Causatum.alt
by sailor80
Two
[reviews]
Buffy looked at each of them again, Willow last. Every instinct told her to refuse to deal with the Council. But the carrot dangled before her family was tempting. It would make everyone's lives so much easier. Money would end their constant struggles to pay the bills. It would let Buffy return to school, and ensure that Dawn could go to whatever college she chose. Buffy knew that no matter what she chose, the others would stand behind her as they had so many times before. This time, she bowed to the will of the majority and fervently hoped it wouldn't be a mistake. "Tell them we'll do the video thingy. You can set that up, right Wills?"
"Yeah, no problem." Will frowned.
"Okay, what else, Giles?" Buffy asked.
"There's still the matter of the prophecy," he answered. "It seems that all the requirements have been fulfilled, but I still have questions."
"Like what?" Buffy asked.
Giles reached into his shirt pocket and removed a sheet of paper. He unfolded it, and read the prophecy to them again. "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.
"We've identified all the players," Giles continued. "Buffy obviously is the Slayer, and Willow her heart. Tara, I believe is the Slayer's Sorceress. Dawn is the Key. I understand how Tara opened the doorway between Buffy and Willow, but I do not know what happened afterward or how. There are other things, too, that happened while Willow was gone, that we need to discuss. Let's go back to when Willow was taken, shall we?"
"Let's not," Willow said.
Buffy scooted over a few inches and put her arm around Willow. "It can't hurt you," she said quietly.
"You don't know that," Willow answered. She stared at a patch of grass a few inches in front of her, then looked at Giles. "To name things gives them power."
"I know it's difficult." Giles held Willow's gaze.
"You don't know anything about it." Willow pulled her knees to her chest and looked down again.
Xander spoke before anyone could say anything else. "We won't let it hurt you again," he told Willow.
"I promise," Buffy added quietly.
Willow looked at Buffy.
Buffy wasn't sure what was going through Willow's mind, but knew it had her scared. She didn't think the others could see it, but she could feel Willow shaking. "I'll hold onto you every second. I promise," Buffy repeated, and squeezed Willow gently.
Willow closed her eyes and began to rock back and forth. Buffy forced herself to remain calm. Part of her wanted to pick Willow up and carry her away as she had done before. The rest of her knew that they couldn't keep things from each other, any of them, because whenever they did, something bad happened to force the issue.
Tara watched them. She recognized Willow's body language. She hadn't seen Willow look like that since Buffy's death, and she was glad for the comfort of Aislin's hand on the small of her back.
Dawn moved to Willow's other side and put one hand on her shoulder. Willow immediately stopped shaking. "It'll be all right," Dawn said softly.
Willow nodded slowly. She didn't relax her body any, but the panicked look left her face.
"Okay?" Buffy asked.
Willow nodded again.
"We were in the garden," Buffy began. "We were sitting on the bench, talking. Willow got this funny look on her face and let go of me. I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn't know, so I looked around. When I looked back, Will was floating. Her eyes were black and her hair was black and she screamed and disappeared.
"I went to find you guys," Buffy continued. "And we started to try to figure out what was going on."
Tara picked up Buffy's story. "I remember feeling something wrong, and a few minutes later Buffy came tearing in. She said you," Tara looked at Willow, "had disappeared. P-people don't just disappear. When Buffy left for patrol that night, I almost felt sorry for whatever crossed her path." Tara's eyes moved to Buffy. "I never saw you like that. I know you stayed out all night, and then you came to the library. After lunch, we went out to the garden, and I saw the magicks around the bench. We got Giles and the coven and some of the W-watchers."
"They laid a trap for you, Willow," Giles said softly. "They wanted you. Travers thought that if you were in danger, Buffy would behave as he thought a Slayer should. He believed you to be the Slayer's witch, and that assumption set the prophecy in motion."
"We tried so hard to find you, W-willow," Tara continued. "Buffy and I went to the nether realms to look for you, but you weren't there. We were told you couldn't go there. The next morning, Travers gave himself away. Your spells worked, W-will. We saw your tinkerbell light the night we did the nether realms spell, and the next morning, we saw your tag."
When Tara mentioned Willow's use of magicks, she began to rock again. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she whispered hoarsely.
Buffy moved closer to Willow before pulling her onto her lap. Dawn's hand stayed on Willow's shoulder. "No, Wills, no apologies."
"I promised I wouldn't, but I did. I'm sorry," Willow's voice was too low for anyone except Buffy and Dawn to hear.
"No, sweetheart, no. If you hadn't, we wouldn't have found you," Buffy soothed.
"You're not mad?" Willow asked.
"No," Buffy answered, "I'm as far from mad as I can get."
"Okay," Willow said quietly. She hid her face in Buffy's neck.
After a few moments, Tara continued. "I made Buffy lay down for a few hours, and told everybody what we had seen. We started to plan how to find you, Willow. Xander got blueprints for that place, and Anya figured out how modify the demon locator spell, and Giles got in touch with Aislin."
At the black-haired witch's name, Willow peeked at her. They hadn't really been introduced, and all Willow knew was that she and Tara were very friendly.
"When Buffy went patrolling that night, we did the locator spell," Tara said. We knew you were underground, and nearby. The spell worked perfectly. Xander was able to tell from the blueprints where we should begin to look. He chalked the doorframe so we could find it later."
Giles piped up again. "Buffy wasn't just patrolling that night. I sent her to meet with Aislin. Aislin has several gifts, and I hoped she might make the prophecy clearer."
Buffy interrupted him. "By drugging me?" she asked.
Willow sat up. "You drugged her?" She glared at Aislin, then at Giles.
"No," Aislin said. "Well, yes, I put something in Buffy's tea, but it didn't harm her," she told Willow. "It was to help her see."
"All I saw was the First Slayer. She was NOT helpful," Buffy stated.
"What did the First Slayer say?" Giles inquired.
Buffy thought for a moment. "'You touch the darkness but it doesn't touch you.' That was just annoying."
"Aahh," Giles nodded. "That makes sense."
"Oh, yeah, it makes sense to you now. Stupid Slayer dreams," Buffy muttered. She resumed her narrative in her normal voice. "I was on my way back to the manor when I felt you again," she told Willow. "I knew something was wrong, so I hurried. I found Tara and Giles in the library and we went after you." Buffy cupped Willow's cheek and closed her eyes.
"You were in a cell in a secret part of the manor," Giles said. "When we got there, you were in the corner and Quentin Travers was dead on the floor."
"I killed him," Willow said quietly.
"I don't know," Giles replied honestly. "It's possible. You let Buffy touch you, but when Tara did, she went flying through the air."
Willow looked at Tara. "I'm sorry," she said.
"I know you didn't do it on purpose," Tara told her. "There's nothing to apologize for."
Giles began again. "Buffy carried you out of there, and we tried to get some help for you immediately. The Council, of course, was not cooperating. The coven was working with Travers. Aislin came to help. While we waited for an ambulance, she and Tara, Dawn, Buffy and Anya did a ritual to help you. Xander and Anya gathered everyone's things, and we all went with you to the hospital.
"I am dreadfully sorry for all of this, Willow," Giles said earnestly. "I believed they would help you. From what Buffy told me on the phone, you were quite ill and probably dying, and I insisted she bring you to England."
"I should have listened to you," Willow told him.
"I should have paid more attention," he answered. "You seemed so strong, especially after Buffy...we relied on you so much. I wanted to believe you were fine."
"So did I," Willow said quietly.