Summary: In a land divided and at war between man and demon, what happens when one does the unthinkable and falls for the enemy?
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own the BtVS and AtS characters. There is no intention of copyright infringement or monetary gain in the borrowing of characters. They are used only for entertainment purpose.
Previously on Enemy Mine: Giles calls an emergency meeting to plan Willow's rescue. In a desperate attempt to save her own life, Willow "merges" with Angelous.
Ch. 4 Resonance
"I-I'm truly s-sorry," Tara said, expressing regret.
"What do you mean?" demanded Xander.
"Are you sure," asked Wesley of the Wicca. She slowly nodded, then covered her face with her long, dark, blonde hair when she spied Buffy silently crying.
Giles just stared down at the elements used for the locator spell. The map of the Council territory and the uncharted Shadowlands seemed to mock him. A piece of Willow's clothing - a blouse - screamed of their failure and their urgency. He wanted nothing more than to rip apart the black, silk shirt of the damned vampire that had been placed next to Willow's.
Buffy dried her tears and took a steadying breath. "That can't be. You have to do it again. And again and again until you find them."
Tara started to speak but Giles cut in, agreeing with his slayer. "Quite right. Please try again, Tara. Maybe this time you will be able to get a fix on their position."
"Perhaps," Wesley suggested, "if Mr. Giles and I lent a hand and pooled our powers with yours, Tara, we might strengthen the locator spell." The younger watcher wasn't sure if such an endeavor would work any more efficiently than the Wicca's attempt, but he was willing to try, if only for the simple fact that Giles, Xander and Buffy were frantic. He couldn't really blame them. What a nightmare.
After Tara's agreement, both Watchers joined her on the floor and linked hands with her. Everyone looked on as a light slowly began to coalesce over the map and trace a path from the mansion to an indefinite point into the Shadowlands. The trail suddenly ended and instead of pinpointing a location, the light sort of wavered and dispersed.
Giles, Wesley and Tara could do nothing but stare down at the map as if by the act, the magic might bend to their will and show them more. . .do more. . .tell them more.
"What the hell was that?" asked Buffy, breaking the spellcasters' surprise and confusion.
"Umm. . .it seems that Willow and Angelous' presence is being cloaked," replied Wesley.
"Cloaked?" asked Xander, unsure what that really meant concerning his friend's welfare.
"But, Willow's okay? They're out there somewhere, but okay?" asked Buffy, needing to believe that her friend was okay.
"I don't know, B-Buffy," said Tara. "The spell is not working as it should. It tracked their path up to a certain point into the Shadowlands, but after that. . . It kinda just dissolved. I-It could mean W-Willow's. . .g-gone -although unlikely since the spell includes A-Angelous as well - or there's a another spell already in place hiding where they are."
"Okay. Okay. We just got to find them," resolved Buffy, quickly going into Slayer mode. "We have until daybreak to prepare, so everyone get ready and arm up. We'll go in during daylight and grab as much advantage as we can."
"Buffy, I don't know how much advantage we will have. Remember that demon territory is mostly covered in dark clouds. Hence the name," Giles reminded Buffy.
"Hello, is everyone insane?" wondered Cordelia. "Have you completely forgotten that the trail leads into the Shadowlands? Going so deep into their territory is suicide!"
"We have to save Willow," retorted Buffy, starting to get annoyed with Cordelia all over again.
"I never thought I'd say this but Cordy is right," spoke up Xander. "Look, hear me out, Buffy. I love Willow. I've known her the longest, we've grown up together, been friend forever. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for her. But going inside demon territory without a solid plan is suicide. Nobody has ever gone deep into their territory, just like they don't go into ours. All the action is on the borders. If we're going to do this, we need to prepare and make contingency plans. We are no good to her if we are dead." Xander went up to Buffy and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I want her out, back with us safe and sound, as much as you."
Buffy seemed to measure his words and then nodded in agreement. "Okay, everybody, let's plan. Anything and everything. We don't have any time to waste. We'll still go, but prepared. Ideas?"
Tara shyly raised her hand. "We can follow the trail up to the point where it ends, but then what?"
Giles bit a leg of his glasses. "You're right, Tara. We can not waste time being lost while trying to locate Willow while we are inside the Shadowlands. Every moment will be quite perilous."
Oz, who had been silent up to that point, finally spoke up, "I don't think that will be much of a problem. I can track them with their pieces of clothing. Either way, I know Willow's scent quite well."
Xander looked at Oz with raised eyebrows.
Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, well. . . Very good."
Wesley picked up the pieces of clothing that were used for the spell and gave them to Oz. "We must hurry."
"Thank you, Wesley," Buffy told him earnestly.
