Sunnydale High Library, 0820 hours.
Giles was contacted that very morning at his home by Althanea after she talked to Willow, and the witch discussed with the Watcher the reason that Willow contacted her last night. She told Giles about the Kalderesh, and about the ritual that would revoke a vampire's invitation. Right now, he was sitting at his table reading the books that Althanea told him to read in regards to the ritual while he was writing down the ingredients he needed. He was about to close his books so that he could go out and gather the materials he needed just as Miss Calendar walked in nervously with her hands playing with each other as she held them in front of her body.
"Jenny," said Giles smiling as he stood up; a smile that vanished, replaced by curiosity etched on his face when he realized that Miss Calendar looked worried, "Jenny, what is it? Please, sit down."
"No," said Miss Calendar as she shook her head and waved her hands, "ummm… listen, Rupert. You know I care for you deeply, right?"
"Of course," said Giles as he furrowed his eyebrows while watching her acing the floor on the other side of the table. It was after a few second that she stopped and looked at Giles before shaking her head.
"There are things about my past that you need to understand," said Miss Calendar, "it's… Rupert, my past is complicated and if I don't tell you now, then you'll hear it from Willow and.. I mean you won't hear it from Willow and… damn it!"
Giles was stunned at Miss Calendar's reaction before she up her hand on her forehead. He took one step closer to her, but she put up a hand, telling him to just stay where he was. Giles saw her take a deep breath before she started pacing nervously, and then stopped again, looked at Giles; and started to speak.
"Last night," said Miss Calendar, "Willow went home and checked the internet for curses that remove souls; or at least for curses that can re-ensoul the soulless."
"Like vampires," said Giles while thinking to himself that Willow told Miss Calendar a little white lie.
"Yea," said Miss Calendar, "she came up with a name common to all of her search queries, the Kalderesh."
"Oh?" asked Giles as he tried to looked surprised as he recalled Althanea saying that same name that morning over the phone, "and she…"
"She came to me about something she noticed last night before you and the others arrived," said Miss Calendar as she began pacing the floor again, "something that I told her I… look, I lied to her, Rupert."
"How so?" asked Giles while he continued to look on, this time in genuine confusion since Willow hadn't told him about what happened while Xander was away later night.
"Because last night," said Miss Calendar, "I.. I knew what Angel became… I knew he lost his soul when I came to the school and saw Willow walking towards him… I knew that… and…, Rupert?"
Miss Calendar saw the man looking behind him with his mouth open. She hadn't heard the door open behind her, but she heard the thud of a backpack falling on the clean, wooden, floor; and all she could do now was watch Giles take off his glasses and place them on the table while he looked behind her, and then back into her eyes. Miss Calendar closed her eyes and steeled herself for the inevitable confrontation with the girl who loved a vampire. She opened her eyes and turned slowly to face the fast approaching Buffy who grabbed onto her neck while Giles shouted and tried to hold his Slayer back. But the blonde was too strong as she tightened her grip on Miss Calendar's neck and held her down on the table after pushing some of the books away.
"You knew?" asked an outraged Buffy as she glared at the I.T teacher while Giles was holding onto Buffy's arm and telling her to stop, "you knew about Angel and you didn't say anything?"
"Buffy!" shouted Giles as the Slayer looked at her watcher, "let her go; I for one would like an explanation."
"Talk," said Buffy as she let Miss Calendar go and stepped back, her hands rolled into fists as she glared at the I.T teacher.
"My birth name was Yanna Kalderesh," said Miss Calendar as she sat up while rubbing her neck, "I was sent here to make sure that you didn't fall in love with Angel, Buffy. I… I didn't know what was going to happen… I… I didn't know that the curse would lift with.. with…"
"What?" asked Giles as Miss Calendar looked at him, and then at Buffy.
