Female of the Species 12/? By Lesley Mckenna

["Diana Renee Bouvier" <DianaBouvier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Female of the Species
Author: Lesley Mckenna mckenna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Feedback: Please send it to Lesley.
Rating: PG or a mild R
Spoilers: None really.


PART TWELVE

In awe they watched as the box, once it had been manipulated in the correct
way, seemed to jump out of Buffy's hands to land face-up on the floor. The
metal inlay on the box began to project out and pale pink light began to
emit from the cracks that were forming between the inlay and the wood. Soft
music made by instruments unknown to man rose up in synchronically with the
light, melodious whispering voices sang along to it, accompanying the notes
in perfect harmony.

Then the box simply sprang apart, to be replaced by a hole in the apartment
floor. The pale pink light became crystalline, almost blinding, and the
music, the voices, rose up to become a crescendo of sound.

Buffy stared down into the hole, saw that it was in fact a descending flight
of steps leading steeply downward, so far that she couldn't see the bottom.

"No doubt about where we should go, then," she observed, more to herself
than the others, who also stood looking down into the shaft, dumbfounded
into silence.

"It's beautiful," Willow breathed when she could find her voice. "The color,
the voices, the music... So beautiful..."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "But it's a demon realm, Will. Don't doubt it. Don't
forget it. Looks beautiful to... to enthrall us... Mustn't be fooled into
thinking anything else or we'll be lost."

"But we still have to go in, right? Now we've opened it up, we can't avoid
it." Willow frowned, blinked. "Don't wanna avoid it."

Buffy tore her eyes from the rose pink light, which seemed to be hypnotizing
her even as she was warning Willow. Looked in Giles' direction, saw the same
fixation on his face as she'd seen on Willow's, which was no doubt etched
all over her own too.

"Giles, what d'you make of it?"

But Giles didn't answer, just stood fixed and still at the edge of the
staircase, his stance indicating that he was ready to descend blindly and
without thought.

"Giles!" Buffy snapped, giving him a little shove backward, away from the
edge. "Jesus, don't you lose it so soon!"

Giles snapped out of his mental fugue, opened and closed his eyes rapidly.

"They're calling," he said, his voice sounding slightly slurred. "We have to
go to them."

Buffy tried to clear her mind managed it. Knew with a kind of despair that
she should have insisted that Giles should leave here, because he was more
susceptible to the siren song of the succubi than she and Willow were. What
was Giles after all but a mortal man like any other man, with a man's
desires that were easily played upon and exploited? If anything happened to
Giles, Buffy guessed it would be her fault. But too late now. Too late to do
anything but go with what was happening. But somehow her earlier words about
fate and destiny rang hollow in her mind. Somehow, she wasn't entirely sure
that she believed in herself anymore.

"Let's go down then," she said, injecting a confidence she didn't feel into
her voice. She grasped her knife - a silver bladed weapon blessed by Willow
during the earlier preparations - hoped it would do some damage should she
need to use it. Saw Willow tighten her fist around the crystal wand she
carried. And Giles, come back himself at last, touched his wedding ring and
offered up a prayer which made the ring glow gold for a few seconds, which
encouraged Buffy a little. At least he would have some protection.

She stepped onto the first descending step - under her feet it felt like
polished stone, but she had no sense that she was about to slip. Indeed, her
feet felt cushioned by the stone, embraced, and she saw a deeper pink light
spread out around and outward from her footprint. Warmth flowed up through
her body, bathed her, brought every sense into almost painful awareness.
Buffy knew they would all have to be very strong, because this feeling was
intensely pleasant. Easy to lose your mind, your senses, to this sensation,
to the singing and music that drifted upward to fill their ears and heads.
Enough to capture a person, immerse them. Drown them. Drowning wasn't
painful...

"False beauty," she said determinedly, and the feeling drained away a
little. "Don't let it bewitch you," she called up to the others. "We have to
keep our minds clear, right? Mustn't let it mess with our heads."

So saying, keeping her mind totally focused on her own strength, she
continued downward.