The specialist's watcher gave Buffy a level stare. "You don't quite understand the danger we are all in now. Yes, we must rescue Willow, but she isn't our main priority."
"How can you say that?" Buffy exclaimed wounded.
"Because you don't understand what you have done!" said Wesley incensed. "Angelous is free. Have you any idea what that means at all? Why he was so feared? Why the Council called him the Scourge?"
"He was a feared vampire general -" began Buffy with a puzzled look on her face. He used to be really dangerous. Who the hell cared what he used to be?
"He led a vampire army!" exclaimed Wesley. "He was cunning, ruthless and vicious. He killed thousands upon thousands of humans before he was contained with a curse. Before that he was unstoppable. Unstoppable! Under his command, his demon army went inside Council Territory. Not just borders, but inland!"
Buffy was shaking her head, not really wanting to believe, wanting to live in denial.
"Hundreds of Slayers died trying to stop him! As soon as one died and the next was called, she was killed. They were no match for such a large and well-trained supernatural army. Not until Angelous was cursed, was the Council's troops able to push back the vampires."
Xander was wide-eyed. He raised up his hand and said, "I vote for staking as soon as possible scary vampire-guy."
"Yeah, I second that," agreed Cordy vehemently.
"What? No!" Buffy glared at Xander and Cordelia. "There will be no staking."
"Buffy…" began Giles, trying to make her see reason.
"No. No, Giles, there will be no staking. You never met Angel, but he was good and he helped out with priceless information. I can't just ignore all I've been through with him. And I . . ." Buffy whispered the last "I love him."
"Screw that!" retorted Cordy. "Oh, wait - you did. That's why we're in this mess!"
The Slayer moved toward Cordelia in anger, wanting to hit her. The Seer swiftly rose from her chair for the confrontation. It was Oz's strong grip on Buffy's arm that stopped her from starting a physical fight.
"This isn't helping. We have to remember Willow," stated Oz in a calm and reasonable voice.
After a short, tensed silence, Buffy gave a curt nod in acknowledgement to Oz.
Turning to the group, Oz directed his concern to the Watchers and the Witch. "I am positive I can track Willow but what are we going to do about Angelous if we come across him - which I'm more than sure we will?"
"We stake his sorry ass," said Xander.
"No!" came from Buffy.
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Giles informed the group. He was rubbing his forehead with his fingertips, trying to ease a headache that had formed since the moment the whole fiasco had started. "You're forgetting what Wesley mentioned . . . The part where Angelous used to be unstoppable?"
"M-maybe if I devised a containment spell," offered Tara.
Wesley sighed. "If only it were that simple. The problem is that magic doesn't have much impact on him. Nobody knows why. Only the strongest of magics effect him. . . and that will only slow him down some."
Tara did not understand. "But the curse?"
"We don't know why that worked."
"Right. Well then we'll re-curse him," offered Buffy. "Problem solved."
"Hardly," Wesley scoffed. "The curse was lost."
"What about the descendants of the remaining Gypsy clan?" wondered Tara.
Wesley shook his head and sat down heavily on one of the chairs. "No. If they had found the curse, they would have archived it within the Council's central library. Something so important would not be left to chance, especially if it meant having to stop a reemerged Angelous."
"I don't care," stated Buffy coldly.
"Buffy," Giles tried to address his slayer again.
"No, Giles. We will do everything in our power to recurse Angel . . . But if for some reason it comes between him and us, and we still haven't found a solution. . . I will do my duty. For now, all our efforts are in getting Willow back alive." Buffy then began to snap orders. "Giles, try to contact the Gypsy clan and obtain as much information as you can. Perhaps, they have found the curse or they know of a different way to ensoul Angel. Wesley, gather all information concerning Angelous. Look for anything that might help us. Xander, you are in charge of arming us. Get all the weapons that we might need. Oz, look over all maps of the Shadowlands that might help you in tracking. Tara, prepare your magic arsenal: potions, spells, whatever that might give us an advantage. Talk to the coven if necessary. We're going to have to go in cloaked - the full works: sight, sound and smell. Xander's right. We make no mistakes. This is a get in and get out operation. Okay, people get to it."
"And me?" asked Cordelia.
Buffy turned to look at her and then said plainly, "Start praying for a vision."
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Ow. Owowowowow. If she thought she was bad off before, now it was just a total and complete nightmare. Her whole body hurt. Her whole body. How in the world could even her hair hurt?
Well, what could she expect for doing such a reckless thing, Okay, that's right. . . She was desperate! Life and death situation here, missy!
Boy was she paying for it now. At least, she was still alive. Alive is good - very, very good.
