The Library
"In the end I brought her here so she could calm down and she fell asleep." Giles looked over to Willow as he whispered. "She was very upset and quite frankly I do not know what I could have done to provoke such an outburst."
"She was kind of cranky earlier, maybe it has nothing to with you at all, but let's find out shall we?" A little bit too eager Willow started to pull out a multitude of items from her knapsack.
"What do you think you are doing there young lady?" Giles asked, clearly confused about Willows behavior.
"Oh I stumbled upon this divination spell a while ago, just give me a second and I can tell you what's bothering her."
"Y-you .. what?!" Giles voice had risen a bit too loud and Buffy mumbled something in her sleep. Forcing himself to calm down a bit he leaned down towards Willow who kept preparing a difficult looking spell. "You bloody hell ain't!" He whisperscreamed at the redhead.
"Calm down Giles.. I was kidding, I'm preparing a simple relaxation spell." Willow replied and made a slight alteration here and another over there. The Englishman was amazed, if not a little worried, about the speed at which Willow had learned the magic arts these last couple of month. He could no longer keep up with Willow's preparations and gave up with a sigh. "T-that is no laughing matter, I'll have you know that I have dabbled in the dark arts myself when I was younger and it did no turn out well. A-and mindcontrol is as dark as it get's."
"It's not really mind control, just .. a light nudge." Willow smirked a bit at that. "If I made her dance hava nagila that would be mind control." Her smirk turned into a grin as she imagined Buffy dancing arm in arm with Xander while spinning about. Her face froze as she glanced at the watcher however, mumbling something she went back to work with a somber face.
"There is no need for that either! Willow stop it this instance. S-she is not some bear that needs to be calmed down or anything, just stay here please and have a talk with her when she wakes up. I have to hurry along to the principal." Without a further word Giles grabbed his satchel and headed for the exit.
The door of Giles office swung back and snapped shut with a click. Willow stared at the lock for a second, there was a flicker of light and another clicked echoed through the narrow office as the lock turned, making sure she was not disturbed.
"Now.. where was I?"
Darkness flowed around her and a sharp wind whipped her blond hair around. Willow gasped as she fell with alarming speed, from nothing into nothing. 'I did it!' She felt elated, this spell should have been far beyond her reach but she managed to pull it off. 'Hopefully the payback will be manageable.'
"Willlllloooww?" Came a low sluggish voice from the insides of her falling form. "Willllow? NO! NO NO NO!" The voice coalesced into Buffy's and she started to scream out of Willow's mouth in full force.
Willow looked down in shock as her own hands started to choke her, spikes teared through the skin of her arms and fingernails turned into claws. "NOOOO!" Something primal screamed out of her face.
There was a snap and her head lolled about, her eyes tumbled and she saw fragments of the past whirling by in the tumbling descent into darkness. In accord with the snap came the image of Cordelia, forearms firmly grabbed by Willow's hands. A muffled scream echoed into nothingness and two clawed hand grabbed her head. "NOOOOOOO!"
Pressure was building on either side of her skull and Willow screamed in unison with the beast as she tried to break the spell that had brought her here. "YOU SHALL NOT SEEEEE!" Giant claws kept crushing her head and two scaly thumbs loomed ever closer to her eyes.
"NOOOoooOoooo!" Willow's voice cracked, broke and slurred as her eyes flew open and she stared into an equally screaming Buffy. The light in the narrow office threw weird shadows at the wall and to Willow it seemed like she may have pulled more out of Buffy's mind then she bargained for.
"WHAT?! WH-what have YOU done to ME Willlllooow?!" The blond slurred with a voice not entirely her own as she lunged for the witches throat. Just before she could reach the witch, the slayer was thrown back as she hit an invisible barrier surrounding the redhead.
Willow's eyes turned black and a thin stream of dark blood started to pour out of them. The slayer kept pouncing on the barrier, teeth barred, drool dripping from her mouth, screaming all the while. The witch backed away from the beast and the office door, along with a large piece of wall on either side, crumpled in on itself as if a giant fist had closed around it.
