Chap. 25
Giles and Willow huddled over an long scroll, rolled out on the library table, as Giles read the words and Willow took notes. Xander sat nearby in front of the library computer as he researched. All stole glances at the clock. Willow couldn't help but find her mind wandering to Oz and hoping that they hadn't killed him yet. She knew he was scared and Willow felt so useless as she simply jotted down Giles' dictations. Time seemed to speed ahead even as the work inched along in its tedium. This must have been what the gang had lived with for weeks when she was in the mansion. Looking at the rings under Giles' eyes, Willow patted him on the shoulder and murmured, "We'll get him back" and smiled. It wasn't the happiest smile but Giles returned it.
"Waning moon, rhapsody of twilight, stir the cauldron trice. Gurija awakes and the hellmouth belches forth diabolical power before the blood of a wolf-were is sacrificed to Hecate and the night. Behold the avenger of the colony and the devourer of souls." Giles moped his brow with a handkerchief. "Honestly, the melodrama of wizards."
"If I have my Old Tyme English right, I think we can't just kill these guys." Willow paused from her note taking and frowned. "We have to stop this avenger guy too."
Xander looked up from his volume. "Sounds like a job for Iron Man." He snorted, smirking, before he said, "I think found the binding spell that Ms. Calendar told you about. Your search terms were on the nose, Sherlock Rosenberg." The printer started up with a whirl.
Willow noticed Angel slink into the stacks before Buffy charged into the library with Ms. Calendar in tow. Her breath hitched as she made herself look to Buffy. Angel made no indication that he noticed her and she couldn't help but be both relieved and annoyed. She didn't know what she wanted from him, but would it kill him to ask about how she was doing? Though, it was easier to act like he wasn't there, all looming and dark with his handsome face, tortured yet calm, and focused on the slayer. It reminded her of Angel before his turn to the dark side. Then Xander started in on the death glares and Giles gave Angel the hairy eyeball and the illusion was ruined. The library had gotten so much more awkward since she had come back.
"They have Oz in the cemetery," Buffy called out as she grabbed her sword from the book cage. "We need to roll out."
"What about the ritual?" Giles asked, straightened his posture, and pushed his glasses up from their precarious perch on the tip of his nose.
"Already begun." Ms. Calendar shrugged, winded from keeping up with Buffy, and pushed her wind-mussed hair back from her brow with a sigh. "We gotta get our supplies ready and perform the binding."
"Its a good thing that Giles keeps the mug-wort next to his tea stash then." Xander nodded to the computer as he pulled the printed pages from the machine. "Got the magic wammy right here."
Ms. Calendar strode towards him and took the sheet, scanning them, before frowning. "I'd forgotten how much power this would take. I'm going to need both Willow and Giles for this." She smirked. "Well, I guess you're going to learn how to cast a circle tonight, Willow. I'll get stuff from my classroom. We have to be nearby the demons for it to work, F.Y.I." She rush out, heeled boots clicking on the floor, with purpose.
Giles and Buffy looked at each other before Giles spoke, wariness in his tone, "We should send Buffy to distract them so we can set up our binding."
"Its going to take more than me to distract them." Buffy said, stepping to him, sword in hand.
Giles clenched his teeth before nodding as he reached in his pocket for his key ring. "Angel, would you drive Buffy in my car and we'll meet you both at cemetery?"
Angel strode down the steps and stopped a few feet from Buffy, scanning her expression, before he nodded and took the keys. There was much more in his expression than Willow could understand. Buffy was even more inscrutable but some how the two seemed to come to an agreement. They were alone in the world with each other in that moment.
Willow looked away, feeling like she was eavesdropping, at Xander.
"I'm going," Xander piped up as he pulled a stake out of his pocket. "You'll need someone to get Oz away from the fray." There was no hint of bitterness or jealousy about Angel only concern and logic in his tone.
Willow smiled. It was nice to see Xander without anger on his features.
Buffy nodded. "Thanks, Xan. Lets go then."
The mismatched heroes walked out, Xander close to Buffy while Angel kept his distance, out of the library.
