Heroes and Lovers
by als
Awakening
[reviews]
The world around Willow seemed to twist and distort around her as perceptions shifted and her consciousness was restored to the mortal plane. The sudden surge of energy through her body as her powers were unbound lifted her prone, physical body into the air and shifted her into her Seraph form. Her emerald eyes snapped open as her mortal senses sharpened into supernatural awareness. She could feel the presence of a vampire, a demon, a warrior and a potentially powerful mage nearby.
Her body reacted instantly to the perceived threat, whirling to face the potential enemies and dropping to her feet in a combat stance with her powerful wings spread, poised to propel into the air should the situation warrant it. Even as she moved, another of her new senses revealed the presence of human souls in both the demon and the vampire, which could only mean...
"Angel?" she said softly, relaxing her body and her wings as her eyes took in the sight before her. There, arrayed around Giles' table, sat a demon with a human soul that she'd never seen before, Angel, Buffy and Giles. On each of their faces, Willow saw a similar expression of slack-jawed shock and awe, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on her.
Finding their unwavering attention somewhat disconcerting, Willow frowned slightly before reaching up to touch her own cheek. "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked.
* * * * *
"Oh, dear lord," Giles said as he collapsed into his chair, deeply unsettled by the implications if Drusilla did, indeed, have the book that contained the ritual to restore Spike.
Before anyone could say anything else, a sudden chill swept through the room, raising the hairs on the napes of their necks. A strangely hushed feeling filled the air around them, as the entire group turned toward the couch where Willow had lain. A brilliant surge of white light enveloped her for the briefest of moments accompanied by a powerful sense of awe. With an explosive quickness far beyond anything Giles had ever seen, the young redheaded Champion was on her feet and dropping into a fighting stance.
Giles felt his jaw go slack as his mind finally processed what he was seeing. From the backs of Willow's shoulders swept a pair of great, feathered angel's wings. The feathers were black near the leading edges of her wings, fading gradually through a spectrum of grays to pure white as they swept toward the bottom. The wings were spread wide, as though she was prepared to surge into the air, and his small living room could scarcely contain their impressive span. Her entire body seemed to radiate divine power.
"Angel?" he heard Willow's voice say in a near whisper, her body relaxing abruptly and her wings shifting and folding themselves back.
For a long, silent moment Giles couldn't tear his eyes from the creature that stood before them wearing Willow's face. In all of his years at the academy and all of the research he'd done since being appointed as Buffy's Watcher, he'd never expected to find himself face to face with such a being. As far as the records indicated, there hadn't been a confirmed sighting of a Celestial Angel in more than a thousand years.
Suddenly, it raised its hand to wipe at its cheeks, a confused expression on its face and spoke again. "What? Do I have something on my face?"
The surreal quality of such a powerful being behaving in such a human way shook Giles from his shock. Surely that couldn't actually be Willow standing there? Admittedly it was using her body and voice, but certainly it wouldn't also carry her memories and personality...
"Willow?" he heard Buffy ask gently from somewhere beside him. "Is that really you?"
Instantly, Giles braced himself for the creature's wrath. By all accounts, Celestials were capricious and difficult creatures, easily moved to anger by any slight against them, despite the fact that they stood firmly as guardians and warriors against the forces of evil.
"Um, is this a trick question?" the angel asked, the confused expression on its face deepening. "Who else would I be, unless you're in the habit of bringing other redheads to Giles' apartment when they collapse in the cemetery while patrolling with you, and if that's the case then you and me need to talk, missy!" She waggled her finger at the Slayer with a distinctly Willowy expression of mock annoyance on her face as she spoke.
"Oh dear lord," Giles managed to gasp out before slipping, unconscious, from his chair and landing on the floor with a thump.
* * * * *
Buffy heard a distressed whimper of "Oh dear lord" from Giles and turned just in time to see her watcher pass out and slide from his chair onto the floor.
"Is it just me, or did Giles just faint?" the Slayer asked aloud, before turning back to look at the mostly Willow-shaped girl standing in her Watcher's living room. "And, why do you have wings if you're Willow?"
"Wings? I don't..." the redhead began to say before glancing over her shoulders and stopping abruptly. A surprised "Oh!" followed as she seemed to suddenly realize that she did have two big honking wings attached to her shoulders.
"Oops, I guess I have some explaining to do..." she said, smiling embarrassedly as she turned back toward Buffy. She closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to take a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, the wings vanished and the strange feeling of power that had swept through the room vanished along with them. "Better?" she asked, simply.
"What's going on here, Willow?" Buffy asked suspiciously.
"I'll explain, but let's wake up Giles, so I only have to go through it once," Willow answered with a sad grin as she walked over to help get Giles off the floor and awake. "But, uh first... Who's the demon?" she asked pointing at Doyle.
Buffy shot a puzzled glance at Angel and Doyle, noticing as they managed to finally shake off the shock of seeing a winged-Willow seem to appear out of nowhere. "What demon?" she asked confused, "That's just Doyle. He works for Angel in L.A. He's a seer for the Powers that Be."