"One moment of pure happiness," said Miss Calendar as she noticed the stunned look on Buffy's face, "if he has one moment of pure happiness, he loses his soul. He murdered my people's favourite, they punished him for it.. as long as he had his soul, he was punished. But if he didn't feel his punishment anymore, if he was happy…. Then the curse would be lifted and he'll become Angelus again."
"And… and you saw me and him…" said Buffy as she shook her head from side to side, "you saw me and him and… and you couldn't tell us?"
"I didn't know how it would be lifted, Buffy," said Miss Calendar as Buffy wrapped her hands around herself and took another step back, "I.. I was only supposed to watch you and… and I…"
"It's my fault he's Angelus?" asked Buffy as she looked at Miss Calendar.
"Yes," she replied nodding her head before she looked away.
"Wait, how is it your fault?" asked Giles, "what could you have done to… oh."
Giles realized what happened when he looked at the anguish on Buffy's face; she gave Angel pure happiness.
And he didn't need to know the details.
"I'm sorry," said Miss Calendar, she knew it sounded hollow, especially now after the fact that Angel lost his soul. But she was at a loss for words. She looked at the glare from Buffy, and then heard Giles softly say that she should leave so that he could talk to Buffy.
Miss Calendar nodded her head before she walked past Buffy who turned and gripped her arm in a vice like hold. Miss Calendar flinched at the pain as she turned and looked at Buffy who told her to re-ensoul Angel; that it was her people who did it, which meant that it could be done again.
"Those magiks are lost, Buffy," said Miss Calendar, "even to my people. We.. we can't do a thing."
"Then what good are you," said Buffy in anger while tears gathered in her eyes, "what good…."
"Buffy," said Giles as the Slayer glared at Miss Calendar before walking past her and, picking up her backpack, before rushing out of the doors. It was a few seconds later that Miss Calendar mumbled 'sorry' to Giles before walking out of the door herself while aware of the fact that Giles wasn't coming after her.
Willow's Room, three weeks later.
The Scoobies had defeated the Judge thanks to quick thinking by Xander who admitted he retained the memories and knowledge of soldier guy. He was able to steal two missile launchers from the Sunnydale Army base which was later used to kill the judge. Willow was there with the Scoobies, minus Miss Calendar, who was ostracised by a very angry Buffy. As Willow was talking on her phone to Buffy after a day of Angel stalking her placing drawing of her, and her mother, in her mailbox since he was disinvited from the Summers home. Joyce was told by Buffy to never let anyone who was looking for her in, not even to get a package, or mail. So Angel smiled while putting the two envelopes while she was asleep. That was nearly a day ago, and while Willow hated to think it, she was glad that Angelus wasn't coming after her.
Following the revelation that Miss Calendar had known about the curse, Giles had privately told Willow that she needed to be extra careful. He told the redhead that Angelus was the most cunning, evil, intelligent, and devious vampire the world had ever known.
"If you still want to continue being Nighthawk," Giles had told her that night, "then you need to be as you used to be as Willow. You could show a bit of confidence here and there, but the shy Willow needs to shine when you're in school, or any time out of costume."
"I understand, Giles," Willow had said three weeks ago.
"I don't think you do," said Giles as he looked worried at the redhead, "Angelus can smell you and.. and I know your scent's hidden from vampires and demons, but there's the body language. The way you walk, the way you hold yourself, your facial expressions…. Willow, you need to be the Willow before Niko came into your life when you're not wearing the mask."
"I will," said the redhead as she realized that Giles was right. She knew that she wasn't playing a game, and everything that was a part of Niko that was in her screamed at her to listen to Giles, that she needed to be careful. And she had been careful every night she was out with Buffy, silently helping her; she was careful when OZ turned to a werewolf at his home when Willow, frustrated that he still hadn't made a move on her, arrived to ask him if there was something wrong with her. She gave a scream when he doubled over in pain and transformed in front of her eyes. She used a burst of telekinesis and pushed him against the wall when the werewolf leapt at her, she then ran out the back way. And kept on running, mindful that anyone... especially Angelus, could be watching from anywhere outside the home. Willow remembered looking behind her as the werewolf chased her, she remembered jumping over a fence using her own arms and legs to pull her up and over the fence, and then everything faded away… she was that stunned at what was happening. The last thing she remembered was shooting the werewolf with a tranquilizer dart. At the end, while Oz believed that there was no way that Willow would want to be with him after finding out what he was, he was pleasantly surprised when it was Willow who broke the ice first and kissed him in the quad before walking away arm in arm.