Ms. Calendar passed them in the door way, carrying a box, and jerked her head back at the departing trio. "They're all going in one car together? Five bucks to Buffy threatening to kick Xander out on the curb."
Willow and Giles looked at each other with a shrug before they split up to get the last of the ritual ingredients. Walking to her book bag to fetch her own crystal, Willow hoped that those three could behave. She didn't envy Buffy being stuck with Xander and Angel in a tiny slow car. Thank goodness she was going in the more peaceful and mature car.
000
Silence loomed, thick as fog in the tiny Citroen, while Angel drove to the cemetery despite the smooth jazz crackling from the ancient speakers. Static saxophones did little to lift the mood. The car could only pick up mariachi music and easy listening. Angel's fingers itched to shut off the radio completely. Buffy sat in the front while Xander sat in the back. The boy's disdain for Angel was palpable. Keeping his eyes on the road, the vampire's knuckles were white on the wheel. He couldn't wait to be distracted by demons. Giles' car moved more like a slug and Angel frowned at the speedometer, wondering if they had overloaded the car. He promised himself to get a car, with some style, space for at least six people, and something he could take the top off of. Angel had to slump over the wheel in the tiny vehicle.
Buffy's eyes darted between the two men. She was visibly trying to contain herself before giving up. Angel could read the signs when Buffy had enough. "Tension filled car is full of tension."
"Understatement," Angel muttered under his breath.
"What ever do you mean?" Xander asked dryly as he put his hands behind his head, leaned back in his seat, putting a khaki-clad ankle on his other knee. "Nothing awkward about a pleasant drive to rescue a captive werewolf with a kidnapper."
"Do you have to keep this up? Angel wasn't himself then." Buffy shook her head.
It was what she had to believe, he knew, to be able to spare him. Angel focused on the yellow line of the road. He knew that deep down she realized that while he wasn't in control of himself, it was all him. The darkness in Angelus had been born of Liam as had the good in Angel. In the end, they were only names for one being.
"Why do we have to rush to forgive him? Have you noticed what he did to Willow? He might not have been in control at the time, but it doesn't make it better for Willow or any of the people that he killed." All pretenses of casualness were lost as Xander tossed up his hands.
"No, it doesn't," Angel said quietly, meeting Buffy's eyes as they paused at a stop sign.
Buffy frowned and looked at Angel. Her compassionate eyes scanned his face. The romance might have been gone but the connection was still there. Angel hoped that they could find their way to friendship.
"Sorry to talk about you like you're not there." She shrugged as she turned around in her seat. "Xander, you might not understand why I'm giving Angel my forgiveness, but its for the same reason that I didn't blame you for hyena!Xander. Have some sympathy, Angel has to remember all his horrible deeds. Be grateful that you don't remember eating the school mascot."
"Most of us have a beast inside, Xander." Angel fixed a disbelieving look at the boy in the rear view mirror. Horseshit. Animal possession didn't cause memory loss. Buffy hinted about Xander's wild pack before and Angel knew for damn sure that the kid remembered it.
Xander met his gaze and squirmed in his seat.
They stopped speaking after that.
000
By the glow of the passing street lamps, Willow worked on mixing herbs together with a mortar and pestle. She kept her head bent to her task as she tried to ignore all but the spell. Laid out on the seat next to her, propped up on a box of crystals and magic paraphernalia, was a copy of the spell and she tried to mix and memorize at the same time. The task was harder than it should have been.
Jenny wrote out the incantation in runes on a parchment, Giles drove the small VW Bug, but it didn't stop either from bickering since they left the school. Peaceful and mature car, her behind.
"Rupert, she has to be trained," Jenny said, shaking her head. "Its two parts mugwort, Willow, don't forget."
"Isn't seventeen a tad young to be trained in witchcraft?" Giles added, racing a yellow light, driving across a street. "Make sure you are stirring counterclockwise too."
"Coming from you, that's ridiculous. Want her to learn on the streets of the hellmouth?" There are people who wouldn't hesitate to use her." Jenny's hands wrote steady and clear on her scroll covered clipboard. "Now add the sea shell bits, okay?"
