Sorry for the last cliffhanger! Now things really get going...
It was Willow, and it wasn't Willow. The similarities were perhaps the worst part. Every part of her face was, strictly speaking, the same: the same bone structure, same lips, same eye-shape. But then there was the void that had overtaken those eyes, the darkness that had overcome her lovely red hair, and the sneer she wore that was so very not-Willow.
She seemed as surprised as Paige.
"Willow," Paige said.
"Paige," the darkened Willow spoke, echoing her inflection.
There was a mocking chime to her voice. Something else that made Paige wince, at how little it belonged to Willow.
Still, it was hard not to cling to those similarities. Though Paige could no longer feel Willow as her charge, meaning Willow was no longer a good witch, she wouldn't believe Abraxas had corrupted Willow. She couldn't.
"Are- are you ok?" Paige said. Breathless.
"More than ok," Willow said: she gave a smile that lit up her face.
Any hope Paige harboured was quickly doused at that expression. That relish. Abraxas had worked faster than they'd thought.
"Will you stay?" Paige said. She tried not to step back.
"Why?" Willow said. She tilted her head: playful in a way that Paige wished didn't remind her of the old Willow.
"To help," Paige said. "Just give us a little time, that's all-"
"I don't need help," Willow said. "Not any more, at least. Think I'm doing better."
Paige backed away, as subtly as she could. It felt wrong to be so wary around Willow: but she'd heard stories, from the redhead's own mouth. She knew enough to tell that she shouldn't feel as close to this Willow, as she was to the one she knew.
Yet it was never easy to so simply shake feelings off.
"Please stay," Paige said. It wasn't much: it was all she could manage.
A smile on Willow's face: she raised a hand, dark veins winding a path under her pale, pale skin.
"I'd really rather not," she spoke, tone measured.
There was a flicker of magic in the air: a suggestion of powerful, only barely noticeable. Then something in Willow's expression changed, and she lowered her hand: smirked.
She waved goodbye, a bizarrely mischievous gesture, before wind picked up. Paige covered her eyes with her forearm, protecting them from the momentary gust: and when she lowered her arm, the hallway before her was empty.
Willow was evil, and gone. Great.
"Uh, guys," Paige raised her voice, shouting, her eyes fixed on the same empty spot. "We might have a problem."
.
In the attic, Paige rushed a recounting of the story to Piper, Phoebe, and Leo: leaving out the kiss that had happened immediately before.
When she'd done, Piper wore an expression of worry. She hadn't heard a great deal about Willow, but she'd heard enough. For her part, Phoebe had one hand on the Book's stand: though she hadn't regained her empathy powers yet (thankfully), she seemed to sense Paige's anguish for more keenly.
Still, Paige thought she'd done a good job at just how much this hurt. She wouldn't have been able to so much as stand, if she'd let it overwhelm her.
"Right then," Piper said. She clasped her hands together: "Sounds like we need to start planning. Up for this Paige?"
No. "Yeah," Paige said. "So we have to find Abraxas."
"Willow," Piper said, "She's our priority. Whatever Abraxas is doing doesn't matter, now: he's finished what he was doing. Willow's the danger."
"But stop Abraxas, and she'll be back to being good," Paige said.
Piper shook her head: "Things he does, don't get undone when he's vanquished."
Piper said it so casually it took a few seconds to register in Paige's said. She couldn't mean that: she just couldn't.
"What?" Paige said.
It had been a fair few seconds: some for Paige to comprehend what Piper had said, some more to try and stop her voice shaking. She'd barely succeeded.
Willow couldn't be gone: not so quickly, and not so soon. They'd faced Abraxas before: some of them had gone evil before, for that matter. There were always ways out, always escapes.
"This kind of turn to evil," Leo said, "It's a more fundamental corruption than most. The only way out is free will: she has to choose good. That next to never happens, especially not if they've been evil before," he paused, "When I was a whitelighter, there were a few mentions of a Willow up there. A powerful witch. A powerful, evil witch."
Piper glanced at her husband, briefly baffled, before noting how both Phoebe and Paige winced. A sigh, and she threw her hands into the air, exasperated.
"Of course," Piper said. "Couldn't get the regular charge could we? Had to get the evil one."
"She's not evil," Paige said, by instinct.
"You're the one who said she was," Piper said.
