Choose
by sailor80
Seventeen
[reviews]
Buffy held Willow against her and closed her eyes. They were home, but there were still so many things that could go wrong. As Willow whimpered in her sleep, Buffy wanted to cry. Willow was still sick, and much weaker, and their mad rush to England had only made things worse. She looked out the window and watched the light change. As the darkness increased, she wanted to prepare for the hunt. She wanted more for Willow to be able to go with her. She missed their long evenings together moving from cemetery to cemetery, talking or not as the mood struck. Long silences between them were a recent thing.
She carefully kissed Willow's temple, and Willow immediately stilled. It amazed Buffy that her presence was enough to calm Willow. For so long it had been the other way. Buffy would stress, and Willow would say the only thing that could relieve her worry.
Buffy opened her eyes at the raps on the door. Tara and Aislin and Dawn were there. Buffy smiled and waved them in.
"How is she?" Tara asked.
"Okay, I guess. She ate some soup and went back to sleep." Buffy glanced up at the bags on the IV pole. "We'll have to change them soon."
"How are you?"
"I'm good," Buffy answered.
"We need to talk, but first we need to do the ritual again," Tara said.
Buffy closed her eyes and grimaced. "Do we have to?"
"We do," Aislin answered. "It's helping," she added in a softer tone. "I know it hurts her for a few seconds, but that's because it's undoing the harm the others did."
Buffy was as close to tears as any of them had ever seen her. Aislin walked to the bed and laid one hand on Buffy's shoulder. The other went across Willow's forehead. "It's helping," she repeated after a few seconds, and let go of both of them.
"All right," Buffy finally acquiesced.
Like they had done at the hospital, Aislin and Tara placed herbs around the mattress. Dawn moved to stand at the head of the bed, her hand on Buffy's shoulder. Buffy leaned to rest her cheek on her sister's hand. Tara took Dawn's free hand, and reached across the bed to Aislin. Aislin gripped Tara's hand and pressed her other hand against the back of Buffy's neck. "Buffy, slide your hands under Willow's top."
Buffy maneuvered her hands carefully to reach skin without disturbing Willow. When she was still again, Aislin nodded to Tara. They began the chant. As before, Buffy and Dawn answered. Again, as the herbs turned to smoke, Willow screamed and her body became rigid. And again, it took all of Buffy's willpower not to stop them. She didn't notice that the other women left the room at the ritual's conclusion.
She opened her eyes because Willow said her name. "I'm here, Willow," she answered.
"Am I dreaming?"
"No, Will. We're home and I've got you."
"I don't feel so good."
"I know."
"Don't leave."
"Not a chance. I'm staying right here as your personal pillow."
Willow didn't say anything for several minutes, and Buffy thought she had fallen asleep again. "I'm sorry, Buffy."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Will."
"I can't stop it."
"Willow?"
"Slayer," was the reply. In a voice completely unlike Willow's.
"Tara!" Buffy yelled. "Giles!" She tightened her grip on Willow.
"Weakling," the voice taunted.
Tara came through the door first, followed by everyone else in the house.
"Anyanka, you ally yourself with these," it paused for a moment and then spat contemptuously, "mortals?"
Tara and Aislin joined hands. Their magicks worked together in a way far different than hers and Willow's had. Their magicks had been like a chemical reaction, burning quickly and furiously, with Willow as the fuel and Tara as the spark. With Aislin, magick felt like macramé in two colors, complementary and equal, making something stronger than either of them alone could.
The witches recited a binding spell. When they finished, whatever was holding Willow's body hostage could do them no harm. It was infuriated, though, and howled its rage as threats of slow dismemberment.
Buffy slowly disengaged herself from Willow's body and climbed off the bed. She stood, looking down. The others saw her lips move, but no one could hear what she said. When she turned to them, Buffy looked fierce and determined. "I don't know what it is or where it came from, but we're getting rid of it."
"It's Gienah," Anya said.
Tara and Aislin whipped around to face Anya.
"He threw the best parties," Anya recalled wistfully. "Destroyed whole cities. People, animals, buildings, there'd be nothing left but rubble."
"Tell him to leave," Buffy demanded.
"Oh, sure. And after that, I'll command the sun to rise."
Buffy advanced toward Anya. Xander stepped between them. Buffy glared up at him.
"Anya, apologize to the nice Slayer."
"What for?"
"Just do it."
"Sorry, Buffy." She peeked around Xander.
"Start talking," Buffy ordered.