It seemed to go on forever, the staircase. Down and down and down, straight
down here, spiraling down there, making them dizzy. Making it harder for
them to concentrate. By the time they reached the bottom, they were
exhausted, and sank to the ground to recover.

While she was sitting on the ground, the same pink stone as the staircase,
Buffy looked out into the distance. More beauty, a land of exquisite
loveliness like no place she'd ever seen before, or even imagined, making
every other place she'd ever visited appear ugly in comparison.

The sky above them was like that of a rose-hued dawn just before the coming
of the sun, although Buffy wondered if the sun would ever shine here,
wherever here was. The air was still, languid, fragrant with the same exotic
smell of tropical blooms that she had scented in the offices of Dreams
Fulfilled, during her experience with Deanna. And still the sound of voices,
of singing, of music. Muted now, but still audible, slyly urging the trio on
to seek its source.

As Buffy watched, a ball of crimson light began to form in the air above
her. It blinked at them, bobbed up and down. Buffy stood, reached up, put
her hand into the light, although she knew it was probably foolish, because
who knew what kind of power it held? The little ball sped away from her,
down a path that had just birthed itself from the stone. Then it came back,
sped away again, and returned again.

"It wants us to follow it," Willow said, also hauling herself to her feet.
"It's a guide, nothing more. It'll take us to them."

"I guess so," Buffy said. She cast a look at Giles, who had his eyes closed
and was playing with his wedding ring which continued to gleam brightly.
"C'mon Giles, you can't stay here, right? You have to fight too, or else
you're dead. Like Xander. You don't wanna die the way he did, do you? Not
now you got so much to live for. But you will if you let all this get to
you."

Harsh words, which hurt Buffy even as she said them, and she made herself
bite back the tears that formed at the continuing hurt of her other friend's
death. Willow's eyes glistened too, but the witch said nothing, knowing too
that Giles needed shocking out of his half-hypnotized state.

"Thank you for that, Buffy." Giles sounded hurt, even angry with her. "I
needed reminding of the fact that I'm just a weak male in a powerful female
environment. Yes, indeed, thank you very much."

So saying, he pushed past the two women and strode off down the path,
following the guide.

"We'd better follow," Willow said.

Buffy nodded; her heart felt heavy with sadness that she'd hurt the man she
loved so much. Hoped she hadn't done too much damage. Couldn't really regret
it if she had. If Giles could be helped by her hurting his masculine pride,
then she'd do it again. And again. Until they'd fought their way out of her.
Or until...

No, she wouldn't think that way. There would be no "until". There would only
be victory against the demons that had killed their victims with pleasure.

Resolutely she began to follow her companions down the constantly
lengthening pathway.

Time passed. On and on and on. The road seemed to get no nearer to its
destination, whatever that was, and Buffy found keeping vigilant harder with
every step. The intention, she guessed. Wear the humans down with sweet
music, an extraordinarily exquisite landscape and an endless trek through
it.

"Well, it's not gonna work," Buffy muttered aloud as soon as the thought
came to her.

"What's not gonna work, Buffy?" Willow asked, sounding drowsy. She too
seemed to be flagging. As for Giles, he was still ahead of them. Hadn't
spoken another word to either Buffy or Willow since he'd stormed off down
the path. By the set of his shoulders, he was still fuming to himself.

"The succubi trying to exhaust us with this non-stop walking." Buffy stopped
as an idea shone brightly in her mind. It might not work, what she had just
thought of, but how could she not give it a try? Without another word, she
flung her arms around Willow, who shrank back a little, apparently not
expecting a show of affection in this strange, devastatingly stunning place.

"What...?" Willow gasped, as Buffy kissed her.

"Love you, Will," Buffy said, continuing to shower kisses all over Willow's
face. "Love you..."

"I love you too, Buffy but..." Buffy didn't let Willow finish verbalizing
her doubts, just continued kissing her.

"We're strong together, Will, right? Strong together... Remember, Will?"

She saw Willow smile, nod, as she realized what Buffy was trying to do.
Break the spell by showing the true purity of their love. Let the enemy know
that together they couldn't be beaten...