"Well, he does have a human soul," Willow mused aloud. "But there's definitely something demonic there."
"Hey now!" Doyle blustered indignantly. "I'll have you know that I'm entirely human... on my mother's side," he finished lamely at a sharp look from Angel. "I'm half Brachen demon on my father's side."
"Brachen Demon?" Buffy asked, somewhat shocked by the revelation, as Willow helped her scoop up the fallen Watcher and deposit him on the couch the redhead had recently vacated.
"Oh, that's okay then," Willow said with a smile and a happy wave. "Brachens are mostly harmless. It's nice to meet ya, Doyle."
"So Willow, how long have you been part demon?" Angel practically spat at the redhead. "And what kind of demon are you?"
Willow moved back over to the couch and placed her hand on Giles forehead, seeming to ignore Angel altogether. "Novo Evigilio," she whispered softly, smiling as a soft glow suffused Giles and his eyes opened.
Buffy shot a harsh glare at Angel, "I thought we got over the whole pointless jealousy thing earlier, Angel?"
"Buffy, she's not human!" he retorted angrily. "And if she says she is, then she's obviously lying to you!"
A wry grin spread across Willow's face as she stood up and mock glared at Angel. "Hey now!" she said, fighting to not chuckle as she parroted Doyle's words from a moment before, "I'll have you know that I'm entirely human... on my mother's side."
Buffy, Willow and Doyle struggled in vain to stifle a laugh even as Angel's face darkened with poorly concealed anger. "However," Willow went on a moment later as her smile faded slightly, "you're right, Angel, I'm not entirely human, just half. As it turns out, I just met my father. His name is Gabriel and he's one of the Seraphim."
Almost on cue, Buffy heard Giles' mutter an "Oh dear lord" and she looked over to see him polishing his glasses. A quick glance at Angel and Doyle revealed equally shocked expressions on their face, leading her to the conclusion that she was the only person in the room who had no clue what Willow's dad was. "Ok... what's a surfer-fin demon and should I be worried about having to slay Willow's dad?"
* * * * *
"Ok... what's a surfer-fin demon and should I be worried about having to slay Willow's dad?" Buffy asked.
Giles somehow managed to not snort derisively at Buffy's butchery of the English language and gently cleared his throat preparing to answer his Slayer.
"The Seraphim," Doyle cut in abruptly in his soft Irish brogue, "are a class o' Celestial being, sometimes called Archangels." At a hard look from Angel, he shot back "What? Don't act so surprised, I was raised a good Catholic like any self-respecting Irishman."
"Oh, well that explains the wings," Buffy said with a surprised look, before looking back to Willow. "So your Dad's not a demon then?"
Willow shook her head gently, fighting a smile, "Not so much, no. While I was unconscious, my dad came to me and explained everything: my birth, the fact that the Powers that Be lied to me, what I am..."
"Uh, Willow?" Giles interjected abruptly as put his now clean glasses back on. "Are you quite certain that your father truly was who he appeared to be?"
"Yep," the redheaded girl responded with a cheerful grin. "I used my powers to check him out and he was deceit free."
"I don't understand how that could be possible, Willow. In all of recorded history there has never been any indication of Seraph fathering a child." Angel couldn't prevent his anger from showing as he spoke. "In fact, there hasn't been a confirmed sighting of any Seraph in over a thousand years! And why would the Powers that Be, the beings who have guided the war against evil for millennia, lie to you of all people? You're just a girl they offered a chance to be Champion for some reason, hardly worth lying to."
All traces of mirth fled from Willow's face and her eyes flashed angrily as she countered Angel's accusing tone, "First off, you don't have to understand how it's possible. Secondly, until the gypsies shoved your pitiful excuse for a human soul back down Angelus's throat, there was no record of a vampire with a soul either, yet here you are. A brooding, waste of space that had to be dragged out of his apartment by a human child to save the woman he claimed to love."
Willow's glare turned icy and the temperature in the room seemed to drop noticeably. "I am the daughter of the Seraph Gabriel, not 'just a girl'. The Powers that Be lied to me, led me to believe I had to submit to becoming their Champion or that I would die and be taken away from the fight. The truth is that permanently killing even a half-Seraph takes a hell of a lot more than a vampire's bite. They deceived me into letting them reduce my powers to the barest fraction of what they were meant to be because they were afraid that I might not play by their rules."
A hushed silence fell across the room as everyone stared openly at Willow once more. "The Powers that Be work toward a single purpose, maintaining a balance between the forces of good and evil, and they are willing to sacrifice anyone and anything for their cause." Willow looked around the room, meeting each person's eyes in turn before turning her glare back to the vampire that dared call itself Angel.
"You serve the Powers that Be if you want. Be their puppet, help maintain their precious balance," Willow's face twisted into a grimace as the words left her mouth. "I think I'll Champion the forces of light, protect the innocent, defend the world from the darkness that's so determined to take it and the Powers and their balance can be damned for all I care."
* * * * *
Willow could feel the anger and hostility radiating from Angel as he stood across the room from her. 'If looks could kill,' she thought, suppressing the urge to stick her tongue out at the glowering vampire, 'I'd be so dead right now.'
