Champions All
by W/T4Eva
Crossover
[reviews]
Willow got out of the cab and paid the fare. As the cab drove away she looked up at the house, impressed. That must be the house she thought. It's the central point of the San Francisco Magical Nexus, or at least that's where I think it is if that book's not just a load of mumbo jumbo.
The house must be at least a hundred years old she thought. It's just the perfect sort of house for a witch, or for a coven of witches. Suddenly nervous she hesitated. For Tara she thought and stepped forward and up the path to the front door. She rang the bell.
A dark haired woman opened the door. "Yes," she said.
"Hello," said Willow nervously, "I'm Willow Rosenberg. I need to talk to you. It's about witchcraft."
"Witchcraft! Sorry, not buying any today, and it's too early for trick or treat," said the woman as she started to shut the door.
"Please help me!" said Willow in panic. "You might be the only person who can."
"Why would I be any help to you?" asked the woman. "And what do you mean by witchcraft?" She sounded skeptical but she was no longer shutting the door.
Suddenly, out of thin air, a large man in a long black coat materialized down the hall behind the woman. He looked human, a rather unkempt human but human nonetheless. However he felt far from human to Willow. A sense of evil and dark magic was immediately apparent to her. He was obviously some sort of demon. The demon raised his right hand threateningly.
"Watch out!" cried Willow at the same time raising her own right hand. The woman turned to see a fireball coming at her from the demon's hand.
"Thicken!" shouted Willow and the fireball slowed almost to a stop. The demon also halted almost to immobility as if trapped in thick tar all around him.
The woman raised her hands and with a sharp movement aimed her power at the very slowly moving fireball. It immediately dissolved. She then did the same thing to the demon, who came apart and vanished. There was nothing of him left, not even the dust left behind by a slain vampire.
The woman turned back to Willow. "Thanks," she said. "Guess you do know something about witchcraft. You'd better come in and tell me why you're here. I'm Piper Halliwell."
Piper led Willow into the front room of the house. As they did so another young woman came downstairs and into the room. "Did something happen?" she asked. "I thought I...uh heard something."
"Paige, this is Willow Rosenberg," said Piper. "Willow, this is my sister Paige. Willow's a witch, a pretty powerful witch. She just saved me from a demon attack. She's here for our help. She was just going to tell me why."
Five minutes later Piper brought in a tray of coffee and cookies and served them around. "Now what is this all about? You're a pretty powerful witch. Why do you need our help?"
"It's all about Tara, Tara Maclay," said Willow. "She's...dead. I miss her so much. She and I were...that is we were..."
"We understand," said Paige.
"We do?" said Piper, not understanding at all.
"Piper, Willow and Tara..." Paige broke off as Leo walked into the room having orbed into the house out of sight.
"Hi Leo," said Piper standing up to kiss her husband on the cheek. "We've got a visitor. This is...
"I know who she is," said Leo, "and I know why she's here. I'm afraid we can't help you Miss Rosenberg. I'm sorry."
Willow was devastated. She had told herself again and again not to hope but of course she had hoped. She had done nothing but hope and now her hopes had been dashed right at the start of what she had expected to be a very long journey.
"Now just wait a minute," said Piper, "what are you talking about? How come you know all about Willow, what does she want, and why can't we help her?"
"Willow wants us to bring her lover back to life but we can't do that and even if we could we're not allowed to," explained Leo.
"Her lover?...Oh her lover!" said Piper glancing at Paige.
"You're wrong," said Willow. "I know you can't bring her back. I don't expect you to do that. That's not why I'm here." Willow started to hope again, just a little.
Willow explained to Leo and the sisters that she wanted to talk to Tara. Tara had been taken so quickly there had not even been time for goodbye. She wanted to know that Tara was happy and...At that point Willow stopped talking because she was not really sure herself what she would say to Tara if she ever saw her again.
Piper explained that the sisters needed to think about what Willow was asking to see if they could and should help. She frowned at her husband as she said this.
"We've got to talk it through amongst ourselves and see what else the Whitelighter can tell us," said Piper. "Could you come back this time tomorrow and we should have an answer for you?"
