that she got what she was looking for. But I think she got more than she wanted." His voice was bitter as he remembered Buffy's complete lack of willingness to discuss what happened to her.
"She didn't pick up another demon hitchhiker, did she?"
"Not exactly. But I believe she did pick up something that doesn't belong here."
---
After the apparently very painful transfer, Buffy had passed out next to Willow. Dawn had tried to wake her sister, but to no avail. Just as she was about to call an ambulance, she heard a soft coughing.
"What happened, Dawnie?"
"Willow? Are you alright? Do you understand what's happening?" Dawn asked without leaving the side of her sister.
"Well, I'm not exactly understanding anything. The last thing I remember is that I was here with you, and Xander and Anya, and you seemed to prepare a spell." She considered for a moment, then added: "I thought we agreed not to do any more spells around me?"
"Do you remember the hospital? Do you remember why we did the spell?"
"Yes, yes! I was sick, and you said the spell would make me well again.
Looks like it worked, although I don't even want to start thinking
about what kind of problem could send me to the hospital for months and
need a spell to fix me. Is Buffy alright?" The redhead stopped her
babbleing and rushed over to her best friends side. "I remember feeling
a flashing pain, and I remember that I felt that it must have been much
worse for her."
"Come on, Buffy! Wake up!" Dawn pleaded, tears in her eyes. Suddenly,
Buffy's body spasmd, then she opened her eyes.
"That hurt like hell. Last time I'm letting you do spell's, little
sister." Looking at her dumbfounded sister, she added: "What's wrong?
Didn't it work?"
"Buffy ..." Dawn swallowed, trying to deny what she saw. "You ... your eyes ..."
"Dawn, what is wrong with my eyes? I can see fine, sweetie!"
Suddenly, an audible sob was heard through the room as Willow bowed over her friend, looking at her face. Looking at her best friends blonde hair, her delicate pretty face.
And her emerald green eyes.
---
Author's notes:
Not subtle enough? Please mail me what you think about the last few lines, and about the last two chapters.
ps.: The title of this chapter was borrowed from Lisa Countryman's great fanfiction series with the same name. The name is all that is similar, though. I just thought it was the perfect title.