Disclaimer: I don't even know anymore, everything's all blurred together
Chapter 26
"When my teacher finally decided that I was sufficiently trained. That I was no longer a danger to myself and to the world, she told me something." Willow watched Buffy nod her head in understanding as the slayer leaned back on her hands and thrust her feet out in front of herself. "She said I was a mystery she couldn't figure out. That no human should be able to exist with their magickal filter taken out, not without some major demonic or holy power. She said that she couldn't find traces of either in me. She kept saying something was missing."
"What did she mean, missing?" Buffy asked.
"She meant…well, how about I show you instead." Willow reached out both hands and Buffy scooted closer, taking them into her own. They had meditated like this before, over the years, and both settled comfortably into their breathing. Then something happened that hadn't before.
Instead of the tranquil, floating feeling Buffy usually experienced, she felt herself being pulled toward something. Instinctively she pulled back, resisting the call, but there was something familiar about it.
Stop being such a chicken, the witch's voice echoed through her mind. Buffy smiled a little, where before the voice had been flat and one-dimensional, now it rang full and vibrant. Come on, let's go.
Go where? Buffy sent back.
Willow flinched back a little at the power that rang in the slayer's mind-voice. There was something more there, something in the connection that wasn't usually there and seemed to call to her. She sent her consciousness forward, seeking it.
Where are we going, Willow? Buffy's voice snapped her out of her daze and the feeling was snatched away.
India, she answered her distractedly, then focused, we're going to India.
……… (India, 4 ½ years ago)
Buffy blinked hard once, twice and then her vision finally cleared. She cast a quick look around and down, finding herself staring out of Willow's eyes at what she assumed to be Willow's teacher. A whisper in her mind told her to relax and just be.
"Something is missing," the Naga thoughtfully said. Buffy watched transfixed as Willow's teacher's head moved back and forth in a rhythmic, hypnotic fashion. Willow blinked as her teacher's head seemed to move back and forth in a rhythmic, hypnotic motion.
Buffy's "eyes" took in her teacher's form. The naga had been a little weird even for Willow, at first. Her body was huge, reptilian shape, was nearly almost three feet across at the thickest and long enough that she didn't try to gauge it's length. The massive serpentine form weaved around, under, down and through itself, apart and so long that Willow didn't even try to guess at the length. The massive coils weaved in and out of each other, rarely ever stilling. Her scales added to the confusion. Patterned in a deep green color, they shimmered with an eye-catching rainbow hue. The only human part of the Naga was her head. Thick chestnut hair flowed crazily about as her head moved and piercing black eyes looked out at the world.
"What do you mean?" Buffy heard herself ask as a small wave of panic rushed her. Another fleeting thought echoed in her mind of being trapped in a dream where she was naked, walking into a high school class Willow started to panic a little. She was so sure she'd been doing good lately.
"You're control is excellent and you will be able to go out into the world soon, but something is still missing. It is something I have come to realize I will never be able to help you with. You will have to figure it out on your own. There is more to your magick, something tied to the Slayer Line, and that is a tangle I have little interest in meddling in."
"Soooo, you can't tell me what it is, just that something's missing?" the slayer heard herself ask, mildly confused.
"No, I can simply caution you to explore inside yourself as much as possible. If you are to reach your full potential you must discover it."
"Okay." Buffy felt her face scrunch and thought, Jeesh, Willow huffed, can youshe be anymore with the cryptic??
………… (present)
Buffy's focus finally drifted back to the present. She felt Willow pull her out of the memory. She reflected wryly to her friend, i'YYour 're teacher seems kinda weird. Buffy told her friend as they returned to the present with a rush. Not quite as weird as mine, but at least mine was human.'
She had her own way of doing things,Willow explained, she wasn't always kind but she was fair. And if I had to get a part-reptile teacher, at least I didn't get a frog. What was that before, Buffy?
What was what? Buffy's voice clearly not understanding the non-sequitur.
Don't try to be all avoidy, that thing that happened when we melded. You distracted me before I could figure it out, but there was something.
That's part of what I need to explain, Buffy sighed into her mind. I didn't expect it to be quite so strong and I've been trying to ignore it, but that doesn't really seem to be working. I'll get to it later. Tell me what you discovered on your own.
Annoyed, Willow broke her bridge with Buffy by releasing her hands from the slayer's grip. Pushing down the regret at breaking off the intimate connection, she explained, "I did as she said. ," Willow explained to Buffy, breaking off the connection. It left her rather bereft for some reason. "I meditated. I thought about it, but the most I've been able to figure out is that I have a connection to The Slayer Line. I know when they die and when the new ones are called. Sometimes I get the feeling that there's something more, like a tickle in the back of my brain, but I can't get hold of it. It's like grasping at straws."
Buffy smiled warmly and affirmed, "The tickle's pretty important. But before we get in to the why of your tickle, can I tell you where it came from?" Buffy waited on Willow's nod before continuing, "Do you remember that Guardian lady that I found in the tunnels below Sunnydale, the one that told me about the Scythe?"
"Yeah, she's the one that Caleb killed before you could take him out."
"Right," the slayer nodded. "Well, it seems she didn't get around to telling me everything. Like the fact that the Scythe wasn't all they created. They helped create the Slayer."
