Title: Heroes and Lovers
Author's Name: anotherlostsoul
Author's Email and URL: anotherlostsoul@xxxxxxxxx,
http://www.hopelessdreams.com
Pairing: W/Buffy
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and a lot of
other people own
the show and all the characters. The plot and the
story are mine.
This cannot be sold or used for profit in any way,
shape or form.
Please don't sue me, because I really don't have
anything to take.
Rating: PG, but may vary by chapter.
Spoilers: Set in season 4 of Buffy, so anything
before that is fair game.
Summary: Spike escapes the Initiative without being
chipped. How
will this affect the Scooby gang?
Author's Notes: This is my first attempt at fanfic,
so send me
feedback, please! A big thank you to Filip Janik
for his immensely
helpful beta-reading.
Chapter 1 A Fate Decided
Something felt very wrong, but she couldn't quite
put her finger on
what. Of course, the throbbing in her head and the
desert that seemed
to have moved into her mouth and throat weren't
really helping with
her concentration. She felt something cold, rough
and unyielding
beneath her, like she was lying on a stone surface.
Her eyelids felt
heavy, almost sticky and despite the fact that she
had no idea where
she was, she was reluctant to open them yet. She
opened her mouth
slightly, drew a deep, ragged breath and exhaled
slowly, the cool air
burning her throat, which felt raw and sore. In
that moment clarity
descended on Willow. She hadn't been breathing&she
didn't need to
breathe&
In a rush, the night's events exploded into her
mind. She'd left the
party early, after trying to help Riley with Buffy.
Oh God, Spike had
come back, and he'd been in her dorm room! He was
going to&no, he
had, he'd bitten her, bled her. Spike had killed
her! A brief rush
of panic tried to fill Willow, but it was strange,
sort of surreal and
distant from her. More like a memory of a feeling
then something she
actually felt. She was dead, yet she wasn't. That
could only mean
one thing. Spike must have turned her.
But something didn't feel right. She didn't
feel&evil. She thought
about all the things she'd seen vampires do and she
got major wiggins.
She didn't want to do any of that&but if she really
was a vampire&
then why not? And how come? What was going on?
None of this made any
sense&
"Good, you're awake. I was startin' to think I was
sittin' with the
wrong corpse," came a man's voice with a heavy New
York accent. "If
you stayed dead much longer&well, let's just say I
wouldn't have had
much hope for you ever waking' up."
Opening her eyes and sitting up slowly, Willow
looked around. She was
lying on top of a sarcophagus in a crypt. Looking
over she saw a man,
or at least something looked like a man, leaning
against the wall of
the crypt opposite her. There was something about
him, his presence
felt different, almost creepy. She blinked her eyes
a few times
trying to focus and spoke, "You're not human&or at
least I don't
think&I mean-I don't know&"
The man half-smiled and shook his head slightly as
he spoke, "I know
things are confusing right now Willow. The Powers
that Be really
pulled a number on you and things are gonna be hard
for a while. My
name's Whistler, they sent me to help you through
this."
"Help me through wh&The Powers? But I'm not alive,
and I'm not sure
what I am `cause I don't feel evil, but I should
cause I think I'm a
vampire and I-I don't want to be some evil daemony
thing&I'd rather
die then hurt people." She could feel the tears
welling up in her
eyes at the thought, `I'm vampire, oh God, no,
please no&' It was just
too much to accept. She broke down, sobbing
tearfully.
"Hey, easy kiddo, you've been through a lot already
and everything is
coming at you way too fast right now, but there's a
lot more going on
here then you know." Whistler walked over and sat
next to Willow,
placing his hand on her shoulder, "Just take this
all a step at a time
and it'll be okay."
The hand on her shoulder was warm and comforting. A
strange sense of
peace crept over her, as though something were
draining away her fear
and doubt, leaving a sense of serene calm in its
place. Slowly her
sobs faded and her tears stopped. He spoke again,
"And vampires, the
kind you know about, they don't cry. Not like that.
Not ever."
She looked him in the eye, confused. "Then what am
I Whistler? And why?"
Whistler held her gaze for a moment. Then he took
his hand from her
shoulder and dropped it to his side as he spoke.
"You ever wonder why you were able to give Angel
back his soul,
Willow?" He stood up and moved away a little. "It
was a gypsy curse
and a very powerful curse at that. A full-blooded
gypsy witch
would've been hard pressed to cast that spell these
days. Ms.
Calendar couldn't have done it and neither could
Giles, even though he
was quite the sorcerer in his day. But you did.
Not a drop of gypsy
blood anywhere in you, but you cast the spell and it
worked. Why is
that?"
"What? But the spell, it wasn't that difficult,
it..." The confusion
in her voice was obvious.
"Willow, trust me. That ritual may not have been
complicated, but to
make it work took power, and a lot of it." Whistler
grinned at her,
"I was in Sunnydale at the time, and you surprised
me when you
succeeded." His face grew serious, "There was
something special about
you, something deep and powerful. That spell
touched it and started
to change you."
"Special? Me&no&I'm-I'm not special, I'm just
Willow, just...just&me."
Whistler shook his head slightly, "You were on your
way to becoming
one of the most powerful witches this planet has
ever seen Willow.
You just hadn't gotten there yet. Now you're
something&else. The
spell you used to save Angel? It changed you
because you performed it
for all the right reasons. For you, that curse
wasn't an act of
vengeance it was an act of love. You loved Buffy
enough to give her
Angel back in spite of everything Angelus did to you
and your friends.
In spite of how much you wanted her to be yours."
Whistler's smile
seemed sad as he watched her. "That kind of love
changes everything."
"But&what am I? And what do I do now?" Willow's
voice