"Gienah," Giles recited. "One of a quartet of trickster demons. Also known as the right wing of the raven."
"Giles." Buffy turned to him, Anya forgotten. "Skip to the part where we kill it."
"The host must die."
"Try again."
Giles didn't answer immediately. Finally, he said, "Research."
Anya and Xander stayed upstairs with Willow. The rest of them returned downstairs. Dawn stayed at Buffy's side, holding her sister's hand tightly. Giles, Aislin and Tara talked about the demon resident in Willow's body. Buffy tried to follow them. She didn't like how their conversations kept returning to the phrase "death of the host."
"It's not a host," she said finally. "It's Willow. We have to find another way."
Buffy laid the book aside in disgust. 'Will could find this stuff in a heartbeat,' she thought. She pushed that thought away and stood. She stretched. The dark called to her. Instead of going out, she went upstairs.
Anya and Xander sat side by side four feet from the bed.
"I'll take over now, guys."
"Thanks." Xander stood and stretched. He shook Anya gently.
"I'm awake," she said crossly.
"Will's room is empty. You guys can bunk there," Buffy offered.
"Think we'll help with the research." Xander looked like he wanted to say more.
"Thanks." Buffy moved toward the bed. She looked at Willow. It was her body, at least. She knelt beside the bed and began to talk softly. "I know you're in there somewhere, Will. I'm so sorry about all this. We'll find a way to fix it."
"We'll find a way to fix it," the demon mocked. "You know how to fix it, Slayer. The Watcher told you. Kill the witch."
"If you're so eager to die, why don't you just leave?"
"I'm not going to die."
"What do you want?"
"What are you offering?"
"Your life for hers. You leave, I won't kill you. She stays. Unharmed."
The demon laughed. "You'll have to do better than that."
Buffy shrugged. "Your choice." She stood, went to the chairs, sat in one. "I'm not going anywhere."
Downstairs, the research continued. Tara and Aislin sat on one side of the table, half a dozen books between them. Dawn had set Willow's laptop up and was searching on the Internet. Giles was picking Anya's brain about the demon. She couldn't tell him much, except that they should be extremely cautious in bargaining with it. Xander brought another pot of coffee out.
Tara pulled a copy of prophecy to the top of the pile of papers in front of her. If it was applicable now, they had completed half of its requirements. Willow had been kidnapped and rescued. The Council was fragmented. From what she'd seen at the meeting, it would be a long time before any cohesion would be achieved. Chaos was running rampant through their lives, and probably through Sunnydale, too, since Buffy had been gone. 'The Slayer will bleed,' she mused. Metaphorically, she supposed, it was happening. 'What door?' Tara wondered, 'and between what or who? And where does Dawn fit in?'
Aislin glanced over at Tara. The copy of the prophecy caught her eye. She reached over and asked, "May I?"
Tara nodded, and Aislin slid the paper between them. They studied it together. Something about it troubled both of them. "Where's the original?" Aislin asked.
"I don't know. Giles probably does."
"Rupert," Aislin called.
He turned. "Yes."
"Where's the original prophecy?"
"In the Slayer Codex."
"Where is that?"
"At my apartment."
"Can we get it?"
"I'll go," Anya volunteered.
Giles sighed. "Fine." He described the book to Anya.
Xander and Anya left to retrieve it. The rest of them kept reading.
They returned quicker than Giles thought possible. He opened the text to the proper page and handed it to Aislin.
She read it slowly, silently reciting the Latin. Like all language, it was malleable. She began playing with the intonation, varying the stressed words and syllables. She read the prophecies above and below it, as well. She set the text aside and turned to Tara. "Tell me about Willow."
Tara looked at her, puzzled. "What do you want to know?"
"About her magick."
"We wrote it down." Tara looked across the table to Giles. He was all ready going through the random pages. He found the one in question and handed it across the table.
Aislin scanned it, then looked at Giles. "You let her do this?"
"She didn't ask permission," he said defensively.
She turned to Tara. Before Aislin could ask, Tara told her, "She did what was necessary at the time."
"Is this all she's done?"
"It's all I know about," Tara answered.
"She's so strong," Aislin marveled aloud. "This has been with her since the beginning."
"What do you mean?"
"What sort of Watcher are you, Rupert? Gienah was tied to Acathla, and was freed with Acathla. It's been in hiding in Willow until it gathered enough power to show itself and she was weak enough that it could. It doesn't need her any longer. It's toying with us, with her."