Roles Reversed
by Bwriter
Part seven
[reviews]
Part seven - Past, Present and Future
Buffy looked from the Slayer to her watcher. Seeing that he was busy on the phone she walked to the Slayer and nodded that she should follow her.
They sat at the table and everyone else apart from Giles joined them.
"What was he talking about?" Willow was trying to stay calm.
Buffy was also trying to stay calm, but still couldn't shake off her demon.
"Travers met with a warlock today. He plans on killing you. I followed him and was going to kill him when your Watcher turned up. After a brief... talk... we both headed here. Now he's on the phone calling England and finding out what they know." The was pauses between the growls, letting Willow know that just getting the words out was hard for the Vampire.
"How come your all Vampy still?"
"Can't shift." More growls.
Willow was starting to panic again. Travers was consorting with a Warlock to kill her, Giles was talking to England and Buffy was acting feral.
Buffy had been watching the Slayer and every feeling she had centred on one specifically: need. Not even realising she was moving, Buffy closed the gap between them and pounced.
Willow had maybe a spilt second warning before Buffy was on her. She dimly heard Xander's shout, Cordy's protest and Tara's gasp, but all she could feel was Buffy. Buffy's lips, fangs and tongue.
Buffy felt Willow responding to her kiss and couldn't help herself from trying to further it, though the chair was restricting her, so Buffy broke the arms of it to get her body closer to the Slayer's.
The gang heard the chair arm snap and moved as one. Xander, Cordy, Tara and even Oz all grabbed hold of Buffy and dragged her away from a dazed Willow.
Buffy didn't take kindly to the interruption and let them all know with a snarl before moving to go to Willow again, who was still dazed from the kiss and the feeling it invoked.
Buffy never made it. As she looked down at the dart embedded in her arm, her last thought before blackness took her was that she would eventually have the Slayer, her Slayer.
Xander was the first to speak.
"Okay, what in the hell was that all about?"
Willow's hand lifted and her fingers brushed against her mouth, still feeling Buffy there even after the kiss. Xander and the others noticed the reaction.
"You've gotta be kidding me! There is no way your have lusty feelings for *another* Vamp!"
At his shout, Willow realised what she was doing and lowered her hand.
"One Vampire wasn't enough, so you move on to the next one? What is it with you?" Willow was about to speak when Giles silenced them all.
"Xander! That is enough."
Willow stood up walked to where Buffy was sprawled out on the floor. She bent and lifted the dead weight into her arms before looking at Giles, silently asking him what to do.
He answered by walking to the book cage they used for Oz and opened the door. Willow nodded and walked in and gently lay Buffy on the ground before removing her jacket and rolling it up to use as a pillow.
The cage door was looked and everyone sat back down, all now looking towards the cage for some sign of the Vampire waking.
It was Willow who broke the uncomfortable silence.
"What did England say?"
"It seems that they did know Travers was planning something but they assumed it was a simple test."
"Test?"
Giles looked to his Slayer and knew he would have to tell her and that when he did she wasn't going to be happy.
"When, if the Slayer reaches her eighteenth birthday she is given a test. The Slayer is disabled and then entrapped with a vampire foe whom she must defeat in order to pass the test. This is called the Cruciamentum.
She would be injected with an organic compound... of muscle relaxants and adrenal suppressers. The effect is temporary, then she would have to fend off the Vampire in question.
That is the test that is usually given, the one Travers wants to do, hasn't been used for years. Centuries even."
Giles finished and was almost afraid to look into Willow's eyes to see how she had taken the news.
Willow looked to her Watcher and heard everything he hadn't told her about the drugs, like who would be the person to give them to her.
"You?"
Giles answered her honestly.
"Yes, In matters of tradition and protocol, I must answer to the Council, but believe me when I say that I would have found a way to help you if you needed it. No matter the cost. You would not have faced that test alone, nor will you face this one alone."
Willow stood, she need to think.
"Keep an eye on Buffy."
She left without another word.
The others looked from one to the other, not sure what to say or do. Their choice however was taken from them when Buffy woke up, much faster than Giles would have suspected.
Buffy took in her surrounding and the fact that the Scooby gang minus the Slayer were sitting not that far away.
Giles watched as Buffy became lucid and let out a relieved breath when she reverted to her human face.
Buffy stood up knowing that something was seriously wrong. First she hadn't been able to shake off her demon all day and then she had groped the Slayer in front of everyone. Not that she really minded that part.
Standing up she looked at the locked cage door and then up at Giles.
"Where's the Slayer?"
Giles walked a little closer to the cage, ignoring Xander's advice not to.
"She's gone. I explained everything to her about council tests and she needed time to process everything."
Buffy nodded before stepping up to the door.
"Open it."
