Choose
by sailor80
Nine
[reviews]
Willow was gagged and bound. 'At least there's a chair this time,' she thought. Her head ached, and looking around didn't make it feel any better. There wasn't anything to see, anyway. Walls. A door. She felt the tingle of magicks around her and in her blood.
Concentrating, she picked at the threads of magick around her. She was able to free herself from the chair and remove the tape from across her mouth. She rubbed at the left behind adhesive before standing. She explored the room physically first, then expanded her magicks outward. They couldn't pass the walls. She sat in the chair and waited.
* * *
As dusk approached, the Slayer prepared for the hunt. She dressed in black leather and armed herself. She ignored her friends and family and concentrated. She couldn't feel Willow near her like she had become accustomed to. The witch's power was always in Buffy's background, taken for granted. Now that it was gone, she missed it.
The only Scooby to approach her was Tara. "It won't help," she told Buffy softly.
"It gives me something else to think about. Besides, I know Spike is involved with this somehow. I'll kill him, and he'll tell me what he did."
"You might," Tara smiled a little, "want to do that the other way around."
"Whatever," Buffy answered.
" Be careful." Tara told her.
Buffy nodded and left before anyone else could try to talk her out of it.
It didn't take long to find Spike. She beat him furiously, demanding with each strike that he tell her where Willow was. To the final blow, he insisted he knew nothing. Buffy staked him, then continued her hunt.
Long after sunrise, she returned to the manor. She was tired and dirty, but unhurt. She ignored everyone she passed. In the room she had shared with Willow, she stripped and showered, then threw herself into the bed. She couldn't sleep without Willow there, and soon gave up trying. She dressed and went to the kitchen. Buffy ate quickly and went in search of Giles.
He was in the library with Tara, Xander, Anya, two of the watchers in training and half the coven. Everyone had books around them. Buffy headed directly to Tara. She knelt beside the blonde witch's chair. "Do the tinkerbell thing."
"I tried. It just circled me."
"Locator spell."
Tara shook her head.
"She has to be somewhere."
"We'll f-find her." Tara patted Buffy's shoulder.
Buffy stood. She took one of the books off the table and walked with it to an empty chair. If she was bored to sleep, she knew Giles would let her rest.
He did, until lunch was brought in. When the server saw the Slayer, he scurried off to fetch another tray of food. Buffy stood beside Tara to fix a plate. Xander brought a chair for her, so she sat. Buffy ate mechanically. Her appetite wasn't diminished, but her pleasure in eating was. She was worried that Willow was hungry or thirsty or hurt or worse.
"She's okay, Buffy," Tara told her quietly.
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
"I can't feel her, Tara."
"I know. But she's there, I promise."
"This is exactly why I never told her before." Buffy stood, shoving the chair back. It caught in the carpet and fell. She stalked toward the door. Tara was quick to follow her.
"Buffy, stop."
"No time."
"Buffy." Tara reached the Slayer, put her hand on Buffy's shoulder.
Buffy stopped.
"You can't help her like this."
"She's being hurt again, and it's my fault."
"It's not your fault, Buffy." Tara pulled her into a hug. Buffy stood stiffly in her embrace. "Take me to where it happened," she requested.
Buffy nodded and Tara dropped her arms. They walked out of the manor house into the sunshine. As they approached the garden, Buffy's gut twisted with a sickening sense of déjà vu. She stopped well short of the bench and pointed at it.
Tara looked at the bench, saw nothing unusual, then ~looked~ and saw the magicks still swirling there. None of them were Willow's. "Giles needs to see this," she said.
"See what?"
"There's m-magick here." Tara frowned and backed away. "C'mon." She tugged Buffy.
It didn't take long to get the others. Soon everyone stood around the bench. Tara and the rest of the Scoobies circled Buffy while Giles, the watchers and three of the witches examined it. They talked quietly to each other about what they saw or didn't. Giles came over to them after a few minutes.
"It's a trap," he explained. "We're trying to figure whether it was for Willow specifically, or any magick user."
* * *
Willow was bored. She had counted the stones. There were 3,472. She had done fractal iterations for hours. Periodically, she re-examined her cell, looking for anything different than the last time she checked. So far, each stone was the same. The mortar between them was the same. The door was unchanged. The chair was uncomfortable, the floor was worse, and she wanted to use the bathroom.
The door opened and Willow stood. She wanted to be surprised at who entered, but she wasn't.
"Miss Rosenberg, I trust all is well," Quentin Travers
"It's not."
"Then let's make it that way, shall we?"
"What do you want?"
"The Slayer, of course."
"Here's a newsflash. I'm not her."
Travers smiled thinly at her. "You're not. But you are her weakness."
Willow frowned. Her eyes ran around the cell, noting the open door behind him.
* * *
Back in the library, they were checking different books. Giles was talking to himself, and suddenly said loudly, "Of course."
Everyone's eyes turned to him. Giles was oblivious, as he kept reading and making notes without looking away from the page before him. As he finished the page, he realized the others were staring. He looked around at them, his eyes stopping on Buffy, who asked him, "What?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"You sounded sure."
"We'll get her back."
Buffy nodded and went back to reading. Pretending to read. Thinking about Willow. Worrying about Willow.
She snapped to attention as beepers went off all around her. The watcher and the witches looked at their pagers and left at once. When they were alone, Giles cleared his throat. They all looked at him.
"I've been reading the prophecy," he said. There's a mistranslation." He inhaled. "The heart of the Slayer shall be taken, and the Council will fall. The Slayer and her Sorceress will search the realms for their heart. Chaos will reign and the Slayer will bleed until the Sorceress opens the door between them. The Key then will be transformed and their heart restored. "
"You promised," Buffy said softly. "You promised we were safe."
Tara and Dawn both moved her sides.
"We'll get her back," Tara said softly.
Buffy stared at Giles. He refused to look up from the text. "You promised," she said again.
Tara put her arm around Buffy's shoulders. Buffy let Tara push her down into her seat. She looked from Dawn to Tara. "He promised," she said softly.
"We'll get her back," Dawn said. She glared at Giles.
Tara rubbed Buffy's shoulders absentmindedly. Worry poured off of Buffy. It mixed with sadness, and caused her to frown. Buffy said she felt Willow's absence, but Tara didn't. She knew Willow was unhurt. So far.
Buffy was numb. She didn't feel Tara's hands soothing her back. Giles had lied and the Council was involved. Tara was hers, somehow, and Willow was theirs, and they needed Dawn to bring them all together. But doing that would break Dawn. And Buffy kept her promises, especially hers to her mother that Dawn would be protected. But it was Willow, and Buffy would give almost anything to have her back. Almost. But not Dawn. Willow wouldn't want her to do that, Buffy knew. If Buffy's choice was between Dawn and Willow, Willow would insist that Buffy choose Dawn. "I hate prophecies," she grumbled.
"You need to rest," Tara told her.
"I can't."
"You have to." Tara tugged her to her feet. She and Dawn steered Buffy out of the library.
They went to Dawn's room and made Buffy lay on the bed. They lay on either side of her.
"She's worried about you," Tara said softly.
"Who?"
"W-willow."
"How do you know?"
"I just do."