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E-Mail
From: Willow
To: Dawn
Hi Dawnie, I got your message. Yes, I'm fine. I'll keep in touch when I can but there will be times, maybe several weeks at a time, when you won't hear from me. When that happens don't worry. It'll probably be good news. It'll be because I'm getting somewhere.
You're right to be cautious about trusting Amy but I think you should give her a chance. I've known Amy for years and I think she's basically a good person. Coming back must have been very difficult for her, just like it was for Buffy. Last I heard she was trying to get over the dark magic now that Rack isn't about any more.
There are however a few precautions that you can take when you to see her coven and I've put the details in a separate attachment to this e-mail. If you see Anya, ask her to go with you as well. I know she's a vengeance demon again but I'm sure she wouldn't let anything happen to you or Xander.
I don't have many of my books with me at the moment. Could you please do a little research for me? Could you see if you can find any references to a person or being called a Whitelighter? The people I saw today mentioned the term and I've never heard it before. I'm seeing these people again tomorrow and I'm hoping they'll agree to help me.
All my love (please pass on to Buffy and Xander)
Willow.
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Phoebe Halliwell joined her sisters and Leo in the living room of the Halliwell mansion. She had already been filled in by the rest of the family about the visit of Willow Rosenberg. They now had to decide whether they would agree to give her the help she wanted.
"You say she doesn't expect us to bring her Tara back from the dead?" asked Phoebe. That's just as well she thought because if we could do that we'd already have done it for Prue.
"She wants to talk to Tara, she lost her so suddenly," said Paige. "We can do that can't we? I mean we talk to gramps and mom. We can bring her Tara here for a while for her to talk to."
"You mustn't agree to this," said Leo. "Willow Rosenberg has used dark magic in the past. You can't trust her." Leo had been briefed in general terms about what Willow had done in Sunnydale over the past year or so. He was worried that Willow would lead the sisters down the path to dark magic.
"Well she saved my life," said Piper. "I owe her for that. We'll be doing the magic, not her. There won't be any dark magic involved. Besides I tested her and she didn't freeze. She's a good witch."
"Isn't it our job to help people?" asked Paige. "She certainly needs help. It's obvious she's not gotten over Tara's death."
"We're not some dead persons contact society where people can come to talk to their dead loved ones," said Phoebe. "If the word got out we could do that we'd be flooded out with people wanting the same thing." But why can't we talk to Prue thought Phoebe. We can talk to mom and gramps but not Prue. I'm sure Leo knows why. I don't believe his excuse of it not being the right time. She died more than two years ago.
"Exactly," said Leo. "Besides I don't believe that Willow just wants to talk to Tara. I'm sure she's got something more in mind."
"You recognized Willow when you saw her," said Piper. "What do you know about her that we don't?" She'd tried unsuccessfully to get more information out of Leo earlier. Well, now he'd better tell us all that he knows, she thought. At least if he expects us to do what he wants.
"Yeah, and you already knew about Tara," added Paige.
"OK," said Leo. "I'll tell you what I know." I wasn't exactly told not to tell them he thought, and I was told not to let them work with Willow Rosenberg.
Leo outlined the story he had been told: Willow was from a small California town, Sunnydale. She had become interested in witchcraft whilst at High School even though there was no history of witchcraft in her family. She had taken her interest further when she met another witch in college, Tara Maclay. The two witches had become lovers.
About eighteen months previously Tara had been attacked and badly injured by a very powerful demon known as a Hellgod. Willow had used dark magic to attack the Hellgod. This had not destroyed the Hellgod but Willow had survived the encounter and eventually Tara had recovered when the Hellgod had been finally destroyed.
Some months later, possibly as a side-effect of using the dark magic, Willow had started to use magic for personal gain, even casually for day to day things. This had lead to problems between her and Tara and Tara had left. Shortly afterwards Willow had been shocked by the consequences of what she was doing and had given up magic altogether.
Willow and Tara kept in touch via mutual friends and several months later decided to get back together. However Tara had then been shot and killed by a criminal, not by demons or by magic. The death was almost immediate and Willow had been present when it happened. Willow had immediately called on all her magic, dark and light, to try to save Tara and when that failed she tried to call her back from death. She was unsuccessful.
