"Where did you get this?" Giles demanded to know the moment he had unwrapped the stick and had gotten one look at it, the amazement in his voice causing the three women to exchange surprised looks, "this is remarkable! If this is what I think it is…"
"A demon gave it to us", Buffy explained, "apparently, he wasn't supposed to, because he was chased by a bunch of other demons who looked just like him. They weren't very good at fighting."
"What did they look like?" Giles wanted to know, already moving away from the table where the stick had been placed, and to his bookshelf, "like this?" With those words, he opened the book he had chosen at a certain page and showed it to the three, none of them really surprised that it showed a rather well done picture of the demons they had faced not even an hour ago.
"Yeah", Buffy confirmed, "that's what they looked like. One of them was running away from a bunch of others and gave this stick-thingy to Willow, but they killed him before he could give any proper explanations."
"He told me to give it to the Chosen One", Willow added, "but when Buffy touched it, nothing happened, only when I did… Watch."
She smiled briefly at him, curious about his reaction, then reached out and grabbed the thickened end of the stick; and again, it started growing the moment she had touched it, the green mist swirling down the wood again until it finished lengthening, the Watcher staring with wide eyes.
"Remarkable", he finally said, his voice almost down to a whisper, looking as if he wanted to touch the staff, but not daring to, "do you have the slightest idea what this demon gave you?"
"No", Buffy gave back, raising an eyebrow, "that's why we came here and showed you this thing. So what is it and what does it to? Except for growing whenever Willow touches it, which brings some very unfortunate jokes to my mind."
"Don't even think of saying them out loud", Pat warned, making the Slayer chuckle; Willow gave her a strict look, as well, then put the staff back down again, Giles watching with fascination how it shortened again the moment she had stopped touching it.
"You have no idea what this is?" he then asked, looking up at the three women, frowning when they all shook their heads, a hint of sternness in his voice when he went on. "Well, Willow, at least you should have an idea. Or you, Pat, seeing your very nature."
"Just spit it out", the demon sighed in reply; in response, Giles made a dramatic pause, then finally did so, his face falling at the lack of response he got for his words. "It's the Staff of Righteousness."
"Okay, I could hear the capital letters", Buffy finally broke silence which had followed this slightly melodramatic statement, "but… What does it mean?"
"It's an ancient artefact", the Watcher explained, slightly exasperated at their lack of knowledge, "said to be very powerful. But it may only be used be someone with a… well, a good heart, I suppose, for fighting the good fight."
"Hey!" Buffy protested at once, offended, "I have a good heart too! Why didn't it grow when I touched it?!"
"Well, whatever the reason for that is, it at least explains why it decided to shock me", Pat dryly threw in before anyone could answer the Slayer, "apparently, it doesn't like demons, even if said demons have been fighting the good fight for years."
"That's a bit racist", Willow mused out loud, earning strange looks from the others in the room; shrugging it off, she looked at the stick again, sounding curious when she spoke on. "And the demon who gave it to me? What about him and his buddies out to kill him?"
"They are called the Guardians", Giles explained in reply, gesturing at the book he had put on the table, "trained from birth to guard valuable artefacts, such as the Staff and other, equally powerful items. The fact that one of them escaped with the Staff and that the others came after him though is quite worrisome."
"Why?" Buffy, Pat and Willow asked in perfect unison, then exchanged surprised looks while Giles briefly raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his lips – before he cleared his throat and grew serious again, the same emotion in his voice when he replied.
"As I said, they are Guardians", he explained, "they are merely supposed to guard the artefacts, never use them. Make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. If one of them broke away from the group to deliver such an artefact of pure good to us as the Staff of Righteousness is, they must have been planning to do something with it. Perhaps corrupt it, or use it for their own agenda."
"Like what?" Pat frowned, reaching for her cigarettes only to remember that Giles didn't permit smoking in his house and stopping mid-movement, briefly looking dismayed, "and don't tell me they want to cause another apocalypse."
"Could be that this is just what they want", Giles sighed, shrugging helplessly when the demon glared at him in reply, "or they had some other plans. Apparently though, one of them kept in mind what they were trained for and delivered the Staff to safe hands."
"So if it only reacts to me, should I keep it?" Willow wanted to know, looking at the staff curiously, "at least until we figured out what to do with it? Perhaps I can find out what exactly it is capable of doing and we can use it for our fights."
"Yes, I suggest that you keep it", the Watcher nodded, not really surprising any of the three, "even though Pat should keep her hands away from it."
"Yeah, I really needed you to tell me that, or I would have poked it relentlessly to see if it stopped shocking me after a while", the taller woman dryly replied, making Willow giggle while Giles coughed slightly; then, he gestured at the book again, making the rest of the small group nod as he spoke on. "I will look into this and see if I can find out more about what the Guardians might have wanted to do with the Staff. I'll let you know the second I find anything."
"Alright", the witch nodded, "and I'll tell you in case the Staff… does anything. Wait, it doesn't shoot projectiles or something, right? Cause I'd hate to accidentally thrash the apartment by touching it the wrong way… and that came out wrong."
"It kinda did", Pat smirked, prompting Giles to roll his eyes at their childish behaviour before he let out a regretful noise, making them all look at him again.
"I'm not sure about what the Staff is capable of", he let them know, making them all frown, "but I doubt it will just randomly shoot projectiles. In case it does possess that ability, I suggest you try to find out in some other place than your home."
"In the back room of the Magic Box", Pat suggested with a twinkle in her eye, making Willow laugh slightly; she smirked back at her, then asked if they were done, coming to her feet the moment Giles had nodded.
