Finding Her Way Home
by rebelrsr
Chapter 39
[reviews]
Disclaimer: All things Buffy belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and lots of people in expensive suits. I'm not making any money here, just trying to create a happier Buffyverse for my favorite characters.
Spoilers, etc.: Pretty much everything after the Gift.
A/N: Character thoughts are enclosed by **. Flashbacks are enclosed by //. Thanks to Ivy for the preread and Zigpal and Lilly for the beta and encouragement! I couldn't do it without you.
Archiving: By permission only.
A/N2: I'm mixing parts of S6 and S7 with very little regard to canon. For purposes of the fic, Dawn is over the age of consent *wink*.
The blue glow spread, enveloping Willow. The room didn't quite disappear. She could still see Buffy's worried face in front of her, hear Buffy calling her name. Wanting to reassure her wife, Willow reached out a hand. Her fingers tingled from magical energy when it touched the azure barrier. Pushing, pounding...Willow couldn't get through.
She started to reach for the link when a new wave of energy poured from her reserves. The wall separating her from Buffy thickened Frustrated, Willow fought to push the magic back behind the walls she'd constructed. For a second, it almost worked.
The barrier flickered, and Buffy's voice sounded clearly. "Will, come on-" she called frantically.
Just as quickly, the wall was back. A new scene overlay the living room. Willow wasn't interested in the show. Rather than pushing the magic back, she pulled in more. She decided she'd shatter the barrier with raw power. As energy filled her channels, the vision showing on the magical movie screen sharpened.
Robed figures stood around a glowing Circle. A bloody corpse was spread-eagled inside the glowing area. Willow's concentration faltered. The body had bleached-blond hair. She squinted, peering through the bright glow of the magical barrier. Ridged forehead, fangs. Spike?
All of a sudden, Willow didn't want to destroy the glowing wall. The power rippling inside strengthened the shield, and the vision solidified slightly. It was Spike. His skin was marred with runes carved into his flesh. Willow 'leaned in' closer. Blood poured from the wounds, dripping down Spike's sides onto the ground. No...not the ground. The floor. Willow thought it might be concrete.
The longer she looked, the more power drain she felt. She couldn't maintain this level of power for long. Whatever had started the spell had reached deep into her internal stores. Straining for a few more details, Willow scanned the shadowed room where the rituals were being held. Boxes and shelves lined the walls. The power flow faltered. The scene faded.
Willow managed one last desperate burst of energy. It wasn't enough. Spike, the Bringers, and the Circle were gone.
Blinking dazedly, Willow looked around her parents' living room. None of the researchers moved. They all simply stared at her in varying degrees of surprise and worry.
"Uh, hey," Willow mumbled, waving briefly. "I'm back."
For a second, she thought the strange spell had frozen the room. Then a small body slammed into her and a pair of muscled arms squeezed until she squeaked.
Wiggling in the tight embrace, Willow managed a breathy, "Buffy." The arms didn't loosen, though. "Need...need to breathe, Buffy."
Finally, Buffy stepped back a couple of inches. Her arms still encircled Willow, but they weren't squeezing. "What happened? You started explaining the rune thingies and then blue light exploded around you. I couldn't reach you."
The room slowly came back to life as Willow slipped from Buffy's arms and dropped onto the couch next to Drew.
***
Buffy watched Willow closely as she sat next to her sister. A frisson of fear snaked through her. Had her wife lost control of the magic again? Cursing her lack of magical knowledge, Buffy peered at their link. Everything seemed fine. Willow was simply tired and confused. "Will?" she asked again. "What happened?" Buffy dropped to her knees in front of the couch, holding Willow's slender hands tightly.
"I'm not really sure," came the wry response. "One minute I'm doing the Runes for Dummies Presentation and the next, I'm having an in-mind experience." Willow stroked a thumb over Buffy's hand. "Did you...did you feel anything while I was tranced out?"
Frowning, Buffy shook her head. "No. Should I have?" Her voice was sharp with worry.
Giles' hand on her shoulder kept her from freaking further. "Willow, what did you see? Was there something attacking your bond with Buffy?"
"Oh, oh, no!" Willow answered immediately. Then she blushed. "Sorry, I guess the question didn't come out right."
Nearly trembling from a need to get up and do, Buffy said urgently, "Will, please. Tell us what happened."
Willow's explanation didn't help her calm down.
"They had Spike?" Buffy realized her voice was a little loud when they were once again the center of attention. Lowering her tone, she asked again, "Was he OK?"
She flushed when Willow met her eyes. "He was bleeding, Buffy. They'd carved marks into his chest. I'm thinking no to that one."
Green eyes bore into her, and Buffy twitched. "You know," she mumbled, "Spike's a friend." An auburn eyebrow rose a little. OK, they both knew he'd been far more than that. "He's like an honorary Scooby," she tried again, needing to justify her earlier reaction. She didn't want Willow to think it was anything more than concern for a friend.