She took a moment to center herself and then opened her eyes. Yikes! Big vampire on top of her. Probably one of the reasons that she hurt so much; the crushing weight alone could have done her in. Trying to take in breath by even by small, amounts (it would do no good if she fainted again because of lack of oxygen this time) she tried to push an object that frankly, seemed to be unmovable. Gritting her teeth and trying again, she discovered that the stupid vampire was latched on to her neck. Owww!
Okay, think, Willow, think! She couldn't move him with her own puny strength. She couldn't move him with magic; she was completely drained. She couldn't call for help. Schyeah, right. What to do, what to do?
Turning her face, she pressed against Angelous' temple and top of his head. Yeah, that little movement hurt more than just a little. His fangs just sank deeper into her neck. She wanted to scream to let out some of the pain and frustration but she wasn't that stupid. Okay, she did a stupendously colossal idiotic thing by merging with a demon, but hello! What was she gonna do? Just lie there and die? So, yeah, she didn't actually know what would have happened before she merged but she was really, really hoping that as a last ditch and desperate attempt, it would work and somehow stop Angelous from killing her. Well, it worked, sort of. She had put him in a deep (hopefully) sleep after siphoning off as much anger and rage as possible. At the very least, he would wake up with a more accommodating disposition (she hoped). Going in to his head had been more than a little risky. She had taken the chance that his darkness could have overwhelmed her and taken over, consuming her whole. The magics she handled - unlike most of her sister witches - were both white and dark element of nature. Her dominance of such powerful forces was what made her possibly the strongest witch at the moment, but also the most in danger. She had to be always in complete control of herself. Like Buffy, whose body was a weapon in strength and speed, so was she but in magic. That is why when she had gone into Angelous, she had taken great care in not delving into any of his memories. She could just imagine the nightmares she would have for the rest of her life with just a glimpse. She also hadn't delved into his feelings, just sort of sensed them and then just redirected them away, without letting them touch her.
Yeah, overall, it had been a veritable landmine.
All of that, and now what? She bit her lip and delicately "suggested" that he retract his fangs. When the still unconscious vampire did as she had mentally pushed, she allowed herself a moment to grin.
Okay, on to the next hurdle: getting free from under Angelous. Pushing was out of the question so after a short consideration, she tried wriggling to the side. By slow increments, which seemed to take forever to Willow, she slid free from him. First she freed her chest, then her arms, her pelvis and finally, with a jank, she freed her legs.
Yay.
She gingerly slid off the bed and stood. For a moment her knees threatened to give out and the room was doing a nice spinning impersonation. Damn vampire probably took a little too much blood and add to that her magic drain, she was not in a very good state.
The opened door beckoned. Freedom was within her grasp.
Probably.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
She just needed to steer clear of all vampires. She had a feeling that it would be easier said than done. Too bad she was so weak that she couldn't teleport out of the place.
Willow move toward the open doorway and hesitantly peeked out. Nobody in sight. The dark corridor seemed empty. Lit torches illuminated the stone hall and dark shadows danced in their wake.
She shivered.
Taking a dep breath for courage, she stepped out and headed left. She didn't know where she was going and frankly, she knew it was another of those incredibly stupid decisions that she could make, but what choice did she have? Stay in the room and possibly get eaten by Angelous or try to escape and possibly get eaten by another vampire?
Footsteps suddenly echoed off the stone walls.
There was nowhere to go! She sprinted past several thick, wooden doors that could more than likely contain certain death by vampire. She was panicking. What the hell was she going to do. Her short gasps of breath, seemed to thunder in her ear and her heart was pounding furiously. With all the noise her body was making, she couldn't discern th footsteps. But she could feel them, with every speeding of her pulse, of her gasps, of her own running footsteps.
Suddenly, at the very end of the hall, an open archway appeared and she almost cried out in relief. That could very well lead to her escape. Without much thought, she climbed the spiral stairwell and burst onto the paraphet of the castle.
Willow covered her open mouth with her hand, strangling the frustrated sobs that welled in her chest. The horizon beckoned with its promise of freedom. In the distance, over much of the treetops, she could make out Council territory. Large tears fell from her face as her small hope diminished. She was inside the Shadowlands. Granted, she was just passing the border, but she was still in demon territory inside a castle that was more than likely the home of the Aurelian Order.
She was going to die. No! Get a grip, Willow told herself.
Closing her eyes, she willed all her energies into one point. With the last of her power, she sent out a distress signal - only to have it rebound off something and come crashing back.
No. NoNoNoNo…
"Well, Well, Well, Red," she heard a voice from behind her say , cutting into her shock and despair, "Does Angelous know that you've gone walkies?"
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To be continued: Ch. 5 The Lair of Monsters