"No, but is it wise to lead her in that direction when she has so much potential in the mundane world? Now of all times, isn't the moment to train her given her emotional state."
Willow made herself ignore them as much as she could.
"Do we live on the doormat of hell or not, Giles?" Jenny then blew on her wet ink as she dipped her pen into the inkwell placed in the cup holder. "When is it ever going to be stable for these kids? You can't just introduce them to darkness and not prepare them for it."
Willow had to bite her lip to keep from commenting. Very un-Willow-y words were coming to mind and she had force herself to keep her focus. Would it kill them to talk to her instead of about her?
Giles turned into the cemetery and up the small road towards the mausoleum where the demons were holed up. The trees seemed lank in the gloom and not even a gentle breeze stirred the leaves. Everything was still but the fight up ahead.
"Don't forget the crystals or the herbs," Jenny warned as they packed and piled out.
Willow didn't say anything as she grabbed the box and got out of the car. They had no time for mistakes or arguments.
Buffy and Angel fought the reptilian creatures, now bedecked in moss and blood, outside the tomb. Xander crept along the side towards the back. Light spilled from the open door. Oz lay chained and thrashing on a sarcophagus. A shadow seemed to unfurl inside the mausoleum. The crackle of magic lingered in the air. There wasn't a moment to waste.
"Welcome to the party, guys," Buffy called out.
The three mages rushed to the nearest tree and sat down. Giles rolled out the runic scroll. Willow set out the crystals on top of it. Jenny walked around her and Giles, to pour out the herbs and enclose them in a circle. Without words, they took their places around the crystals.
Jenny smiled. "Time for some down and dirty spellcraft."
Taking each others hands, they chanted off the copy of the spell that Giles had laid out in front of them.
They hadn't gone unnoticed by the soul suckers who moved closer to the circle as one.
Xander took that as his opportunity and ran into the mausoleum.
Buffy caught a demon in the chest with her sword before kicking one in the shin and slamming her elbow into its face. She chopped off its head before she stiffened as shadows grew in the tomb. "Protect them, Angel." Buffy charged inside.
Angel moved closer, back to them, as he guarded them. He gave Willow a single look before turning his attention back to the demon that had just knocked an ax from his hand.
Willow tried to ignore the fight and concentrate on the words. A tingle spread though her arms like the moment before your foot went asleep. Her breath deepened as sparks tinged her vision. Around all of them were sparks of every color. Jenny was surrounded by electric purple and Giles had a dark green aura. Willow's breath caught as she saw the dark flecks in the blue aura around her hand. Sound faded even as the chant grew more forceful. She yelled to be heard.
A soul sucker broke away from the scuffle, blood drying on its flanks, muscles rippling in the moonlight, to charge at her.
She couldn't stop chanting even if she wanted too. Her eyes widened as she felt the tips of its scaly fingers on her face. Willow's heart skipped a beat.
Angel came up behind it and snapped its neck.
She locked eyes with Angel as the world spun and dimmed.
000
As soon as Angel had the car parked and turned off, he jumped out with his fists up and ready for the first demon. He made quick work of look-out demon #1 with a sucker punch to the jaw and stake to the heart. The demon didn't disintegrate like a vampire, but it died never the less. More demons poured out of the tomb including a elder, shrunken and leaning on a long ax. Angel zeroed in on him, fighting his way over, knowing that it must be the head priest of the ritual. It was hard to hold a sacrifice without a preaching oldster and Angel wasn't going to make it easy on these soul suckers. With a kick to its stomach, he grabbed the ax and slashed the priest across the middle. Angel turned around and blocked a blow from a younger demon.
The computer teacher's car pulled up, blinding him with its light, before the witches got out and rushed to set up their spell.
Buffy more than held her own even as she yelled out a cheerful greeting to her friends.
Angel fought the demons, two on one and then three on one, making sure that he never stopped. Raising his arms to block a kick or throwing a punch, he kept his body in deadly motion. He wanted all the attention on him to keep the demons from noticing the witches or Xander. Like they were attached to a hive mind, these demons worked as one. He needed to use that against them.
