Risky...but worth it
by Rin
Not the musical episode...
[reviews]
A/N: Thanks for the nom! Keep 'em coming!! We need to keep the Wiffy alive, and show those Spuffy fools that we are the champions, my friends... =)
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"Willow?" How had she lost the redhead? Granted, these tunnels were long and creepy...but losing the redhead? Not on her agenda at the moment. They were headed for the Master's lair. This was it. Buffy's last stand.
There was the Master, thumbing through something...but when Buffy shot her crossbow, the vampire turned around, and caught the arrow just next to his heart.
"Slayer, I was hoping you'd show." The Master...and what an ugly critter he was...
"I heard it'd be a party. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Buffy shot her crossbow again, this time at his leg. Might as well try a different tactic. This time it stuck, so she shot the other leg but he had bent over to retrieve the other one, giving her a clean shot of his head, which stuck.
"You honestly expect to beat me like this? I expected more from the slayer that killed off the entire order of Aurelius. Well...except me, of course..." He smirked at her...what could be considered a smirk in his twisted face...
"Well...there's a spot reserved for you, if you'd like...I'm not picky." Buffy felt a tug, as she dropped the crossbow. Damn...
"Come, slayer..." The Master used his powers to bring her through the force field. He'd never escape without her blood.
"I'm taken, sorry." Buffy elbowed his groin, as he held her in his grasp, running his hand eerily down her neck. She was trapped...this was it.
"Ah...a sweet little redhead, I hear...I wonder how she tastes..." He leaned in close to her neck but didn't bite yet.
"A lot sweeter than you, Koolaid mouth." Okay, not her best comeback. She was dying here...cut her some slack.
"Funny thing about prophesies..." He leaned in closer to her ear. "There's always a catch. This time, if you hadn't shown, it wouldn't have come true. It's the blood of the slayer that guarantees my release."
He bit down, and took just enough to make her weak, just enough to get out of the force field. Buffy had dropped into the water, drowning. He had killed her after all...
"I don't think so..." Willow raised her hands, eyes black, power surging. Before the Master had time to think, he was dust in the wind, as were his bones. All crushed...he was no more. "Buffy..."
Willow rushed over to her girlfriend, who was face down in the water. Wiping the blonde locks from her face, Willow checked for breath. It was too late. Buffy was dead...but she could be brought back to life. CPR class, don't fail me now.
Soon, Willow had the compressions and breathing down pat, and Buffy was spitting water and breathing. Once she regained her composure, the blonde just clutched to Willow. She could feel that the Master was gone. Gone for good. The redhead had saved her. She would always save her.
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"You defeated the Master; that's good, Buffy!" Giles had crushed them both in giant hugs when they returned. Who wouldn't?
"He killed me. Willow killed him." Buffy wanted to bathe...for days. She felt dirty.
"When he...I saw red." It was true. Willow wasn't sure how she'd gotten separated from Buffy down in the tunnels but she had. When she got there, it was too late...but she would do something about it.
"I'm going to shower." Buffy didn't talk the entire time back to the flat. She didn't even hold Willow's hand. Just...barely existed. Too many things going on in her head. She didn't try hard enough. The Master had just...taken her out...just like that. There wasn't even a long battle, or anything.
"Okay...um...do you need anything?" Giles could tell Buffy was depressed. It was worse than the first time she'd fought Angelus, when he'd bested her with no problems. Only this time, the Master had killed her...just like the prophecy said.
"No. I think I can bathe myself." Buffy just walked back there. As soon as she had the door locked, she jumped into the hottest shower possible, and cried it all out of her system. No need to burden anybody else with her woes.
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"Are you okay?" When Willow asked Buffy to come over for dinner, she thought there'd be more cuddling and kisses...not this...distance thing the blonde was doing.
"Fine. Why?" Buffy didn't know how to tell Willow that being dead wasn't the best thing in the world. "Everybody keeps asking me that."
"Well, you graduate tomorrow...and you've been kinda offish lately. Lots of things happening all at once." Willow didn't want to be selfish, and say that she wasn't getting any smoochies.
"I'm fine." Buffy had barely touched her food. Willow had gone so far as to make dinner, something she rarely did...but Buffy couldn't bring herself to eat. "Are you okay? You haven't touched your dinner much, either."
"Mostly just worried that my girlfriend keeps saying she's fine when she's not." Willow could read moods, and this wasn't the mood of a fine person.
"Yeah...well...we all have our moments." Buffy snorted.
"There's no need to be mean, Buffy. I just wanna help." Willow reached across the table to take Buffy's hand but the blonde jerked it away. "Come on...this isn't like you..."