"Ok," a wince. "She is, now. I think. She wasn't before: she was good, very good. This is Abraxas, it isn't her."
"It kind of is," Leo said.
Paige shot him a disbelieving look: he raised his hands, apologetically.
"That's how he works," Leo said. "With your sisters, he made it as though spells they'd done never were. With Willow, he's made it so any choice she made in the direction of good never was. Which is why it can't be undone: choice wins out."
"Get her to choose good again," Paige said. "It'll happen, I know her."
"Not that easy," Leo said. "It's not the Willow you know," his face fell: "I'm sorry, Paige."
"Which means we've got a demon probably immune to our powers, and a super evil witch to deal with," Piper said. "Swear our lives were meant to be calming down."
"Do they ever?" Phoebe said. She stepped forward: "What's the plan, then?"
The discussion had gone well, Paige reflected. Once she'd started talking, she'd been distracted: more argumentative than she'd meant to be, but she hadn't dwelt.
Now, though, when the only thing to do was wait endless seconds for Piper to speak, she found her mind rewinding: looking back. An unnatural smirk on pale not-Willow's face: dark her, darker eyes. More than anything, those eyes reminded her of the Source. She didn't know what to make of that.
The Source had been vanquished, too many times to count. It was gone: but apparently its eyes weren't intrinsic to it. Rather, they were just a sign of the concentration of evil it possessed. To know Willow was even capable of holding a comparable amount…
It made Paige shudder.
"We need someone else to deal with Abraxas," Piper said. "We can't risk a confrontation if he is immune to the Power of Three. Probably Billie. That's no use unless we can find him though: so our priority is Willow. Hopefully that'll lure him out: even if it doesn't, it sounds like she could be dangerous."
She wasn't. Paige wanted to say that: but stopped herself. If she started, she didn't think she'd be able to stop.
"Can you still find her?" Piper said, to Paige. Paige shook her head: "Then we'll scry. And when we find her…"
Piper stopped there: it was vaguely gratifying, Paige reflected, to know she wasn't the only Halliwell having trouble with treating Willow like a pure force of evil now.
"There has to be something," Phoebe said. "A potion, a spell we can write. To stun, at least."
"I'm not going to hurt her," Paige said.
Another silence. She couldn't quite read her sisters' faces: they might have been approving, affected; or they might not have been.
It was Willow who spoke.
"Every whitelighter loses a charge at some point," Leo said. "It's never easy, but it's something you'll need to be able to deal with."
"I haven't lost her," Paige said.
"I'm sorry," Leo said, simply. "The chances of anything being able to make Willow make the right choice are just-"
"And if it was Piper?" Paige said: raised her voice. "It could be a hundred times more unlikely, I know you wouldn't rest until you'd tried it, and more."
A tiny part of Paige's mind just went 'screw it'.
"I love her," Paige said. "And I'm not going to stand by while you discuss trying to hurt her."
A brief silence: it seemed more to be from surprise than any unhappiness. There were no doubt better situations to come out in, but Paige couldn't stand to wait a second more.
Still, Leo nodded, and Piper seemed pensive. It felt like she'd made her case.
"I'm with Paige," Phoebe spoke up. "We're not going to vanquish Willow. No matter what."
"Thank you," Paige said: smiled.
Another pause, and Phoebe moved to stand closer to Paige. She took her hand, as much a gesture of comfort as solidarity.
"We might have to," Piper said, softly. At the looks she got: "What? Someone had to say it: if she hurts any innocents, and we could've stopped that…"
"Then we'll just have to bring her back before that happens," Paige said.
"And if we can't?"
"We will," Paige said, with a confidence she didn't feel.
Silence: Piper turned her head toward Phoebe.
"Can I ask why you're siding with her so eagerly?" Piper said. Her voice was far from angry: merely curious.
"Cole," Phoebe said.
"Really?" Piper blinked: "He turned evil, we vanquished him. Kinda seems like it makes the opposite case."
"We vanquished him," Phoebe echoed: "I know that, I know it was necessary, and I accept that. And I've regretted it, every day since. Every day, I've wished it wasn't, and wished we could bring back the old him. If I can stop a sister going through that, I will."
Paige squeezed Phoebe's hand, finding herself offering support now. She gave a smile she hoped didn't feel too fake.
