"Rustic Chivalry…"
Summary: William and his son are plagued by a curse from the recent past…The very recent past…Using a rather ironic tool…
Disclaimer: Would Joss want his name associated with this? I think not...But anyway all BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...Though his brother Mort gets nothing...
Archived at the Normalverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse.
Part V…
"Buffy?..." Angel gave a puzzled stare at her darkly furious, black-eyed look…
"Angel…I wouldn't…" Harmony began.
"Jesus!" a newly arrived Nina cried as Buffy lept at an Angel still trying to comprehend…
"Buffy!" Will tried to pull her loose from the downed Angel.
"Angelus…" guttural growl… "Murderer! Vendetta!" Buffy howled.
"Holy shit…" Connor gasped as he entered the hallway from the elevator. His dad on the ground, a furious blonde girl pummeling him savagely. His now increasingly furious stepmom grabbing said blonde by the throat. William with arms round the blonde. That pretty hot Ms. Summers he recognized from the rather carefully selected and limited, with an eye to Mom's feelings, photos in Dad's study. Trying to pull her off…Harmony standing by the group, sighing and trying to get someone, anyone to calm down and… "Hey, Connor…" she waved. "Look, give me a hand here, will ya?"
He looked for some place to intervene as the collective group thrashed about… Ms. Summers howling cries apparently focused on Dad for some bizarre reason. Mom, hanging on to her desperately, now crying out at said Ms. Summers to "Back off, you crazy bitch…". William demanding everyone back off and leave Buffy to him. Dad simply trying fend off Ms. Summers' flailing fists and kicks…
"Angelus!..." she screamed.
"What'll we do?" Connor called over the writhing mass to Harmony…
"Try and pull your dad out… Will! Let me have Buffy's…" Whoa…She went flying back at a kick from the Slayer…
Connor grabbed at an arm he presumed was his father's…
"Connor! Get back!" Nina cried, looking up at him.
"Buffy, for God's sake…" Will had pulled her back a bit. "Look at me…" he turned her head.
"Harmony!" he called. She stumbled over…
"Tell her to calm down!" he turned to her.
Buffy jerked in his grip, whanging him. He held tight and both rolled over…She losing her grip on Angel, Nina releasing hers…
"God, what's wrong with her?!" Connor asked, hurrying to his battered father whom he helped to his feet. Nina quickly moving to block Angel from any more attacks. Glaring at Buffy on the ground…
Mom…Connor urged. Calm place…
Right…She nodded. But kept a grim eye on the Slayer…
"Some kind of vengeance curse and mating ritual…" Harmony explained. Kneeling by Buffy now…Who had suddenly calmed, staring at William.
"William? You're…Here?" Buffy gasped. "With me?"
"Yes, pet…" he nodded, patting her. "I'm right here…"
"Where's Angelus?...I…"
"Dead…" Harmony quickly announced, glancing up to eye Angel and the others…Ixnay you should scramay, for now.
"Hall…" she hissed, indicating the door to the hallway. They taking the hint, headed out…
"Dead?" Buffy looked at William.
Well, certainly not a lie…Harmony thought, rather pleased with her quick thinking…
Buffy shook a moment. "Vendetta…" she gasped and passed out…
Phew…Harmony looked at William who sighed and nodded. She's out…For now…
"Maybe that was it?" she suggested. "Mission Vendetta accomplished, ends the spell or whatever?"
"Maybe…I don't know…" he shook his head. "Help me get her back on the sofa…"
"We've gotta get after Will Jr…." Harmony noted.
"I know…But, a moment…I don't think they'll do anything without me there to see." he motioned for her to help lift the unconscious Slayer, who now seemed rather peacefully sleeping. They placed her on the sofa…Looking to see Connor cautiously poking head into the room…
"All clear?" he asked.
"Maybe…Best to wait a bit until we know what we're up against here…" Will replied. "Have your parents wait just a second and I'll be right out."
"Connor!..." Nina's voice. He pulled back.
"Looks like she switched the focus to Angel somehow…" Harmony noted.
"Yeah…" Will nodded. "Though why he would be involved unless Buffy's a bit pissed at him somewhere…"
"She didn't get on with Angelus, I imagine…"
"No, true enough…" he nodded. "But she seemed even angrier at him than me."
"They were a couple a while…Resentments pile up." Harmony noted, sage nod. "Maybe this 'vendetta' thing feeds off normal resentment and anger."
"Could be…Lucky for me, it's not you who's been cursed, then." he smiled wanly at her. She giving arch grin and nod…You better believe it, pal.
"Will?..." Angel had come to the door.
"She's ok for now, Angel." Will stood up. Moving to the door… "Best not to come in for a mo…She might get set off again."
"Is it some kind of hate-your-exs spell?" Angel eyed him. Will shrugging… God and a certain Italian demon know…
"She keeps mumbling about vendettas. And the demon leader was that little Italian creep who tried to blow us up in Rome. He's used some kind of family curse on her…Mentioned a mating ritual…"
"Mating?" Angel blinked. Nina at his side, looking past him into the room…
"He said the mate was long dead. Though we'll kill him slow if rape is involved here…" William said quietly.
"Without question…" Angel, grimly. Connor beside him now. Peering in…
"Is she all right, Harmony?" Nina eyed her.
"Near as I can tell, yeah…" Harmony nodded. "But we have to get after Will Jr…"
"They took him…" Will explained.
"And they're gonna sacrifice him." Harmony frowned. "So lets stop wasting time…"
"They won't until I show. There'd be no revenge without me." Will shook his head.
"If they took Buffy in Rome…" Angel eyed Will.