"Yeah, well, being dead isn't like me, either but I've been there recently." No arguments. Buffy knew she was being mean. She didn't want to be but this slayer business was starting to get to her. Not to mention her cramps were getting worse by the day.
"I want to help but you have to let me in first." Willow scooted her chair closer to Buffy's, and placed a comforting hand on her knee. "Please, let me help you."
"As if I could ever deny you anything." Buffy smirked...it was a start.
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Okay, so helping wasn't anything sexy...like Buffy thought would happen. Things were going well, she was dealing with the entire being dead thing...but still no sex. Buffy wanted sex. Willow had promised her sex after the battle...so where was the sex? Buffy was getting sexually frustrated...and she hadn't even had sex yet. Her cramps were getting worse by the day, and they seemed to soothe around Willow but the curdling in her stomach would cry out for more from the redhead. Buffy wanted...and needed...more.
"Come on, Will..." Buffy never thought she'd be one to pressure a girl to sleep with her. Guess there's firsts for everything.
"I said no, Buffy. It's not time yet." Willow was starting to get scared the closer the mating ritual came upon them. The redhead felt that Buffy was taking a huge step in her life, one that she could never take back...yet, she wasn't getting any say in it. It was like lying to her...tricking her into marriage.
"When is it gonna be time? I want it to be time." Buffy was beyond annoyed now. She crossed her arms in defiance, and pouted...which Willow found adorable. "I'm sorry...it's just...can you blame me? Only an idiot would not want you...and I'm no idiot."
"Buffy..." Willow blushed, and ducked her head. "I promise. It will happen. Just...not now. Soon, though. I promise."
"Soon? Like...how soon? Tonight? Maybe in the morning after an evening filled with cuddles and Willow kisses? I can live with that." Buffy scooted further over to Willow on the couch.
"Saturday." The day of the ritual. Only five days away...
"Saturday? That's...that's like a lifetime away!" Which in Buffy's case, could be the truth, considering recent events.
"It's gotta be Saturday, Buffy."
"Why Saturday? Oh! Are you taking me on a hot date? Do I need to wear my sexy panties?" Buffy turned further towards Willow, about to kiss her.
"You have sexy panties?" Willow gulped. Oh, how hard it was not to give in to temptation...She was getting major karma points for this one; that's for damn sure.
"Lots of them...I'll model them for you, if you'd like. Giles and Faith aren't due back from the store for another hour or so..." Buffy straddled Willow's lap, and started playing with the baby soft hairs at the back of the redhead's neck...a definite erogenous zone for the girl.
"Um...maybe Sunday?" Willow gulped. Oh...torture...
"What happened to Saturday?"
"It'll be the morning after?" Willow was feeling super, super guilty now. She had to tell her. She had to know Buffy was doing this because she wanted to; the Council was wrong in this one. You couldn't just force a slayer to take a mate. She should get to choose her own life. "Buffy...can we talk?"
"Oh, no. You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" Buffy went to depart the lap but Willow held her tight, not letting her dispatch her spot.
"Um...quite the opposite, really..." Sheepish Willow grin always meant something was going on...
"Spill, Will."
"You know those cramps you've been getting? Well, they're not menstrual cramps...or the cramps you get when you're up on a demon or vamp..."
"Yeah. They're kinda hard to forget...what about them?" Buffy was starting to get worried. Was Willow...with all her witchy powers...giving her the cramps? Nah...that would never happen...
"You're in heat...or more specifically, your slayer side is in heat. It's crying for a mate, and well...that's why I was really sent here."
"To be my mate..." Buffy liked the sound of that...but still...the lies? "Why didn't you say anything? Does Giles know?"
"He was the one that called the council, who in turn called the tribe. I'm here to be your mate. The ritual is Saturday. That's why we can't...ya know...until Saturday. It messes up the whole thing." Willow was starting to get scared. She didn't like that face Buffy was making...
"And...what? You just thought you'd drop it on me after the fact? Oh, by the way, Buffy, we're physically bound to one another now, so don't take off? Is that it?" Buffy was kinda playing Willow, and kinda not. She really was upset. She needed time to think about this. "Will, relax...it's just...wow...I mean...that's huge. Why didn't anybody tell me?"
"Council tradition. The slayer isn't supposed to know until after the fact..."
"How is that fair? I mean...what if she doesn't like the person supposed to be her mate?"
"You sayin' you don't like me?"
"Quite the opposite." Buffy leaned in for a kiss. It was disturbing...knowing that there were girls in the past that were mated to people they might not have liked...Buffy definitely didn't pick the short straw. She got Willow...she got...Willow...the epitome of love and life. Yeah, this could work... "Saturday...we have a date, then."
"Don't be late."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Another few kisses before Giles and Faith returned, and all would be well in the world for sure.