Buffy's ponytail bounced as she broke a demon's shin with a single kick before she paused to assess the growing danger in the tomb. Gurija was rising even if Oz hadn't been bled out yet.
Angel let himself be distracted as he looked back at Willow and the chanting teachers. A demon managed to kick his weapon from his hand even as Buffy told him to protect her friends.
The demon broke past his guard.
Cursing himself, he launched himself after it. His vision went red as he saw it touch Willow's face. He reached for the demon's neck and felt the scales for a moment before the visions rose to his mind.
Like the bottom of a deep lake, the vision seemed to glimmer darkly. There were two Willows that shimmered in the gloom. One, clad in sundress with a cheerful strawberry pattern, stood under a moonlit willow tree with her hand outstretched. A deer heart lay bloody in her palm. Her smile unfurled like a gash, teeth red, and eyes growing black. The other cried tears of blood that dripped onto her white nightgown. Her heart shined in her chest and it was full of the goodness. He saw into her soul when he looked into her red-rimmed eyes and had to look away when the visions within the visions became too intense. Angel looked to where Spike and Drusilla kissed at their feet before the scene changed to show Lawson.
He stood before four strangers (human but for one green demon), bound and gagged, who raised themselves on their tip-toes as piano wire dug into their necks. Darla ran in between the humans in danger, in modern dress, with fear in her expression and a beating heart in her chest. He followed her to see fire fall from the sky as he stood on a roof. The fiery scene melted. He ran through the rain with a baby in his arms and Cordelia Chase behind him. Jenny and Giles rode pass on a motorcycle. Fading to Willow and Angel, seemingly naked under burgundy sheets, curled up together with pensive faces in a dark room, the scene changed to a kneeling Willow, eyes full of tears, who was raised to her feet by Franz in the grinning visage of a demon. More and more visions appeared in his mind until he could absorb no more.
Angel gasped as the world returned in vivid technicolor and surround sound. He backed away and threw himself into the fray with only one question in mind, 'what the hell?'
ooo
Willow could hear her voice as a whisper but she was no longer in her body.
Rising above the cemetery where the Scoobies fought for their lives, she sped like a rocket to the high desert, across cities and countryside. Willow zoomed over rock formations the color of burnt umber to a pit in the ground that looked like a gaping maw. Reptilian demons scurried in and out of it like drone ants. A shimmering ray connected the hole to points beyond the western horizon and she knew she had to break it. Reaching with her mind, she grabbed it and tugged as vertigo overwhelmed her. Flashing images assaulted her mind, but she refused to let go. This was just to distract her. Suddenly, she wasn't in the desert, but she could still feel the psychic cord.
She saw Angel's soul. Like through a dirty window, she saw his light in the darkness and all that he had been. Violent and twisted visions of the past merged with future heroics in a moment before other images crowded to the fore. She saw a younger Ms. Calendar sitting on the back of a pick up truck in the middle of a caravan of motor coaches and banged up vehicles then Giles, shirtless and in the seventies, dancing like a witch with a handsome young man. More and more fantastical sights came to mind as if she were Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
Out of place and time, she saw herself, older and with a short curly do, floating, eyes black, as magic cracked from her fingertips. Daggers rose and launched themselves before she disappeared and reappeared in a dim high rise apartment with wide windows that exposed a lit up city. The glass shattered and she felt herself fall before landing in a box with a small barred window. She was gone again only to see many serious and seriously pale people sit along a long table with Franz at the head. The imaged shifted to show herself running through an alley. The Willow in the vision looked back, face ridged like a vampire, with a hiss.
Willow forced herself to focus as the link slipped in her grip. Gathering her strength, she yanked the cord and found herself looking at the desert colony again. The demons stood still, heads up, as they screamed. Many voices became one as she gave a last tug and felt the psychic link give way.
Flopping over onto the cool grass, Willow knew she was in her body again. The jagged edge of a crystal pressed against her cheek before she rolled over to see Jenny and Giles collapsed as well. Willow looked over to see Angel and Buffy fighting a large tri-horned demon as Xander and Oz huddled nearby.