Giles looked like he was going to argue when Buffy spoke again.
"Either you open it or I break it down."
Xander raised the gun and pointed it at Buffy.
"Then I put you down."
Buffy didn't even spare him a look.
"Watcher I know that something strange was going on today, but I'm fine now and I really want out of this thing so just open the damn door."
Buffy took three steps out of the school building before a scent hit her. Turning her head she saw the Slayer sitting on a bench with her head in her hands.
She walked over trying to make as much noise as possible and was glad when the Slayer raised her head. She hadn't been as out of it as she had looked.
Willow spotted Buffy right after her senses screamed 'Vampire'. She moved over on the bench to give her more room to sit.
"How did you get out?"
"Giles opened the door. Whatever was happening seems to have stopped." Buffy reached up and put an arm around the Slayer, relaxing when it wasn't shrugged off.
Willow rested her head on Buffy's shoulder and closed her eyes. It was funny she thought, here she was, the Slayer, and she felt no fear at having a Vampire that close to her.
Buffy tightened her grip before asking if she was okay.
"Tired. Confused. Hurt. Angry. Frustrated even."
Buffy buried her face in Willow's hair before inhaling her scent.
Standing up she tugged on the Slayer's hand. When they started walking she never let it go.
Willow never spoke, she just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Tears clouded her vision, but they never fell.
Buffy walked Willow up the front steps to her house before asking if her mom was home.
"No, she's in L.A, some art thingy."
Willow opened the door and went in, mimicking her actions, Buffy tried to follow, only to find she had no invitation here yet.
Trying not to growl, she waited to see what the Slayer would do.
---------------------------------------------------------
Willow looked at the Vampire that was currently snuggled up against her and making purring noises in her sleep.
Buffy had an arm wrapped around Willow's waist and a leg thrown over her, possessively keeping her in place.
They had gone up to Willow's room last night and lay on the bed. Buffy listened as Willow spoke. She got out everything that was upsetting her; Giles, the council, her friends reaction earlier tonight when they kissed and of course the new threat, not to mention Buffy's state that day.
Buffy never commented on anything, she just held Willow and let her get everything out. When Willow finally stopped Buffy was going to talk when she noticed that the Slayer had fallen asleep.
Now Willow watched her and felt things she hadn't felt since Dru. It'd been a long time since she had someone she could really talk to.
Sure she had her friends, but they could never truly understand, they weren't the Slayer. Nobody realised how hard it was to reign it in everyday, not to use the strength she had at her disposable.
Dru had understood. She had, well not the same problem, she was a Vampire with a soul, not the Slayer, but she knew about power and having to control herself.
Buffy was like that too, Willow realised. Here she was, a Vampire, one who didn't have soul affecting her and yet she belied her nature. Sure she had at one point been a vicious killer but Willow had a feeling that that was now all behind her.
Still, thinking of Dru wasn't as hard as it had been. Willow knew she had to let go of the past and she had an idea of how to do it.
She gently lifted Buffy's arm and scooted from under her leg before leaving the bed. Buffy frowned in her sleep before settling back down again.
Willow quickly put on shoes and lifted a stake before going over to her jewellery box and getting what she needed.
She closed the bedroom door as quietly as possible before setting off.
The mansion seemed smaller than Willow remembered. She stood in the spot where she had killed her lover and remember not all the bad times but the good.
Taking the small silver ring out of her pocket she looked at its design.
It was plain apart from an engraving on the back. it read 'To the Keeper of my Soul' Willow placed the ring in roughly the spot where she had killed Dru and said goodbye to her past and opened her heart to her future before leaving the mansion.
---------------------------------------------------------
Buffy was pacing the living room. She had woken up and noticed that the Slayer was gone. She was about to go look for her when she realised that the Sun had risen.
So she paced.
Last night had been, well to Buffy anyway, it had been amazing. Waking up alone though led her to think that the Slayer hadn't felt the same way. Buffy sighed before going back up to the bedroom and getting a blanket before walking back down the stairs.
Wrapping it around her self she prepared to open the door when the Slayer was suddenly there.
"Going somewhere?" Willow tried to hide her nervousness but Buffy got it anyway.
"Figured you were giving me enough time to be gone before you got back." Buffy, like Willow couldn't hide her feelings.
Willow took the blanket off the Vampire before taking her hand and leading her back upstairs.
"It's still early." Willow pulled off her shoes before laying down and pulling Buffy with her. She crawled into the Vampire's arms and was sleeping in minutes.
Buffy lay awake and thought about everything that had happened and everything that was still happening.
Her last thought before drifting off was that the Slayer seemed more relaxed than she could ever remember seeing her.
With a smile on her face, The Vampire fell asleep in the arms of the Slayer.