"He denied working for the Immortal again. But he didn't say the Immortal wasn't involved…" Will nodded.
"Still, lets not get sidetracked by memories of old foes. We were wrong about him before…"
"Or thought we were…She called me Angelus." Angel frowned. "Did she think I'd reverted…?"
"He called her Cicely…" Will eyed him.
"Your Cicely?" Angel blinked. "That girl Spike used to go on about?"
"That one…Yeah…And she seemed…"
"Cicely was a Slayer." Harmony cut in. The two turned, staring at her…Nina and Connor as well…
Buffy startling all by a sudden loud snore from the sofa…
…
London, England…
Six months before…
"I don't know about this, Ms. Summers…" worried tone. Nervous shifting of prinz-nez glasses on nose…
"Harry…I am Slayer Counselor-General, right? And Commandant of the Slayer Corps, right?" stern look…
"Yes, ma'am…"
"And I have saved the world, as well as our Council, quite a few times, right?"
"Uh, of course, Ms. Summers. But…" the addressed young Counselor shifted uneasily in his chair as the slight but imposing blonde figure in her red "power" suit, lovingly saved from Sunnydale's demise and worn only at important Council functions eyed him from where she stood in the corridor before his desk. Blocking what purported to be a rather dull little staff library, of interest only to a few fossilized members of the rather quaintly titled Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists…
"So I should have high enough level clearance to visit the Council archives when I choose to, shouldn't I?"
"Well…Ma'am…Chairman Giles is really the only person authorized to allow…"
She sighed…
"Harry…Would I come without Rupert's ok? How would I even know about this place, the way you've kept it such a secret from everyone…" winning smile which brought a slight one to his lips. "…unless he'd ok'd my coming. It's important…And kinda top secret…" she winked. Smiling…
"If you could just show me some official authorization. I've had no word…"
"We have met at the Council, right? You told me how much you admired my work?"
"Certainly…But…"
"Ok…" she sighed. "I understand…Security…And you were once MI-whatever, right?"
"5, ma'am…Yes…"
"Fine…Lets get Giles on the phone. Will that satisfy?"
"Certainly…If we use the secure phone. In the entrance airlock…"
"Great…" she nodded. "Lets do that…"
He sighed but pulled out a key, rose and went to the door behind his desk, she following… He unlocked the old-style lock and opened what seemed an ordinary if rather nineteenth century door…
Not noticing the icy, furious look she gave at his back as he did so…Her smile warm as ever when he turned back to her…
Had she muttered something under her breath? He pondered…
Well? Her look, still complete with smile, said. "Harry? Shall we?"
He opened the door and stepped in, she following, closing door after them…
The door had opened to a room which though wide as it looked from outside, was only about a foot in depth, with an excellent three-dimensional projection of books and shelves on the wall before them…
"Careful…" he cautioned her. "The starting drop is a bit of a…" The floor beneath them fell suddenly…Then halted with a jerk, twenty floors down.
A door before them opened at Harry's touch. They entered a long tunnel. Buffy hurrying after Harry, keeping just behind him. He paused before a blank panel on the tunnel wall to his right. Placing hand on the panel which lit up…
"Just a mo, I'll be in…" he choked as she grabbed him by the neck…
"Watcher…Murderer…Vendetta…" she whispered. Staring at his terrified look as he stared at her entirely black eyes. Pressing on his neck until he passed out, then replacing his hand on another area of the panel. From a pocket she pulled out what looked like a portable radio and put the earphones on, carefully tuning…
"Fratelli, compagni…" she whispered. "Vendetta…Cosa devo fare? Io mi trovo in archivio tunnel…"
"Si…" she replied to the instructions given. Still holding the hapless Harry's hand to the panel… Now tapping a series of instructions using various pads on the lit panel…
The tunnel seemed to move. A sensation of high speed…Then calm… The far end of the tunnel suddenly opening to reveal a vast complex. She removed the earphones and put the radio and earphones back in her pocket. Tossing Harry without a glance after him to the side, she headed to the complex entrance. Miles of hallway before her stretching on both sides to what seemed infinity…She immediately focusing on a single aisle…
"William…I'm here." she whispered, staring round. "I've come at last to find you, my beloved…And then…Take our revenge."
"What's that?" Harmony glanced at the book William had just pulled from Buffy's stylish Italian purse, carefully lifting it without disturbing her sleep. An old, worn but well-bound volume which William handled gingerly.
"The Complete Works of…Oh, my God…" Harmony gasped. Looking at William…Who shook his head. Turning pages…Staring frozen at one…
"What's that?" Connor had, much against Nina's wishes, slipped back in, arguing he, being unfamiliar to Ms. Summers, was probably the better member of the family to check on her. Mom being perhaps dangerously near transformational anger at Buffy…
"It's Will's…" Harmony looked at William who still stared at the page.
"Will?" Connor eyed him… "What's…"
"You said Dru said Cicely was a Slayer?" Will looked at Harmony. "Dru was sure of that?"
"That's what she said…And why she was terrified of her." Harmony nodded. "Though why she was terrified of a century-dead Slayer..."
He handed the book over…Indicating the page he'd been regarding…
Whoa…Harmony blinked. Connor peering over her shoulder…
"What is it?" Angel called from the doorway from which Nina steadfastly refused to let him budge. Blocking it solidly now…Bad enough Connor had slipped away…
"It's from Cicely. Dedicated…To me…" Will replied quietly.
"In 1880…The year you died…" Harmony noted.
"They lied to us, William…" Buffy's voice, quiet but firm from the sofa. "And they murdered us…And our baby…"