"Eh?" Willow sat up straighter at the revelation.
A new spark lit in Willow's eyes as Buffy explained, "Seems the Shadow Men may not have liked to admit it but they needed a woman's touch. Once they completed the spell, they firmed up on a flaw in their ultimate weapon. Ever notice that magick seems to take me down just as easily as everyone else?"
"Yes," Willow hung her head. All the times Buffy had beaten a witch or sorcerer before, it had been through guile or with help. Unfortunately, she had been the one to prove that vulnerability in the most horrible manner possible.
"So did the Guardians and the Shadow Men. They both knew that the girl's body couldn't take anymore abuse. They had just poured a demon into her for crying out loud, she was almost dead. So they were of two minds in how to deal with this."
"The Shadow Men wanted to use the vulnerability to control the Slayer. Use it to control and make her rely on them for magickal assistance. The Guardians, however, wanted something completely different. They figured if they could get a girl to be able to handle a demon's powers like the Slayer, then they could create another one that could handle magick the way a demon can."
"No filter…," Willow murmured to herself in wonder. Her voice gained power as she finished Buffy's revelation for herself, "They wanted a human with no magick filter. Meaning no need for rituals or prep time. The ability to wield raw magick. Like…me…oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Willow's eyes widened to small saucers as she stammered, "Buffy, I'm Jewish…or I was Jewish…or whatever. My parents are good, straight-laced, Jewish psychiatrists. They are not a part of some breeding program to create the perfect witch. That…that would just be silly and my parents don't do silly."
Buffy snorted in laughter at the thought of Willow's oft absent parents secretly stirring a cauldron in the basement.
"No, no, no," she chortled, "I doubt they were even conscious of anything. You know how the PTB are, subtle and tricky. And have no doubt, the PTB where a definite part of this. From me to the First coming through to you being what you are."
"What am I?" Suddenly the question seemed so important. She understood what Buffy was saying, that the Guardian's and the PTB's had messed with her life as much as Buffy's. That they had made her this powerful for a reason and that nothing was a coincidence, but a part of her wanted it spelled out.
"You're the Slayer's partner." Buffy explained, "Will, don't freak. It'll be just like Sunnydale, but uhm, only on a bigger scale." Her features softened and she tried for levity, "I mean sure you don't get a cool title like "The Slayer," but we could think of one. Maybe Wonder Witch or the Sparkler or…I don't know, something cool."
Willow sat there while Buffy wandered off into her own world, mumbling possible super hero names under breath. Willow was still caught on the whole 'super-hero' thing. She knew she was powerful, probably one of the most powerful witch's on the planet at the moment. But she had still thought of herself as human. Just some girl who had been caught up in a weird set of circumstances and come through them a little wiser and a little better off.
She looked back and suddenly understood her friend and all those girls she taught so much more. This was what it felt like to be Chosen. To realize for certain that someone out there thought she was the person they should hang the fate of the world on. That when it came down to the wire she couldn't turn the burden over to anyone else, she was all there was. It was an absolutely horrible feeling.
Stop it, Willow said to herself, you've been through all this before. You've been dealing with the fact that you were different from the time you were five and could reprogram you're parents' computer. Now you just know there's a reason behind it. In a way it eased her mind, all that mystery was now cleared up. Willow always did do better when things followed clear rules. Maybe that was why she liked math so much.
"The Dynamo!" Buffy's exclamation of triumph interrupted Willow's train of thought, snapping her back to reality.
"I don't know, Buff." She shook her head. "I don't think that quite fits me."
"Well, maybe not. But don't worry, we'll find a good name for you."
"Thank you.," Willow smiled at the reassurance, Buffy was trying so hard. Then something occurred to her. "Buffy, is the reason you're…interested in me, b-b-because of this partner thing?" Willow asked the question softly, her eyes on the ground, gesturing between the two of them.
"Is that what you think?"
"Well, I don't know," Willow managed to look her in the eyes, her confusion evident. "You never seemed to have any interest in me before…that way, I mean. Then you come back after five years and claim to be c-courting me. All after some vision quest you had with the Original Slayer. I mean it's like some weird, though very nice mind you, dream."
...
Author's Note:
I'd like to thank everyone who was patient with me waiting for this update (and even those who weren't and didn't start yelling), especially my editor. Whedonist, you rock! My computer contracted a small cold (aka, a virus) and while I was extremely lucky and didn't lose anything permanently, it did slow me down a lot. I had a horse show to prepare for as well and so couldn't get it fixed right away. But enough with excuses!
OMAKE:
Giles- What are you doing, Buffy?
Buffy- I'm making a list of super-hero names for Willow.- points to large dry-erase board
Giles- scans board- That's a lot of names Buffy.
Buffy- I'm trying to think of the perfect one.
Giles- You know, if you had been that diligent with your studies, you might have been a straight A student.
Buffy- stares- What's your point.
Giles- sighs and shakes his head- Nothing Buffy, but I doubt Willow would appreciate being called The Whammer. What does that mean, by the way?
Buffy- You know, when people get bad she puts the whammy on 'em. Magick stuff.
Giles- pause- I take back what I said about the straight A's.