Fan Fic: Just a Day in the Life (2/4)

[Erin <erin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: Just a Day in the Life
AUTHOR: Erin (erin@xxxxxxxxxxx)
SPOILERS: Some spoilers through Doomed (Season 4)
RATING: PG-13 at worst. Probably not even that. It is a Buffy/Willow
fic, so if that bothers you, or it's illegal to even think of a Slayer
and a Witch getting it on, then just don't read it. Or move.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss
Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.
I'll put them back when I'm done, no worse for wear (but maybe a
little happier).
ARCHIVE: Currently, none. Just ask, I'd love to say yes.
FEEDBACK: Constructive comments are encouraged.
SUMMARY: (Buffy/Willow) Buffy has more trouble than she can handle,
between dealing with Riley, her feelings for Willow, and a rogue
Warlock who is out on a power grab.
Chapter 2

Buffy walked slowly in the direction of Giles' house.
Her date with Riley had gone...well, just say that she hadn't
felt the sparks she had expected to feel on their first, real,
no-demon-hunting date. She chuckled to herself. *Heh, imagine,
someone who has seen what he's seen, and doesn't believe in
magic?* She could imagine Willow's incredulous expression when
Buffy would tell her. *Willow...* The thought of her friend
waiting for her at Giles' house made her pick up the pace a bit.
She found herself leaving Willow's side more reluctantly, and
returning more quickly all the time. *We've been through a
lot together, Willow and me...* Buffy thought, with a smile.
*Nobody understands me like my Will. Especially Riley.*

The Slayer turned down Giles' block, and immediately
froze. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't
even blink her eyes. Panic gripped her. Out of nowhere came
a voice, gravelly and disembodied:

"You should not meddle in affairs which do not concern
you, Slayer."

A figure stepped into view, dark as a shadow. Heavily
cloaked, it strongly reminded Buffy of the Emperor from Star
Wars. Only bearded, and so much more threatening.

"I will warn you only this once. If you value your
existence, and that of your friends, stay away."

"BUFFY!"

The cry made the figure whirl around in place. Buffy
strained to hear...People were calling her name, and they were
getting closer. Her blood began to pound in her ears, her
inability to breathe starting to catch up with her. She could
only watch as the hooded figure shimmered before her eyes.
A crow stood where the figure once was, and took off into
the sky. The spell released almost instantly, and Buffy was
on her knees, gasping for breath when her friends found her.

Willow ran up to Buffy, panic in her voice. "Buffy?
Are you ok, what happened?" She put her arms around her
friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Buffy gasped out, still catching
her breath. "But I think we must've hit a nerve."

Giles wiped sweat from his brow, and said, "Ok, let's
go back to my house. Buffy needs to rest, and I think we
should all discuss this."

* * *

"...so, he turned into a crow, and flew off," Buffy
concluded. The whole incident had her visibly shaken. She'd
never felt so helpless in the face of so much power. He'd
been able to completely freeze her in less than a heartbeat.

Willow saw Buffy's fear, and placed a hand on her
arm. "Hey," she whispered to her friend, "whatever he is,
we can handle it. We can do it, ok?" Buffy smiled at
Willow; she had such faith in her Slayer, Buffy would die
before she'd ever let her down. "I know I can count on
you, Will, for anything," she said softly. After a moment,
Buffy asked louder, "So, what happened? How did you know I
was in trouble?"

Giles cleared his throat, and said, "Willow knew.
She bolted up out of her chair, said that you were in
danger, and ran out."

Xander nodded, "Yeah, she just kinda took off,
yelling that you were in trouble. What I wanna know is,
how the heck did you know?" All eyes in the room turned
to look at Willow, with the notable exception of Spike's.
He was busy crumbling up crackers into his mug of blood.

Willow shifted under the stares of her friends.
"Uh, well, I dunno, I just felt like something was wrong,
probably some kind of Wicca thing."

Giles took off his glasses, and started polishing
them on a handkerchief. "Well, yes, I'm sure that was it.
At any rate, between the symbol that Willow found and the
encounter Buffy just experienced, I believe I know a fair
bit about what's going on now."