Doing the same, Willow picked up the staff, making sure to not touch it directly as she didn't want it to grow again for no reason and perhaps start shooting projectiles after all; she nodded after Giles told them to be careful, then left the house together with her partner, suddenly curious to find out what the staff could do and if they'd be able to use it for the good fight they were fighting.
"You know, Giles was right", Willow stated ten minutes later, as they walked down the street side by side, her free hand grasping her partner's tenderly, "I really should go somewhere and try to figure out what this staff can do. Who knows what it might be capable of?"
"Some remote location", the demon nodded, to the witch's happiness clearly supporting the idea, "in the forest, perhaps? It should be someplace where people aren't going too often, so no one will wander by and see you… throw fireballs with it. Or whatever it might do. I'll come with you, if you like?"
"I'd really like that", Willow smiled, the taller woman returning her smile at once – before her steps faltered, just for a second, long to let the witch notice, the smile vanishing from her face as her brow furrowed with concentration.
By now, Willow knew her partner well enough to ask her what was wrong, but merely waited for her to say something, glancing around as she tried to figure out what might be going on; and a few seconds later, Pat answered her unasked question, keeping her voice so low that only the redhead could hear her.
"A couple of people are surrounding us right now", she let her partner know, causing her to gasp in surprise, "just make sure to keep a firm grip on the staff, I'm pretty sure that's what they are after."
As if her words had summoned them, they started melting from the shadows all around the couple, ten of them, dressed in flowing long robes with only glowing red eyes visible beneath the large hoods covering their heads; snarling, Pat glared at them, clenching her fists and letting them flame up while Willow moved a bit closer to her, her mind racing as she tried to figure out which spell to use against them.
"Give us the Staff and you shall not be harmed", one of them now spoke, in a low and throaty voice, the rest just staring at them in silence, "we promise."
"No", Willow gave back at once, not surprised when they snarled, then all took a step closer – and that was when the staff trembled tangibly in her grasp, then seemed to move on its own, the leather covering it falling away and her fingers closing around the wood, angered growls coming from the hooded figures as it immediately lengthened.
"Hand it over", the spokesman of them tried to reason once more, "we have no interest in fighting you. We will kill you if you don't hand it over, but this can just as well end peacefully."
"The moment you threatened my girl, any chance for ending this peacefully went out the window", Pat snarled, taking a step forward as well; before she could do more than that though, two of the robed figure she hadn't been able to keep her eye on jumped her from behind, low grunts and growls coming from her as she tried to shake them off.
"Kill them", their spokesman commanded, standing back as they all swarmed closer; and that was when the staff came to life, a startled cry escaping Willow as her arm snapped up, the wood whacking one of the two figures struggling with her partner hard across the back seconds later.
Stunned, all Pat could do was stare, the way Willow's eyes had grown wide showing that she was just as surprised about this as the demon; before she could figure out what exactly was happening though, the staff already was moving again, whacking the second hooded figure on the head, then moving with enough force to spin her around, jerking her arm up to block a hit aimed at the back of her head, then retaliating by smacking the one who had attacked her straight in the face, hard enough to send him to the ground.
Getting over her shock about this unexpected behaviour coming from her girlfriend, Pat took the chance given by how surprised their attackers obviously were, as well, quickly moving away from the three Willow had knocked out and making a fourth one join them with a few quick punches; and while she dealt with the one closest to her, Willow was already moving again, ramming the other end of the staff into the stomach of one of them, whacking him hard across the shoulders when he doubled over in pain and sending him down as well.
"Nice", Pat complimented her, grabbing a sixth one from behind when he tried to charge at the witch and, with her muscles bulging visibly, using his own momentum to toss him into two others of their assailants; they all went down in a flurry of arms, legs and fluttering robes, and then Willow was next to them, the staff whacking down three times with painful precision, knocking them all out within less than two seconds.
"Seems like it's just you now", Pat smirked, turning to look at the one who had given the commands in the first place; he let out a low growl in reply, his eyes flashing up even brighter for a moment – before he vanished into nothingness, the air rushing back into the spot he had left with an audible whooshing sound.
"Aw, man!" the demon complained, sounding so annoyed that it made Willow giggle slightly, "what the Hell! I wanted to question him!"
"At least we know now what the Staff can do", Willow gave back, eying it in amazement, "did you see that? It fought!"
"Looked more like you were fighting", Pat pointed out, already going down on one knee to check the robes of the fallen figure closest to her for pockets and any clues said pockets might contain, "and with quite the skill, I have to say."
"That should clue you in about the fact that it wasn't me", Willow told her, watching how she frowned at the knocked out guy she had been searching, then moved on to the next, "it was the Staff. It kinda… used me to fight, made me move, but it didn't feel like a bad thing, if you know that I mean…"
"No", the taller woman smirked, chuckling at how her partner's face fell, only to frown moments later as she moved on to guy number three and, after a few moment of patting his robe, threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Jesus H. Christ", she then blasphemed, "do none of them have pockets?! And to make it even worse, they're going commando beneath these robes."
"Okay, I was just about to offer my help with searching them, but now that you said that, I won't", Willow smirked, earning a sour look in reply; annoyed, the black haired woman came to her feet again and kicked the guy nearest to her, giving him a dirty glance as well when he groaned in reply.
"We better get moving", the redhead suggested at hearing the noise coming from the fallen man, "before they wake up and decide they want to try again. Even though it would be fun to use the Staff on them again."
"I imagine", Pat smirked, dusting off her pants; Willow smiled back at her, then let go of the staff so it could shrink back to a more easily transportable size, wrapping it up in the leather again before they got moving again, leaving the knocked out group of men behind as they headed back to their home.