"Love you too, Buffy. Really, really love you..."

Sweet Willow kisses, sweeter than the music around them, the fragrance
around them. Sweet Willow love, surely sweeter than any temptation that
could be thrown at them. When Buffy opened her eyes, she saw that Giles had
stopped too, that their love had even reached out to envelop him. He turned,
saw them, and shook his head as though forcing cobwebs from his mind,
smiled. Hand-in-hand, Buffy and Willow ran to him, enfolded him in their
arms.

"We love you too, Giles. Don't leave us," Buffy said. "We need you. Mom
needs you. Don't be angry with us anymore? Don't risk yourself any more by
leaving us to be alone?"

He took a huge breath, exhaled it as he leaned into them, sharing their
strength. Buffy thought - but couldn't be certain - that she saw a tiny
black cloud expel itself from his mouth. The black cloud of his anger made
something physical in this Land of Unearthly Delights? Who cared? It was
gone. Giles was back and they were all together again, as they should be. As
they had to be if there was any hope of they're getting out of this intact.

They stayed huddled together for a few long moments. Then the ground beneath
them began to rumble until it finally split apart in a heaven-shaking roar.
Holding each others' hands as tightly as they could so they wouldn't be
separated, they watched as a building erupted upward into the rose-madder
sky.

The building seemed to rise into the sky endlessly, so that the trio began
to wonder if it would ever stop. From the churned ground around the edifice,
gardens were forming, spreading out flowers of jewel-like colors in shapes
completely alien to the observers. Trees with emerald leaves sprouted along
with the flowers, forming a small forest between the humans and the
building. Another obstacle through which to pass. The road remaining
suddenly sank and filled itself with deep, clear turquoise water. There was
no bridge over which the newly formed river could be crossed.

Finally the land's metamorphosis stopped and Buffy, Willow and Giles got to
their feet. Amazingly no one had severed their connection, and they didn't
sever it now. Completely overwhelmed by what they saw, they needed each
other's touch.

"Oh bloody Hell," Giles muttered, and it seemed like such a mild thing to
say in the context of what had just occurred, that Buffy and Willow began to
giggle helplessly. "What?" Giles asked, then equally helplessly, unable to
resist, he joined in their laughter. The laughter of total and utter shock,
Buffy guessed. But whatever kind of laughter, it felt good. Relieved their
tensions a little. Made the horror of Xander's death - after which Buffy had
thought she might never laugh again - recede just a little, relieving its
burden.

"Guess there's no more doubt about where we should be headed," Buffy said
when she'd recovered herself.

"Just look at it," Willow breathed. "If we didn't know it was evil... Oh
wow..."

"Yeah. I guess "wow" just about covers it, Will. It's like something...
something out of a... a fairy tale or... or..." She floundered for a
suitable description.

"More like Arabian Nights," Giles told her. "You could almost imagine..."

"Giles!" Buffy snapped. "Don't you dare imagine anything, okay?" And saw a
wry smile form on the ex-Watcher's face.

Still, she knew what he meant even if he hadn't said it. Found herself
disregarding the very advice she'd just dished out to Giles. Began to
fantasize...

The building in the centre of the newly grown forest was exactly how she
would, rightly or wrongly, have believed a structure from ancient Arabia
would appear. A hundred or more minarets in the most delicate shade of
flamingo pink tipped with gold sat above apparently impenetrable
battlements. Blushing, Buffy thought they appeared rather like perfectly
formed breasts, glanced at Willow, who flushed too, having caught the exact
picture of her thoughts.

"Stop it, you two," Giles said, now the one to restore order. "I know what
you're thinking, because I was probably thinking the same thing and you'd
better stop thinking it. We have to get in, that's all that matters. Not
how... perfect it is."

"Yeah... Okay. Drifted there." Buffy looked at the turquoise river that
flowed between them and the forest. "What d'you think, you guys? We swim
across?"

"I don't see any other way of getting across," Giles decided. "It's too deep
to wade through and... Oh bugger..."

"What?" Buffy and Willow spoke in unison.