Willow then went on a rampage. She killed the criminal responsible in a very horrible way but by then was completely caught up in the dark magic. The consequences would have been severe had Willow not been stopped by her friends.
"Stopped how?" asked Piper.
"I believe she was persuaded to stop long enough for them to counteract the affects of the dark magic with white magic," explained Leo.
"So she stopped herself," said Paige, "before she hurt anybody else?"
"I believe so yes," replied Leo.
"So Willow and Tara are, were witches right?" asked Phoebe.
"Yes," said Leo.
"So where was their Whitelighter when all this was happening?" asked Phoebe. "It seems like they went through a lot. They needed help, a lot of help. Was it her Whitelighter who helped to stop her?"
"You know there are never enough Whitelighters," said Leo. "I'm afraid Willow and Tara never had one assigned to them."
"What do you mean one was never assigned to them," asked Piper sceptically. "These girls came up against a Hellgod. Whatever that is it sounds pretty bad." Mental note she thought, Book of Shadows. "Are you saying that's not important enough to get the attention of a Whitelighter because I don't believe it."
"They weren't assigned help because they already had help, just not from a Whitelighter," explained Leo. "They worked closely with the Slayer. That was how they were finally able to deal with the Hellgod."
"The Slayer?" asked Phoebe.
"That's enough," said Paige. "This meeting is now adjourned to the attic where we will all look up 'Hellgod' and 'Slayer' and any other rabbits Leo pulls out of his hat."
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E-Mail
From: Dawn
To: Willow
Read your reply just before we went to the coven. Didn't have time to find Anya but I did take those things with me and did that spell of yours. It was so funny. Amy tried to play a trick on all of us by doing a spell that changed everybody's clothes around. Your protection worked. The spell must have bounced back on Amy and her friends because their clothes all fell off. Buffy had to get Xander out of the room pretty quickly. Amy doesn't know what went wrong but I hinted that we all knew a lot of magic and were quite capable of protecting ourselves.
Anyway after that, Amy said sorry, she was just trying to break the ice. She and her witches then did their spells. That's when an ugly little man appeared who Buffy said was Principal Snyder. You probably know he's dead. Well he wasn't really there because he was just a ghost. Buffy put her hand right through him. He made all sorts of threats, like the bad guys usually do, and then he vanished. Buffy says it wasn't really Snyder but was something called the "First Evil." She saw it a few years ago. Buffy's going to ring Giles about it but if you know anything could you let me know please.
I did your research when I got back. I'll do some more when I can but so far I've found two references:
In 'Malvesio's Oracles' on page 278 there is a line which says 'Neither as pure as the soul of a Whitelighter, nor as black as the soul of a Darklighter."
In 'The Higher Realms' by Madeleine under the section on Seraphim it states: "It is believed that there are different ranks of the Seraphim, including Elders and Whitelighters but an alternative theory places Whitelighters in the ranks of the Cherubim."
Seems Whitelighters are some sort of angel. I asked Buffy to see what Giles knows about them when she talks to him.
On a different subject I've enclosed a copy of my calculus homework. What good is calculus anyway? Could you please, please, please give me some help if you've got the time? (But don't stop looking for Tara, Calculus is way behind Tara in anyone's priorities).
Love You
Dawn.
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Willow walked up to the Halliwell mansion. She was even more tense than she had been on the same spot a little over twenty four hours earlier, if that were possible. She rang the bell and Piper answered the door. She invited Willow inside. She led the way upstairs to the attic where Paige, Leo and another young woman were waiting.
"Willow, this is my other sister Phoebe," said Piper. Phoebe stepped forward to shake hands with Willow. "Pleased to meet you," she said. "Likewise" said Willow.
"What...what have you decided," asked Willow nervously. "Will you help me find Tara?"
"My husband Leo..." began Piper.
"The Whitelighter?" asked Willow. "You're married to an angel?"
"You've heard of Whitelighters then," asked Phoebe.