Drew interrupted their staring match. "That's probably the ritual to open the Seal," she said. "Did you get anything that might help us find where it takes place?"
"Uh..." Willow bit her lip, and the eyebrow dropped and then met its mate as Willow frowned. "I tried to look around. It was really hard, though. Shelves, some boxes."
Buffy leaned in, taking Willow's hand in encouragement. "What else, Will?"
"The boxes had numbers on them. Years, I think." Willow looked up and shrugged. "That's it."
A familiar throat clearing sounded behind Buffy. "Yes, Giles?" she snapped. Couldn't he just ask the question without the sound effects?
"Yes, forgive me." He sounded tired, and Buffy closed her eyes, ashamed of the herself. "Do you perhaps remember which years, Willow? We have so little to go on. Maybe that might help us narrow the locations."
"I think so," Willow answered. "It was weird, though. The years weren't listed separately. One said 1990 slash 91. And...I think another said 1986 slash 87."
Giles sighed and moved around Buffy. Perching on the table near the couch, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Why am I not surprised?"
"You know where it is?" Drew's excited question barely beat out Buffy's.
"Indeed." Smiling wryly, he looked directly at Buffy. "It sounds a great deal like the basement of Sunnydale High School."
***
"Then she's as fucked up as you, Old Timer. Talk?" Faith taunted. Thinking Kirstan might still be off balance, she attacked. Leaping into the air, she spun, lashing out with her right heel. For the second time in the span of minutes, a hard hand wrapped around her ankle.
Kirstan used Faith's momentum, whipping her around before tossing her across the large room. "I'd like to think you're just out of practice, little girl. This is pathetic."
Panting, Faith glowered at Kirstan. "Yuck it up. Go ahead. I never claimed to be as good as B." She scrambled to her feet, approaching the older woman with more caution this time.
"I'm glad." The mocking tone was still there. "I'd say your Watcher didn't know how to handle all your attitude —" Kirstan never had a chance to finish.
The words echoed hollowly in Faith's head, mixed with the agonized screams of her Watcher as Kakistos tortured her to death. The Slayer slipped the leash. Swinging wildly, she went after Kirstan. This time, Kirstan couldn't avoid the blows.
The Slayer drove the cause of her host's anguish around the room. Soon...soon she'd break through the woman's guard. Quickening the attack, the Slayer pressed forward, and Kirstan went down. It was exactly what the Slayer had been waiting for. She dove at her target — and yelped when a booted foot slammed into her stomach.
While the Slayer tried to shake off confusion and pain, Faith resumed control. "Kirstan," she gasped, curled on the floor, "get out. Please. I don't want to hurt you."
She didn't expect the snort or the laughter. "You must have been sleeping while your Slayer tried to kill me. You and she need a trainer. I have some bruises and bumps. That's all. My fall was choreographed to suck you in."
"Fuck." Faith slammed a hand onto the mat under her. Kirstan had to be joking. The Slayer hadn't been holding anything back. "Can you just stop with the crap? I already killed a couple of people. I ain't looking to make it three," she snapped.
"You killed humans, Faith." Kirstan walked over and sat next to her. "Humans. I'm not human. I am," Kirstan grimaced and corrected herself, "I was a Slayer. The power may be diluted now, but I'm still way beyond your victims."
The remaining adrenaline and anger drained away. "Way beyond me, too, Old Timer," Faith admitted quietly.
"Why?" Kirstan asked just as softly. The taunting note was gone from her voice. "Buffy showed up here on the verge of a breakdown and still wiped the floor with me. You're in far better condition. Why the difference in skills?"
"The Watcher you mentioned." Faith closed her eyes. Maybe the darkness would help with this story. She'd only ever told Buffy — and even Buffy didn't know all of it. "Well, my first one, anyway. She..." Faith coughed to clear the lump from her throat. "We hadn't been together very long, and I wasn't big on listening to her."
She stopped her tale, holding very still, trying desperately to hold back the tears. The hot liquid leaked out anyway, trailing slowly down the side of her head into her hair. "Some really old vamp came after us. He killed her while I stood there."
Strong hands gripped her shoulders. "Easy, Faith. I'm right here, little girl."
Something broke at that. Deep inside, deeper even than her new bond with Dawn had yet reached, a wall shattered. The tears came faster and in greater numbers. "It's my fault she's dead," Faith choked out. "I didn't know how to help her, and I froze."
Kirstan gave up holding her at a distance and pulled her into her lap, rocking them slowly.
"I ran," Faith continued, reliving every detail in her mind. Her muscles twitched and strained as she numbly related her flight to Sunnydale and her meeting with Buffy. "B was...she was like some Slayer God. I mean, even before I'd gotten there, she was all my Watcher could talk about."
"She's just a Slayer, Faith," Kirstan broke in. "Surely you know that?"