Choose
by sailor80
Thirteen
[reviews]
'Damn it, I lost count. Have to start again. Buffy's coming. One.' Willow scratched her left forearm with her right hand and her left thigh with her left. She didn't feel the blood that oozed, or the scabs that had started to cover where she had scratched before. 'No magick. No magick. Buffy's coming, and I promised her I won't. Nine. Ten.' She rubbed her back against the wall, trying to ease the itch. It was everywhere. 'What do they want this time? I'm nobody, just a computer geek. Eleven. Buffy's coming. Twelve. What's that? Was it there before? I don't remember it. Buffy's coming.'
* * *
Buffy stopped. "Show yourself," she demanded.
The First Slayer stepped into her sight.
"What now?"
"Watch."
Buffy looked where the First Slayer pointed. She saw Giles arguing with Travers. She saw the Council, the full Council around a u-shaped table. Giles arguing again. The Council members arrayed around the Magic Box, trying to intimidate her. The Council again, and her family standing in the center of their table. But Travers wasn't there. The Magic Box, and everyone around the big table, researching. Everyone but the witches. A room that tried not to look like a hospital room but didn't quite make it, Willow sitting in a chair, staring out the window.
Buffy frowned and turned to look at the First Slayer but she was gone. When she turned back to what she had been watching, it was gone, too. "Stupid Slayer dreams," she muttered, and began walking again. It was less dark, somehow, in the direction she was walking, so she continued.
* * *
Tara and Dawn returned to the library, and Dawn resumed her homework. Tara picked up the book she had set aside earlier. She still couldn't shake the feeling that what she was looking for was in front of her, unrecognized.
Xander stood and stretched. "We're going to do that thing," he said and nodded at the blueprints, now in a neat roll in the center of the table.
"Be careful," Tara said softly. Both Xander and Anya nodded.
That left Dawn, Tara, and Giles around the table. Tara moved so she could sit beside Giles. "I keep thinking we're m-missing something big."
"Hopefully, Buffy will bring back some information."
"What if she doesn't?"
"We'll continue to look."
"For how long?"
Giles pulled his glasses off and set them on the open page of the book before him. "As long as it takes."
"I'm not sure either of them will last much longer."
"Don't underestimate them."
"Giles, think for a minute. They haven't been apart in years."
Dawn looked up. "Not since Buffy ran away."
Tara turned to Dawn. "Wh-what happened then?"
"I dunno. Something big. Will got hurt and Mom and Buffy had a big fight. Buffy freaked and ran away."
"Angelus," Giles said, "was trying to raise a demon who could destroy the world. Willow restored his soul just before Buffy killed him."
Dawn's eyes got big. "Wow. I thought Buffy was just mad at Mom."
"When was this?" Tara asked.
"Four years ago," Giles answered.
"Did you tell the coven about that?"
"No. It has nothing to do with why we're here now."
Tara looked at Giles as if he had lost his mind. "W-w-willow's been working dark magicks for four years and you don't th-think it has anything to do w-with w-w-why w-we're here now?"
"That wasn't dark."
"She bound a soul to a d-demon." Tara was incredulous.
Giles frowned, thinking. He looked at Tara again. "That's not all that was bound, was it?"
"I don't th-think so."
Dawn closed her book and raised her hand. "I think I just missed something."
"The enjoining spell," Giles said absently, as he thought about all that had happened between his Slayer and her best friend.
Dawn turned to Tara. "What is he talking about?"
"Adam," Tara answered, her gaze still fixed on Giles.
"What?"
Tara turned to Dawn. "I'll explain it later. Are you finished with your homework?"
"No," Dawn admitted.
"Dawnie," Tara began.
"I know, I know," Dawn interrupted. "Homework first, save the world later." She sighed and opened her book. "You guys never let me help," she groused.
Giles put his glasses back on and pushed the book away. He turned to a fresh page in his tablet and began to jot down what he could remember about the magicks Willow had used. When he finished, he passed it to Tara.
She scanned his outline. It started with Willow's restoration of Angel's soul and ended with Buffy's resurrection. Tara added a few things at the end, about spells she and Willow had done together, and a few she knew Willow had performed on her own, and passed it back to Giles. He read it quickly, his eyebrows going up at Tara's additions. "Do you know how powerful she is?"
Tara shook her head.
* * *
The blackness had segued into a uniform gray as Buffy continued to walk. She knew the First Slayer was still nearby, although she couldn't see her. Buffy resented each second spent doing anything except trying to get Willow back. When the First Slayer materialized beside her, Buffy, without stopping, asked, "What, time for more movies?"
"Her journey is not yours."
"I don't care."
"You cannot choose for her."
"Skip the relationship counseling and get to the point."
She didn't get an answer and knew she was alone again.
Buffy sat up. It took her a second to orient herself, and then she saw Aislin across the table. "I so did not need that now."
"Maybe," Aislin answered.
"Anything else you want to do to me? Oooo, I know, let's do that thing with the wacko vampire again."
"You don't need any more tests, Buffy." Aislin slid a sheet of paper across the table to Buffy. "Please take this to Rupert."
Buffy looked at the sketches on the paper. They meant nothing to her. She folded the paper and put it in her pocket. "Anything else?"
Aislin smiled. "Next time, bring Willow and Tara." She looked toward the window. "It's nearly dawn. You should go back."
Buffy stood, and followed Aislin to the door. Aislin put her hand on the Slayer's shoulder. "She'll be home soon."
* * *
Willow hugged her knees to her chest and rocked herself. Each backward drive banged her head against the wall, but she didn't feel it. She didn't hear the door open, or see Travers standing in the doorway, or hear him speak.
Travers scowled when Willow didn't respond. He stepped further into the room, trying to provoke a reaction from her. When that failed, he moved closer, until he was standing directly in front of her. He knelt before her, and put his hand under her chin. Before he could lift her face toward his own, he was blown across the room.
Willow screamed at his touch. The release of power was involuntary, but so soothing. Even so, she repeated, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," sobbing between each statement.
Across the room, Travers lay unmoving. The door remained open.
* * *
Tara jerked awake and sat up. Something was wrong. Something dark and powerful and bad had driven her from pleasant dreams. It took her a moment to associate it with Willow. She climbed out of bed, and pulled on the jeans she had taken off a few hours before. She jammed her feet into her boots and hurriedly tied the laces, then picked up the sweater from the chair and pulled it over her head. She stepped into the hallway and saw Giles. "You f-felt it, too?" she asked.
"Yes." He looked more worried than usual.
* * *
Buffy was jogging toward the manor when she suddenly felt Willow's presence. It felt wrong, though, and Buffy knew something was amiss. She increased her speed, racing through the dark toward the mansion. She blew past one of the watchers without acknowledging him, and ignored his calls to slow.