"Not until I heard one of you say the word yesterday," explained Willow. "I've been doing some research but I don't really know what a Whitelighter is."
"A Whitelighter is an angel, in a way. They help witches, good witches," explained Paige.
"So why have I never heard of them before?" asked Willow. "I know I haven't always been good but Tara was a witch and she was always good. She was the nicest person anybody could wish to meet. She never had any help from a Whitelighter."
"There aren't enough Whitelighters to go round I'm afraid. Most witches don't have a Whitelighter working with them," explained Leo. "We generally work in secret, we have to. Most witches never hear of us."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's not your fault what happened to Tara," apologized Willow.
"Right, now that's explained lets get back to what we propose to do," said Piper. Piper explained that they had discussed what to do and Leo had told them about what had happened in Sunnydale. Leo didn't want them to do anything because of Willow's previous involvement in dark magic. However, despite this they had not yet made up their minds.
"Before we consider things further we must be able to trust you. What we want to do is question you under a truth spell," said Phoebe. "We need to know that what you've told us is true. We need to be sure of what you are trying to do."
"We'll cancel the spell after you've answered our questions," said Paige. "You won't have to answer any question you don't want to but if you don't answer we won't help you."
"OK," said Willow. "I can agree to that. Anything else?"
"Like Leo said earlier we're not going to raise the dead," said Piper.
Willow nodded.
"You must not do any magic yourself while we do our truth spell. It'd be too risky," explained Phoebe.
"That's OK but what if one of those teleporting demons attacks again while you're doing your magic?" asked Willow. "You might have to do some more magic of your own then. Couldn't you do a warding spell first to keep them out of the house?"
"A warding spell?" said Paige surprised. "Why haven't we done a warding spell before now?" she asked her sisters.
"The quick answer is we never thought of it," said Phoebe. "But that's ridiculous because we know all about warding spells."
"Leo?" her older sister said turning to her husband. "If we've been too stupid to use a warding spell to protect the manor why haven't you suggested one?"
Leo looked as puzzled as everybody else and shook his head.
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It won't be long now thought Anya. D'Hoffryn will soon pay me one of his little visits. He won't like my latest missed opportunity. She continued walking along the road having decided to walk home from the Bronze. The old Anyanka would have turned that man into a worm all right. A monster worm, which would have killed a lot of people, including his former girlfriend. Instead she had turned his plate of pasta into actual worms and made him eat it. No death and destruction, just a stomach ache and a memory that would always disgust him.
She was aware of the vampire following her and the other two just up ahead. I don't see why Buffy needs to go looking for them she thought. They always home in on any woman alone at this time of night. Buffy's been here for years and they never learn to stay away from young women. Most vampires are very stupid.
Anya stopped and turned back to the vampire behind. "Oh come on, hurry up," she said. "I don't have all night."
The vampire walked forward and stopped. "I'm not who you think I am," he said confident she was mistaking him for a human. He abruptly vamped out and leapt forward at her. Anya didn't move a muscle. She simply held herself rigid and the vampire felt he was hitting a stone wall. He fell back surprised and Anya leant forward with a wooden stake and dusted him.
Anya immediately turned to the other two vampires who were approaching from the other direction. "Haven't you idiots heard of the vampire slayer?" she asked. The two vampires stopped and the female one backed away. The other however was a quite new vampire and typically thought himself invincible, even though he'd just seen Anya destroy another vampire.
"You see this is the slayer's town," continued Anya. "It's her business to destroy vampires. The good news is I'm not the slayer. The bad news is I like destroying vampires as well, only with me it's just a hobby."
Since neither vampire looked like attacking anytime soon Anya moved forward herself. She moved at much more than human or even vampire speed. She grabbed the nearest vampire by the neck and ripped off his head. He disappeared in a cloud of dust.
The female vampire turned and ran, only to run right into Anya who materialized in front of her. She took the vampire's head off with the sword that was now in her hand. As the vampire turned to dust she tossed the sword away. The sword, which Anya had constructed from air, immediately dissolved.
"If this keeps happening I'm gonna have to think of some puns," Anya said to herself as she walked away.