"I'm a werewolf in love," was what Oz told Willow as they walked away together.
Then a few days later came her acceptance letter to meet with Dr. Robert Lee at Caltech on his Alpha Radiation research. She received permission from Snyder, who was thinking how high he'd be held in esteem if even one of his students got admitted to such a prestigious institution. The day that Willow left Sunnydale for Pasadena, was the day that, as she found out after returning, Xander made a love wish that went horribly wrong; instead of making Cordelia, who broke up with him that day which happened to be Valentine's day, fall in love with him; the wish made every woman in Sunnydale lust for him. So much so that he had to fend off throngs of women, young and old… including Buffy and her mother, away from himself and Cordelia who was unaffected, and was nearly killed by one of the Cordette's.
It was something that Willow knew she would make fun of for a long time.
"I wonder what I'd have done," she told him over the phone after she returned from Caltech after having secretly used her telekinesis while the good professor was looking away from her to attach her badge to the underside of the device that was being used for his research. While she was being shown some of the research that he, and some other scientists were carrying out, the redhead hoped that the badge would automatically charge itself just as it did when Niko would step into the charging plate at B.E.T.A, and the energy would go through her and into her badge. After her return, Willow told Xander another exciting piece of news, "oh, oh, I got to tour the Jet Propulsion Lab…. It was so cool."
Back in the present, Willow sat on her bed while she continued to talk to Buffy. She had just got back from helping Buffy and the Scoobies with some research, but the two of them still had a lot to talk about Angelus. Willow narrowed her eyes when she noticed a brown coloured envelope at the end of the bed while Buffy was talking about getting Joyce out of the city until they did something about him. Willow wanted to say, or at least the part that was Niko's frustrations wanted to say, that Buffy had the opportunity to kill Angel back in the mall the day they destroyed the Judge. Buffy told her that she had the perfect chance, but she believed that they could help get his soul back.
And since that day, people had died.
But Willow kept silent, she couldn't give away her frustration. She loved Buffy, but Willow knew that the Slayer's feelings for Angel was getting in the way.
Sighing, Willow cautiously walked over to the edge of the bed and picked up the envelope and walked towards her aquarium so that she could feed her fish while talking to Buffy. She nodded her head at something Buffy said while she felt numerous small, soft, lumps inside the envelope. Narrowing her eyes, she looked inside the envelope and saw her dead fish looking back at her. She gasped and threw the envelope onto the floor, it was a gasp that Buffy heard.
"Will?" asked Buffy into her phone as she suddenly sat up straight on her bed.
"I… I'm ok," said Willow as she calmed her voice while looking at the envelope on the floor, and then she looked around her room, and her eyes went wide open at her barely open closet door, a door she always kept shut. It was then she realized that she was talking to Buffy when she walked into her room, and she never noticed it… until now.
"I stubbed my toe, Buff," said Willow as she rushed to her closet, and opened the door before stepping back with her eyes wide open, "I.. I gotta put some ice on it and… and I'll call you back."
"Sure," replied the Slayer as she hung up the phone, while Willow threw the phone in her hand to her bed. All the while, she was looking at her costume that was nailed to the inside of her closet door with another brown envelope attached to the jacket.
'We disinvited him,' thought Willow to herself as she reached for the envelope on her Nighthawk jacket, 'how did he get in.. and… Oh God!'
Willow was looking at the name on the envelope that she was holding; it said 'To Willow' and it was written in blood, blood that was already dried. Willow tore open the envelope and read the letter inside with trembling hands.