He walked over to his writing desk and held up
the writing tablet with the symbol Willow had drawn.
"This," Giles began, "is a triskele. It's a very common
Celtic symbol, usually associated with protection."

"Protection, huh? It doesn't look like it worked,
at least for the dead guy," Xander said.

"Yes, well," Giles continued, "it's usually found
around grave mounds and Druidic sacred sites."

"So, what we've got here is an evil, human
sacrificing Druid?" Buffy asked.

"Well, actually a warlock, I daresay, would be
a better term for him," Giles corrected. "Druids were
the protectors of their people, their judges and
spiritual leaders. That doesn't seem to be what this
person wants."

"What does he want, Giles?" Willow asked.

"Well, I've done a bit of research; it seems
that tonight begins a very sacred day to most Western
religions, the Celtic in particular."

Buffy thought for a moment. "Groundhog day?"

Giles sighed, exasperatedly. "No, not that.
At sundown tonight traditionally begins the festival
of Candlemas, also known as St. Brigit's Day, also
known to the Celts as Imbolc."

"Oh!" Willow piped up, "I've heard of that!
It's a Wiccan holiday now, too. A holiday dedicated
to a Celtic goddess named Brigid."

Giles nodded, "Quite right, Willow. There was
a very powerful but little-used ritual which would
confer the, um," the Watcher flipped pages in a book,
"the 'gifts of Brigid' to the Druid performing the
rite. Apparently it would confer such great power
that it was only used in the direst of emergencies.
Once it was used to stop a Roman invasion of Ireland."

"But," Willow protested, "I thought the
Romans never invaded Ireland."

Giles nodded. "Quite right. The Druid
who had the power used it to rain down fire on two
dozen Roman warships, halting the invasion."

"That's a lot of power," Buffy said,
somberly. "So, how do we stop him?"

"Well, it won't be easy," Giles replied.

"When is it ever?" Xander asked no one in
particular.

"We need to find the grove he's using
to complete the ritual. Now that he's made the
sacrifice, he needs to perform the ritual and
summon the goddess. Unfortunately, I haven't
the foggiest idea how to find him." Giles
removed his glasses again, massaging the bridge
of his nose.

"If he needs a place with a lot of power,
won't he go to the Hellmouth?" Xander asked.

"The Hellmouth is a powerful gateway to
the demon plane, but its energy is not necessarily
acceptable for magic use," Giles corrected.

"I know a spell," Willow began, "a
divination spell."

Buffy looked at her friend, quizzically.
"Once more in English, Will?"

"It's a searching spell. It will give
us a trail to the most powerful grove in the
area. He'll need a strong one to perform the
summoning, and he won't go back to his last one.
I can cast the spell, we'll find him, and kick
some warlock butt."

Buffy looked over at her friend, her
eyes giving a worried look. "Will, I can't ask
you to--"

Willow interrupted her friend. "Buffy, I
know. But I know what the risks are, and I want
to help you with this. You'll need my help."

Buffy smiled at her best friend. "You're
great, you know that?"

Giles cleared his throat softly, and said,
"Yes, well I think it would be best now if Buffy
and Willow rested before this evening. We'll stay
in touch in case you need anything. If I find
out anything more, I'll let you know immediately."

The girls nodded. Buffy took Willow's hand
and the pair left. Giles watched them leave.
*Sorceress and Slayer...* he thought. *How much more
powerful would they become?* He stared at the
recently-closed door, lost in thought.

* * *

"...so I guess the date didn't go that well, huh?"
Willow said, after hearing Buffy's recounting of her afternoon.

"No...He just seems so...I dunno, naive I guess. Like
he thinks he knows everything, like he has an answer for
everything, but there's so much he doesn't know." Buffy shrugged.

"Are you...disappointed?" Willow asked. She had gotten
familiar with the quiet heartache she experienced whenever Buffy
talked about one of her dates.

"I guess so...Well, part of me is. But part of me is kinda
relieved." Buffy fell silent.

"Relieved?" Willow asked quietly.

"I guess I'm relieved I don't have to try to make it work
with yet another mysterious guy who doesn't really understand me,"
Buffy replied. "Nobody understands me like my Will anyway," Buffy
said, grabbing Willow's hand and smiling at her.