"Look down there... Right down." Giles pointed. Buffy peered into the water,
couldn't really see what he was seeing. Unless the slight whirling deep
below was...

"Oh... Yeah..."

"Whirlpools," Willow supplied. "Seemingly mild from up here, but I just bet
that if we tried to swim it, they'd rise up and engulf us. They'd drag us
down and while I don't think they'd drown us..."

"Not you two, anyway," Giles interrupted. "They want you and Buffy for
whatever purpose. But they don't want me. The water would pull me down and
kill me."

"Yeah, and the current would shake Buffy and me around so we didn't know
what we were doing. Maybe it'd half-drown us so they could take us and
then... while we were vulnerable, make us their... slaves. Whatever. Pretty
nice scenario, huh?"

"Wonderful, Will," Buffy said wryly. "So we can't swim. So, what then?"

A short silence, then Willow smiled.

"This place is magical, right? Which means that magic is enhanced here.
Which means that I can..."

She stretched out the hand that clutched onto her wand over the water,
closed her eyes tight, fervently muttered a few words of enchantment.
Sparkling rainbow light surged from the tip of the crystal flew across the
river, where it solidified slowly into a crystal bridge that shimmered with
the whole spectrum of limpid hues.

"Hey, way to go, Will!" Buffy exclaimed. Hugged Willow again. "You are so
clever!"

"Yes, well done, Willow," Giles, less effusive, but equally impressed,
added. Willow beamed happily.

"Better get across. Don't know how long the magic'll last," she advised.
"Come on."

So saying, Willow stepped onto the bridge. Immediately the colors began to
glimmer as her weight settled onto it.

"Come on!" she urged again, keeping steady progress, not waiting to see if
the others were following her. "It's not gonna last long; this place is
counteracting my magic..."

Buffy didn't hesitate. Shoving Giles ahead of her, she pushed him onto the
bridge, which even now was fading in some places, glaring with color in
others. With the combined weight of all three of them, the bridge's slow
disintegration accelerated. Willow got safely across onto the other side,
Giles was running, then jumping onto solid ground, a couple of feet behind
her. Buffy believed that she would get across when the whole structure just
collapsed under her. Uttering a screech of sheer fright, she groped at the
riverbank, just beyond reach of her questing fingertips. She felt the water
beneath her rise, felt it eddy around her feet, sucking her trainers from
them. Then upward, over her calves, her knees, her thighs...

"Help me!" she screamed as the water curled around her waist, grasping
eagerly at her, pulling her down...

Then a hand around her wrist just as she thought she would go under, yanking
in the opposite direction. Looking up through eyes that were half-blind with
terror, she saw Giles' face hanging above her. Willow's too.

"Buffy, give Willow your other hand," Giles instructed, shouting above the
roar of the water. Buffy tried to pull her arm out of the whirlpool that had
half engulfed it. Cried, as even her strength wouldn't shift it. The water
was up to her chest now. Soon it would be up over her head and Giles
wouldn't be able to hold her. As it was, she felt that her shoulder might
soon dislocate itself under the painful tug-of-war she was caught in. Felt
that her arm might just be pulled off...

"I can't..." she protested, sobbing like a child, half-choking as a
particularly vicious wavelet splashed up into her mouth, her throat.

"Yeah, you can, Buffy," Willow assured her. "Just hang on..."

Willow pointed the wand into the water, and another beam of light blasted
out, hitting the water, making it hiss and writhe. It also had the effect of
causing it to part for just a few seconds, long enough for Buffy to force
her other arm upward with the last of her failing strength. At once she felt
Willow grab at her, then felt her body wrenched out of the river, which had
soon recovered its sucking undercurrents. But not quickly enough to prevent
Giles and Willow from rescuing Buffy from its clutching grip. Cold and
shaking, Buffy found herself thrown up onto the grassy bank. Retched with
sheer exhaustion and reaction of how she had almost been lost. Then, looking
down at herself, she began to laugh again.

"It got something of me," she said between wild gales of almost-hysteria
while the others stared at her, apparently unable to share her amusement.
"Got my jeans..."

Then she collapsed again and blacked out.