Piper shook her head with the same, playful despairing sigh she often gave when pretending disappointment in her younger sisters. Still, she stepped closer.
"Why not?" she said. "I'm with you. Anyone got any ideas?"
For a few seconds, Paige's mood plummeted. There were none: nothing she could offer, nothing to even vaguely justify her hope. Then:
"Buffy," Paige said, before the idea had even fully formed in her mind. "Willow- if this has happened before, then it was stopped before. Buffy, she's Willow's friend. I can bring her here: she'll know what we can do."
Piper shrugged. "Best we've got," she said, "Go ahead."
.
It took a little time for Paige to find Buffy. Thankfully Paige had, through Willow, been introduced to the Slayers that Buffy worked with, meaning they were happy to help. After a few minutes, Paige found Buffy engaged in a rather acrobatic fight with a demon.
Almost as soon as she spotted Paige, Buffy brought a swift end to the match: and at the worry on Paige's face, neglected even to pun.
Paige rushed an explanation, before offering her arm. When they orbed back to Halliwell Manor, Phoebe was alone in the attic. She was already scrying for Willow, slowly spinning a crystal over the map.
After a few seconds, the crystal fell onto a small park. Barely acknowledging that it had done so, Phoebe lifted the crystal again, and began spinning once more. This time, it fell almost the other side of the map.
"No luck?" Paige said: Phoebe shook her head.
"She's moving quickly," Phoebe said. "Waiting for her to settle down." Phoebe looked up from the map, and grinned as she saw Buffy: "Hi there! You must be the Slayer. I'm Phoebe."
"Buffy," she frowned at the process of scrying, but didn't comment. "I'm no witchy expert, but I'm fairly sure we're missing one."
As if to respond to her words, there was a muffled bang from downstairs. Buffy blinked.
"That's Piper," Phoebe said: chuckled. "She's whipping up a few potions in case we run into Abraxas. Will hopefully vanquish him, but should at least be a delay. You're meant to be handy at stopping demons though, right?"
"So I've heard," Buffy said. "Won't pretend I've done a great deal with potions. Stake usually does the trick. Occasionally sword. Or rocket launcher."
"Piper's blown up a few too," Phoebe said. "She does use magic though. No rocket launchers."
"It was just one time," Buffy said.
Phoebe briefly shook her head, dismissing the impulse to ask after more stories. Certainly sounded like the people of Sunnydale lead interesting lives.
"Anyway," she said, "Willow. Any ideas?"
Buffy's playful smile faded from her face. Far more business-like, she stepped forward, craning her neck to look at Phoebe's map.
"I'm not sure," Buffy said. "Last time she was… like this, it was after Tara. Someone killed her, and he was part of a group of three people. She went after them."
"So we need to guard three people?" Phoebe said.
Another bang from downstairs, and a shout from Piper that might have been frustrated or triumphant.
"Just one," Buffy said. "Others aren't around."
"Did she-" Phoebe looked sharply at Paige: Buffy shook her head.
"Only the one that pulled the trigger," Buffy said. "The other wasn't her fault. Only Andrew's left," Buffy paused: "Willow's dangerous. I don't like saying how much. Just don't judge her for it, k? She's made bad decisions, everyone has, but this- When she's overcome, it's not her fault."
"I know," Phoebe said, softer.
A brief quiet broken by the clink of the crystal falling on yet another part of the map.
"She's still in San Francisco," Phoebe said.
"So's Andrew," Buffy said, "He said he'd come here after Sunnydale."
Phoebe jumped: "Right then," she said, "Better head to him, if he needs protecting," a chuckle; "Saving innocents, that's something we're good at."
"Oh, Andrew's hardly innocent," Buffy said. "He called a couple of days ago, think he moved to… there," she tapped her finger on a street on the map.
"Don't think Willow's been there yet," Phoebe said, spinning the crystal again. It landed somewhere new again. "Well then. Piper!"
A muffled shout from downstairs and, a few seconds later, a clattering sound. Piper reached the attic with three small baskets, each full of glass vials.
As Phoebe hurried through an explanation of what they hoped to do, Paige reached out with her senses again. It felt somehow wrong to have no charges, after living with those voices in the back of her head for so long. It felt worse to do without Willow. Her voice had always been a comfort.
She'd get it back. That she promised herself.