My dearest Willow,
Do you know the most common thread between any superhero? Don't rack your pretty little brain, the common thread is tragedy. The death of a loved one; it's the classic origin story. Since you like being a hero, although you do have to tell me the trick about the double Willow that night, I'll help you along with your origin story. Would it be mommy or daddy dearest? Giles? Buffy? Xander? Jenny? Or how about Oz? Or maybe Mrs. Summers? So many choices, Willow. But don't worry, I'll make a hero out of you.
P.S: I suggest thongs with your costume, you'll be more delicious.
Willow threw the letter to the floor and ran to her bed and picked up her phone. She called her mother's cellphone and hoped that she and her father were already in Santa Barbara for their conference. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Sheila Rosenberg's voice, the young woman then asked her if she and Ira were doing alright after the plane trip.
"Of course we are," said Sheila, "we're set to leave for dinner and… oh, there was a man who came by in the evening while you were with your friends. We were just leaving, but he said something about a gas leak in our neighbour's house, and he needed to check ours just to be on the safe side. He said it would only take a few minutes, so we let him in while we packed our things into the cab. He left only five minutes later saying that everything was fine… anyway, we have to go Willow. We'll see you in three weeks."
"Oh, right," said Willow shaking her head, "you guys are going to Rome."
"Yes," said Sheila, "we'll talk about your planned visit to MIT when we get back."
"Yes, mom," said Willow as the other line was cut, "love you."
Willow put down the phone and realized that Angel must have been the one who came in for the so-called emergency gas leak. The redhead knew there were too many people that Angelus could hit, so there was only one thing she could do; there was no other choice. Willow ran to her desk, and opened her drawer. She had taped the badge underneath the top drawer so that no-one, especially her mother and father, could find it. She reached down and ripped the tape off and held in in her hand.
'Thank God, it's fully charged,' thought Willow to herself as she closed her eyes and thought of Angel, 'here we go.'
Willow pressed the badge and felt her implant power up after the Alpha Radiation from the badge flowed to the Series Five implant in her head. Suddenly, Willow gasped as she felt her powers increase while access her clairvoyance abilities. She saw Miss Calendar running through hallways while Angelus was chasing her. Willow could see the fear written on Miss Calendar's face as the redhead glimpsed at a wall clock behind the running woman. Willow then saw her look down the stairs behind her, Angelus wasn't chasing her anymore. Miss Calendar ran up two more flights until she was at a landing that faced a large window that looked out to the parking lot at the front of the school. Willow eyes opened wide as she watched Miss Calendar run into Angel, who laughed as he grabbed her head, and then twisted it backwards.
"Now she's a hero," said Angel as Willow's vision ended and the redhead locked her jaw in anger before throwing her badge on her table. The redhead then turned around in anger and raised her hand before forcing the nails off her costume, and then pulling it towards here. She looked at her clock as she took off her jeans and put on the tight ones knowing that she had twenty minutes before Miss Calendar died. She then put on her jacket, and zipped it up before she put on her belt and the collapsible steel baton, and pepper spray. Willow then rushed to her phone with fifteen minutes left and called Giles to tell him about the vision she had.
"I'm heading to the school now," said Giles as he rushed to his weapons chest, "I'm going to call Buffy and…"
"No," said Willow shaking her head, "Angel broke into my room and left me a message, he threatened Joyce, Xander… everyone I care about. I need Buffy to stay at home with Joyce, if Buffy;s away, then he'll send some of his goons to attack her. I need you to stay home… I'm just telling you what's happening as a heads up. I'll bring her to you, Giles.. I swear to you that I'll get her out. I…"
"I'll meet you at the school, Willow," said Giles curtly as he took out a crossbow, and a cross. He then threw the phone down as he rushed out of the door.
"Damn it," said Willow as she put down the phone and then put on her gloves, and then her balaclava, and finally her goggles. She then rushed to her window, jumped out, and flew towards the school, "no one's dying today. No one."
TBC.