"What the fuck?!" Cordelia yelled as she leaped away from the spot the door had stood only seconds before. She had heard the commotion and curiosity had gotten the better of her.
"NOOOOO!" The slayer roared and started at the brunette, temporarily ceasing the assault on the barrier that had formed a circle around the retreating redhead. "YOU! YOU SHALL NOT SEEEE!" In an instant Willow realized what was about to happen, she had seen it before, felt it before. She tried to lift her arm to intervene, but as yet another spell was starting to form she simply collapsed to the ground.
"Buffy?!" Her face was a mess of panic and confusion as Cordelia saw the slayer starting to stomp in her direction. She tried backing up but toppled over her own long dress, an instant later she lay on her back with Buffy's hands pressing against either the sides of her head.
THUD There was a muted sound and then another. THUD. Something hit the slayer in the back and the blond looked around in confusion. THUD Turning her head back towards Cordelia Buffy mumbled something akin to "Noo.." before collapsing on top of the brunette.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Cordelia yelled, looking at the mess around her before staring up at Giles holding a modified tranquilizer rifle.
"Help me with her arm would you?!" Giles snapped as he tried to drag an unconscious Buffy back into the trashed office.
"The Hell Giles? What the fuck are you doing and What the .. what the .. what is going on?" She stammered as she tried to make sense of it all. The pool of blood forming under Willows face was not helping the matter. "She's bleeding! We have to get an ambulance! Where is the phone?" Cordelia started rummaging around the office but Giles firmly said otherwise. "No wait, we have to get Buffy inside the cage first, Willow s-should be alright, even that kind of magic would n-not kill her outright. It does not work that way, i-it's more complicated. So come on help me!"
"Cage?" Unsure of what to do but feeling she had to do something fast she simply trusted Giles judgement concerning matter like these and grabbed Buffy's other arm. Together they dragged her all the way in and Giles started to fiddle with a lock that had been hidden under a carpet. "Blast it!" He yanked at it and tried some more before finally getting it open. "Here, make some room, we have to hurry. NO! Wait, go and lock the main door! Hurry!"
Cordelia sprinted back the way she had come, slammed the door shut and flipped the open sign over. As she turned around she heard Willow groaning. Flashes of a black eyed Willow surrounded by some sort of freakish forcefield raced before her eyes and she made a lunge for the rifle, quickly leveling it at the redhead. THUD
"What was that? Ugh nevermind get in here, we have to get her down the ladder somehow." Looking down at the rifle, then over to Willow and back to Buffy again Cordelia slung the rifle around her shoulder before heading over to Giles to help him out.
It took them quite a while to get the slayer down the long ladder and into one of the four heavy iron cages in the corners of the small cave. "You stay here and keep an eye on Buffy, make sure to reload t-the gun, there should be darts in the desk over there." Hurrying up the ladder Giles vanished out of sight.
Cordelia checked the drawer with shacking hands as she heard another groan. "FUCK!" She fumbled with the rifle and turned around to face the slayer.
"Cordy? W-whats are you doing there? I-is that a gun? Why are you pointing a gun at me?!" Buffy started to get up, feeling somewhat groggy for some reason. "Is .. is this a cage? What's going on here?!"
Instantly dropping the rifle Cordelia ran over to Buffy. "I-i'm not sure, Willow must have casted a spell.. there was some seriously messed up stuff going on.. and you were attacking her and then you .. you .. dropped down because of that." She nodded towards the rifle on the ground.
"Noo!" Buffy started to moan and Cordelia flinched, about to make a leap for the rifle again. "Why would I do that?! What did she do to me?" Cordelia relaxed as she realized that this was not yet another outbreak of the slayer but simply Buffy trying to make sense of it all.
"A little help here!" Came a voice from above and Cordelia looked apologetically at Buffy. "I will be right back, we will figure this out, I promise!"