"Right," Piper said, when Phoebe was done. "I made these. This one's for Abraxas: our strongest anti-demon stuff. These are for Willow: middle hopefully stops offensive spells. Purely defensive. Last one's stunners: strong, but not strong-strong," she hesitated. "If we have to."
"We're not going to," Paige said.
At that, Buffy smiled. Though Paige felt as though her sisters hoped as she did, Buffy's support seemed somehow more meaningful.
It was with the first flickers of real hope that Paige reached out, focusing on the neighbourhood Buffy had pointed out, and orbed the four of them there. Leo watched them depart, keeping out of the way now he was human.
They orbed into a rather spacious, neat room. Almost immediately, everyone was on guard: only Paige and Buffy had any experience with the darker Willow, and only Buffy knew precisely what she was capable of, but a sense of threat seemed to pervade everything.
The first thing Phoebe did was lay the map of San Francisco down on the nearest table, quickly scrying. The crystal came down far from the street they were on: Willow still seemed to be travelling at random.
"No idea what she's doing," Phoebe murmured.
"Maybe she doesn't," Buffy said.
"Huh?"
"Same as last time," Buffy said, "She didn't have any plan beyond 'make them pay'. Willow knows where Andrew lives: and she definitely hasn't been here."
"Even she might not know what she's after," Paige said, and felt an unexpected pang of sympathy for the not-Willow.
Their speculation was interrupted when a short, blonde-haired man walked into the room, and promptly tripped at the sight of Buffy.
"Uh, hello," he said. "Um. Who, what, how, why, huh?"
He made his way through the stuttered phrase, making each word somehow sound like a question. Buffy exhaled, momentarily collecting her thoughts.
"Charmed Ones," she said, "Your safety, magic," Buffy recounted, and hesitated: "And Willow."
The man, presumably Andrew, faltered at that, lips moving as he silently matched each of his queries with each of Buffy's answers. Even if the term 'Charmed Ones' didn't mean anything to him, the rest seemed to.
"Willow?" as he reached the end, he squeaked. "Evil makeover, bad mojo Willow?"
"We don't know what she's doing" Buffy said, "But she went after you last time. If she's doing the same again…"
Andrew fidgeted, wrapping his arms around his body as if to hold himself together. It was almost comical, though Paige could dimly remember Willow mentioning what she'd done to Warren. Andrew's gesture seemed much less amusing with that image in her mind.
"They're the Charmed Ones," Buffy said. "Powerful witches. You'll be safe with them."
"Safe?" Andrew echoed, a little dumbly.
"Safe," Paige said. "Trust me, we do this a lot."
Andrew's eyes seemed almost haunted. He'd seen this Willow before: apparently he hadn't forgotten.
He looked at the three Halliwells, apparently taking in the people assigned to protect him. Piper, with three baskets of potions, keenly paying attention to their surroundings. Phoebe, still scrying for Willow, watching the witch's location. And Paige, probably the most unconcerned of all of them.
She trusted Willow. That wouldn't change.
After a couple of seconds, Phoebe frowned, and muttered to herself as she span the crystal:
"Uh, guys," she said, "She's not moving any more. Think she's settled down: found whatever it was she was looking for."
Paige was the first, orbing behind Phoebe to avoid pushing her way past Buffy. Andrew jumped.
"Where is she?" Paige said, leaning over Phoebe's shoulder rather than awaiting an answer.
"Park," Phoebe said. "She's not moving."
The crystal leapt suddenly out of Phoebe's hand, for no readily apparent reason. It shot in the air, twirled in a circle, then landed neatly at the same spot. Near-instantly, it jumped up again: that time, Phoebe snatched it up, pulling it from the map.
"And she's using magic," Phoebe said, "A lot of it. I think. Not exactly sure what that means."
"The park?" Paige said.
"Yeah," Phoebe said: looked at the map. Then, quickly, glanced back up: "Wait, Paige-"
Not waiting for her to finish her sentence, Paige dissolved into orbs of light, which quickly faded from view, shooting up through the ceiling.
Piper, Phoebe, and Buffy stared, all fully aware of where she was heading. Andrew swayed a little, faint.
"So," he said, "Who's the Vorlon?"
All eyes moved from the spot where Paige had been, to him.
"Babylon 5?" he said, "Kosh? Encounter suits? Anyone?"
Four sighs.