Emotionally, the room was in turmoil. She could feel a deep sadness radiating from Giles, along with Angel's near hatred of her. From Doyle there was a deep sense of hurt betrayal as her words hit home and he realized that the Powers that Be weren't what he'd thought they were.
The only positive emotions she could feel in the room around her came from Buffy. Love, support, trust and, surprisingly enough, no small amount of lusty desire was pouring off the petite blonde as Willow put Angel in his place.
'Apparently,' the redhead thought wryly, 'assertive Willow is a big turn on for Buffy.'
Willow kept her cool gaze fixed unwaveringly on the enraged vampire, "If you really want redemption... if you really want to live up to your name Angel, then you better be damn sure which side you're really on. There's no room to straddle the fence in this war, which is exactly what the Powers that Be have done for far too long."
With a snarl Angel spun on his heel and stormed out of Giles' apartment. Doyle turned to follow him, pausing for just a moment. "Give him some time, Princess," the seer said with a grin and a wink, "he'll come round to your way o' thinking' but it won't be easy for him. We're gonna stay the night at his old place on Crawford, we'll come back after sunset tomorrow to help ya figure out how to deal with Spike an' Dru."
The redhead nodded and smiled gently at Doyle as he half-waved and headed out into the night after the vampire. As the apartment's door closed softly behind him, Willow turned to face Giles. The former Watcher's face was downcast, his sadness written on his face like an open book. He held his glasses in his hand, as though he had never put them back on after his last bout of cleaning them. "Giles?" she asked him quietly. "Are you alright?"
The sudden turn of her attention seemed to startle him slightly, and he turned his eyes toward her, forcing a small smile onto his face. "Hmm?" he answered as he put his glasses back on. "Oh, yes. I'll be fine, Willow. I had always suspected... even feared... that the Powers that Be had some hidden agenda, some deeper purpose to how they chose to guide the fight. Finding that I was right is somewhat less satisfying than one would think."
Willow smiled sadly at the man who had been like a surrogate father to her for the past few years. "You can't change what came before Giles. No one can, you can only move forward and do what's right now that you know the truth. We don't have to play by the Powers' rules anymore. It's not like they were ever much help to begin with."
"Yeah," Buffy added with a sudden grin. "I'm pretty tired of being the fall-girl for the Powers that sit on their ass anyway. So how about we ignore them from here on in and do the right thing just to spite them? I was never all that fond of the whole 'Chosen One' gig anyhow."
* * * * *
Doyle's head was pounding as he slowly came to consciousness. He found himself sitting semi-upright, dangling from heavy metal cuffs that were clasped tight around his wrists. He took a deep breath and immediately regretted it as a sharp pain tore through his chest. He opened his eyes only to find that it didn't help, wherever he was, it was completely black and lightless. With a loud groan, he shifted slightly, quickly discovering that the cuffs on his wrists were affixed directly to the wall, severely limiting his mobility.
"What the hell happened?" he muttered aloud, not caring who might or might not hear him.
"Drusilla happened," came a familiar voice from somewhere nearby. "She and her minions caught us by surprise as we came through the door of the mansion. Guess this is where she decided to set up shop in Sunnydale." Angel's voice was pained as he filled Doyle in, "You were down before I even knew what was going on. Try not to move around too much, you've got some broken bones and internal bleeding going on."
"Great," the half-Brachen moaned. "I'm sure it'll match the external bleeding quite nicely. Any chance of you getting loose and breaking us out of here?"
"Not so far," the vampire's voice sounded strained, as though he were pulling against his bonds. "But I haven't given up yet. Just hold on Doyle, I'll figure something out."
Doyle shifted again and the world seemed to spin around him suddenly and found himself fighting back the urge to empty his stomach onto the floor. "Why didn't they kill us, Angel?" he asked with a groan.
"Drusilla said something about a ritual and a party," Angel answered a moment later. "I'm guessing we're either sacrifices or party favors, either way we need to get out of here and warn Buffy and the others."
A bitter silence spread through the darkness before Doyle spoke again. "So, is Sunnydale always this much fun?"
* * * * *
From his concealed vantage point in the bushes across the street from the small block of apartments, Graham Miller watched the hostile known as the Slayer and a familiar looking redhead depart from one of the apartments. He remained perfectly still, holding his breath as they passed close by his hiding place without noticing him. The soldier waited patiently, making sure that his targets were unaware of his presence before moving.
With a slow and practiced grace, he extracted himself from the bushes without making a sound and cautiously looked around to make sure he hadn't been observed. A confident smirk spread across his features as he turned and walked the opposite direction from his targets, taking a slightly longer route back toward the campus than the one those two would likely take; after all it wouldn't do to be spotted before he could make his report.
Once he was completely certain that no one had seen him, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, but powerful, radio. "Base One this is Observer Two, hostile en route back to campus with her roommate. Notify Lilac that I'm coming in for debrief."
"Roger that, Observer Two. Base out," came the response from the radio. Miller's smirk only widened as he slipped his radio back into his pocket and strolled casually back to base.