They managed to get Willow down and into another cage, she woke up shortly afterwards. Despite her trauma and blood loss she was able to stand up again. Giles had reloaded the rifle, put the spare ammunition smack in the middle of the desk to calm Cordelia down and now leaned against the wall near the ladder as if waiting for something. Cordelia stood close by and watched the scene unfold, it was chaos..
"Why did you try to cast a spell on me? What's wrong with you Willow?!" Buffy grabbed the iron bars of her cage.
"What's wrong with me? You tried to gauge my eyes out! What sane person does something like that?!"
"That wasn't ME! You did something to my head and drew the slayer out or something."
"T-technicly I never entered your head.. m-more like your .. soul?" As she said that Willow instantly calmed down and regretted having said that.
"YOU WHAT?!"
"I HAD TO!" Her calmness instantly forgotten Willow started yelling again.
As the two went back and forth Giles head perked up, he excused himself and went up the ladder. Shortly afterwards he came back down with a tall timid blond in tow, who was thoroughly confused by the situation she was confronted with. Two girls, both in cages, were yelling at each other. The redhead had dried blood all over her face and wisps of light circled around her body. The blond in the other cage gripped the bars of her cage and they were starting to bend under her grip, her face was a mask of rage and disbelief.
"Tara? You best get to work right away, we do not have much time." Giles said in a normal tone of voice that almost did not reach the girl. "C-could you m-make them stop? Maybe?" She replied, feeling unsure she could do what she was supposed to do if the shouting match kept up. Cordelia took this as her cue. She went over to the desk, took the rifle, turned back around and faced Willows cage.
Willow was in the midst of explaining how one would go about to remove a piece of footwear out of another person's rectum as a THUD echoed through the cave.
"There you go, is it ok if I shoot her again for good measure?" She directed this question at Giles, who in turn was not sure if she was joking or not.
"Thanks Cordy." Buffy smiled a weak smile at her.
"Your welcome. I can't believe she did something like that to you."
"Me neither, i wonder what's gotten into her."
Groaning and tweaking the bridge of his nose Giles coughed rather loudly. "If you girls do not mind, could yo talk about this later? Tara? If you would be so kind.." He gestured towards the cages before walking over to Cordelia and grabbing the rifle.
Tara nodded and kneeled down in between the two cages. She opened her bag and started to prepare a spell. "W-which one first?" she asked Giles who was about to answer but then changed his mind. "Willow." When the blond looked at him in confusion he pointed towards the redhead.
"I think he was about to say your name." Cordelia whispered to Buffy, having slowly made her way over to the cage. "I'm not worried tho, you are back in control, I can see it in your eyes."
"Bloody hell! What are you doing there?" Giles looked as if he was about to have a stroke. "I-i have to go upstairs and talk with the police, they should be here any minute." He was about to climb up when Cordelia asked him about the rifle, he stopped and marched past Cordelia straight towards Tara.
"Here, YOU take that, keep an eye out." He went back to the ladder. As he was about half way up he yelled something down. "On all three of them!" A tirade of murmurs echoed down as he made his way back up to the office.
"W-w-wa.. wait? What?" Tara hugged the rifle close to her chest and backed away from Cordelia and the cages, nearly tripping over the desk. "S-stay away!"
"Tara right? Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you ok?" Cordelia tried.
"N-no i d-do not believe you, Mr. Giles said I should w-watch all three of you!"
"He was being funny and included me for other reasons. Com on look at me, do I look like I'm dangerous?" There was a muted snicker from Buffy's cage.
"N-nooone here looks d-dangerous b-but the redhead has b-blood all over her face and is a powerful wicca a-and the blond over there bends iron bars with h-her bare hands! S-sooo that's not really the issue.. oh.. a-and you casually shot someone j-just a minute ago."
About to say something Cordelia lifted up a finger .. but nothing came out of her mouth and she put the finger down again. "Well yes.. it was a tranquilizer gun tho, that counts for something right?" She smiled at Tara who glared back at her. Cordelia sighed and moved back over to Buffy to give Tara some space to work.