"Yep, that's me, I'm just an understandin' fool, if there's
one thing I'm good at, it's understanding, yessir'ee..." Willow
replied, blushing. Her heart beat almost painfully in her chest.

Buffy looked over at Willow. The sun had caught her hair,
highlighting it deep red and auburn. She is the most breathtakingly
beautiful woman on Earth, Buffy thought. She knew that kind of
thinking about her best friend should bother her, but she was past
caring. She had had thoughts like that for some time now, but she
had always done a good job of supressing them. At first, for the
sake of Oz and Willow's relationship; then Oz had left, following
some sort of werewolf-ish desire to be alone, and that had devastated
Willow. She could have told Willow then, but she was sure that a
relationship with the Slayer was NOT in Willow's best interest.

Not that she hadn't slipped, mind you. She had told
Willow that she loved her; it had come out so naturally, so easily
in response to seeing Willow hurting. But Willow had taken it
for another sign of their close friendship, which was probably just
as well. Buffy sighed. This was the kind of stuff that happened,
when you lived on a Hellmouth.

The two girls walked in silence for awhile. They
reached the UCS campus, and started heading toward Stevenson Hall.
The whole time, Willow was thinking furiously.

*I should tell her. What? That's crazy. NO, I should tell
her. This is the perfect time. C'mon, Rosenberg, time to grow up...*
"Buffy." Willow was the first to break the silence. "I...kinda have
a confession to make."

"Oh? And what does that paragon of virtue, Ms. Willow
Rosenberg have to confess, hmm?" Buffy teased.

Willow smiled. "Well, it's just that...When you said that
things weren't working out with Riley, well, part of me didn't hate
that."

Buffy arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Hey, Willow, if you're looking
to take a shot at Riley, don't let me stop you. He's free and clear,
and you have my blessing. Slayer honor." Buffy smiled, and crossed
her heart.

Willow sighed with exasperation. "Why do people always
assume that? No, what I wanted to tell you--"

"BUFFY!"

The girls turned and saw Riley jogging up toward them. "Hi
Willow. Buffy, can we talk about lunch?"

"Um, sure Riley, I have something I want to talk to you
about anyway. I'll meet you back at the room and we can talk more
then, ok Will?"

Willow sighed inwardly. "Sure Buffy! No problem." She
watched as Buffy walked away, Riley by her side. "I've waited
this long, what's a little longer..." she murmured.

* * *

"I'm sorry about lunch, I didn't mean to sound all
authoritative or anything. I'm sure there's some stuff out there
that you've seen that I wouldn't be able to understand." Riley
stopped walking, and looked Buffy in the eyes. "I just wanted you
to know I'm sorry."

Buffy smiled. "I understand. Thanks. I'm actually glad
you found me, I wanted to tell you something."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you today, because something has
come up, and I don't know...Well, I wanted to tell you in case I
didn't see you again."

"Didn't see me again?" Riley looked at her, concerned.
"Buffy, I thought we talked about the whole 'morbid attitude' thing."

"We did, but I'm facing something pretty darn serious,
and I can't deny the fact that I may not come back!" Buffy shook
her head. "Look, this isn't the way I wanted to do this..."

"What is it now, yet another convergence of mystical forces
that causes the known universe to get sucked into an evil
dimension or something?" Riley looked exasperated.

"What? No, what...Forget it, you don't understand. You
can't understand." Buffy turned angrily, and started walking away.

"Buffy..." Riley caught up, and stepped in front of her.
"Buffy, look, you can't just throw around this mystic mumbo jumbo,
and expect me to believe it, I'm a scientist..."

"No, you're a psychology major. There's a big difference."
Buffy poked a finger into his chest, hard, almost knocking him
back. "You hide in your little bunkers, and do your little
Dr. Mengele experiments, and pretend that all the world's problems
can be solved by your hi-tech weapons. But you know what? They
can't. They can't stop the prophecies, and they can't stop the
world from coming to an end." Buffy took a deep breath, and
a step back. "That's my job." She left, heading straight for
Stevenson Hall.

Riley stood there for a moment, speechless.

(End Part 2)
--
"If you hurt her, I will beat you to death with a shovel. A
vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. Have fun!" - Willow
*email: erin@xxxxxxxxxxx