Buffy spun and leaped, in move that blended dance and martial arts, she chopped off the demon's head. Buffy raced over to Oz and Xander before the head even hit the ground with a thud.
Willow tried to stand but she fell to her knees.
Looming like shadow, Angel followed her to the ground and grabbed her by the shoulders. Concern furrowed his brow.
Willow smiled at him, still dizzy and exhilarated by the spell. "I saw you. You saved me." She wondered what his aura looked like and she reached out before her vision swam and her mind went blank.
000
Angel had to drive Giles home from the cemetery. The ride had been mercifully quiet as the watcher slumped over in the front seat more in a daze than awake. The spell must have took a lot out of him. Angel couldn't help but think that the spell had taken a lot out of himself as well and he had only gotten a taste of it. He couldn't imagine what the direct effect must have been like. The image of Willow with the horrible red smile stuck with him as much as the one who cried blood. Angel couldn't help but be grateful that the ride was short and soon enough he was at Giles' door with the watcher leaning on him.
Giles unlocked the door and waved him in. "Have a drink with me, Angel." He closed the door before he went to his liquor cabinet, pulled out two small glasses, and poured whiskey into both. "Now that the children aren't present and I have your attention, we need to have a long overdue chat." He handed the vampire a glass and met his gaze. "They are, you know, children. How ever they may fight, they are so young." Giles' lined and tired gaze didn't break contact with Angel's.
Angel nodded and sipped the aged liquor.
The watcher was deadly serious. "I will stake you if you step a toe out of line." Giles took a drink, swaying on his feet despite his stern expression. "Willow may not blame you for any wrong doing, but we both know better. Now, with the Lingering Kiss in the equation, the issue becomes murkier."
"I would never-" Angel began.
"Perhaps not, but your soul appears to be weakest around school girls." Giles took another sip. "Willow and Buffy have suffered enough." He looked at the clock.
"I understand." Angel drained the whiskey down and headed for the door. He would have guessed that the watcher would be the one to take him to task despite Xander's bluster.
"Oh, I don't believe I need to tell you that you aren't welcome in this town anymore. Your help tonight was appreciated but its time you moved on." Giles poured himself another drink with a trembling hand. "We'll let you know when you're needed to leave Willow some blood."
Angel nodded. This banishment wasn't a surprise and he agreed with the watcher. He had done enough here. There was so much that he needed to atone for but he couldn't do it where the memories made him falter and brood. Sunnydale had a protector and he only made her weaker. He knew where he would go.
000
Willow must have passed out because she woke up on Buffy's couch with dry mouth and Ms. Calendar holding her hand. "What happened?" It seemed too bright in the living room.
"You did good, kid. Let me take you home." The teacher said, eyes focused on Willow's face, serious expression on. "We better go before Buffy's mom comes back, Buffy's trying to stall her now." Ms. Calendar stood up and helped Willow to her feet. "You slept longer than we thought."
Willow nodded and leaned on Ms. Calendar out to the car. Neither spoke, the tension mounted and Willow didn't know why. Memories from her vision and dreams were coming back but she waited until they were driving before she asked, "Did you see anything during the spell?"
Ms. Calendar frowned, shadows crossed her face, and paused before she answered, "Yes, I did. You?" There was a note of worry in her voice.
"It was all so fast I don't even really know, if I know, you know?" Willow wrapped her arms around herself. "I saw something that scared me."
Ms. Calendar nodded. She didn't look at Willow as she turned into the Rosenberg's driveway.
"But, I guess it doesn't mean much, just some demon tricks." Willow shrugged, willing herself to believe it. After what she had seen, she never wanted to be a vampire, immortality be damned. Then there were those black eyes...
"Yeah, demon tricks," Ms. Calendar echoed without the confidence that Willow had been hoping for.
Willow said her goodbyes and stepped out. She couldn't help but hear what Ms. Calendar said next even as she walked to her door.
The teacher waved before she picked up the cellphone and called Giles. "We need to talk about Willow."