Champions All
by W/T4Eva
That Old Spell Again
[reviews]
Cordelia watched Angelus on the screen with the sound turned off. He was chained up and in the cage but as usual was talking away, trying to play his games. The object of his dialogue was Kennedy who was sat on the stairs reading, seemingly oblivious to Angelus's ranting.
Wesley entered the office. "Better get some sleep," he said. "Faith went up a while ago so she can relieve Kennedy later. I'll be here researching for a while."
Cordelia left the office and went into the foyer. Connor had bedded down on the couch, Lorne and Fred presumably were upstairs. Cordelia idly wondered if it had stopped raining and went over to the window. Yup, all dry now. Even the clouds had cleared. She could see the brightest of the stars up above shining....stars?
Cordelia stepped out of the front door looking up at the sky. Stars, no doubt about it, real stars! Cordelia hurried back inside shouting. "It's gone, it's gone, come and look, come and look!"
Connor roused from his sleep and Wesley came out of the office. Fred and Lorne appeared, the latter carrying a tray with a coffee pot and cups.
"What's gone?" asked Fred hurrying over to Cordelia. What's gone wrong now she thought, I hope he's not escaped again.
"He's gone?" said Connor rushing over. "How..."
"Not he's gone," corrected Cordelia. "It's gone. The darkness, it's gone."
"I don't want to rain on your parade sugar," said Lorne but looking out the window..."
"It's the middle of the night," said Cordelia impatiently. "But the stars are out. Go and have a look."
The group walked out of the front door and looked up into the sky. What had been a mundane sight before the Beast had arrived was now a glorious prospect. "It means the sun will be up in the morning doesn't it?" Fred asked Wesley. "It won't come back again will it?"
"Nope, said Gunn walking down the path towards the group. "No more Beast, no more darkness."
The group followed Gunn indoors. An armed Faith appeared on the stairs having heard the commotion and had to be reassured that there was no new crisis. As Gunn started to explain what had happened Faith looked up. "Hi Willow," she said drawing everybody's attention to the entrance of Willow, Tara and Gwen.
The next several minutes were taken up with introductions and explanations. Willow and Tara allowed Gunn to explain what had happened to the Beast, with occasional sarcastic comments from Gwen. Willow introduced Tara as her friend and fellow witch but did not mention her new status as a Whitelighter.
"It's seems all that time I spent researching the Beast was wasted," said Fred. "But I'm still glad you guys got rid of it."
"It may not be wasted," said Wesley. "There's still the Beast's master out there. I don't think we've heard the last from him."
"Or her," added Cordelia. Typical Wesley she thought. He automatically assumes we're up against a man or male thing...whatever.
"So you used your magic," said Faith to Willow. "Heard you were a big scary Wicca these days."
Willow gave Faith an unfriendly glare. I wonder what she heard thought Willow. "It wasn't us," she said. "The spell was done by our three witch friends."
"They must be pretty powerful witches," said Wesley, angling for more information which wasn't forthcoming.
"So can you do the soul spell for Angelus?" Cordelia asked Willow. This led onto Connor and Fred explaining to the newcomers all about the capture of Angelus.
"We'd better wait until morning" said Tara. "We're all tired and that sort of spell works better if it's done during the day."
Faith quietly slipped away to the basement to speak to Kennedy. As she entered the basement Angelus sat up. "Hey Faithy, just the person I want to see," he said. "Come and give us a kiss. I'll tell you if you're as good as Buffy."
Faith ignored Angelus and indicated to Kennedy to come to the top of the stairs for a chat. She explained who had arrived and what had happened. She suggested that Kennedy go upstairs to meet the newcomers while she kept an eye on Angelus. That way I can keep out of Willow's way for the time being she thought. It'll give her the chance to get used to me being here.
Kennedy left and Faith went down the stairs and sat down. Angelus started up again. "Nice looking girlfriend you've got there," he said. "Did you bring her out of jail with you? I can understand you not wanting to leave her behind."
"Now, now, none of that," said the mayor from behind Faith. "My Faith's not like that."
Faith turned quickly and saw Mayor Wilkins, large as life, stood at the top of the stairs. "You know if you'd gotten together with my Faith back in Sunnydale everything would have turned out so much better for everybody," he said and then laughed. "Well, not quite everybody of course."
"I'm not your Faith," said Faith and backhanded the mayor, or she would have done had the mayor not been incorporeal. Her hand passed right through his head.
"Now that's not nice," said the mayor. "Is that the manners I taught you? And in front of company as well."
"What d'yuh think Faith?" asked Angelus. "How about we give it another shot?"
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Despite the events of the previous night Buffy and Dawn had to be at the High School the next day. Giles remained at the Summers house in charge of the four potentials. In the middle of the morning he answered a ring at the door. It was Amy.
Amy explained that she'd had a call from Anya telling her she'd spoken to Giles so she'd popped round to talk about the Magic Box. Giles took Amy into the kitchen for a discussion over tea. As a result of their discussion they reached agreement to become equal partners in the Magic Box with Anya, one third each.
Giles agreed to the restoration arrangements already agreed between Amy and Anya and shook hands with Amy over the deal. I really should get into the habit of shaking hands more often to be sure I'm not dealing with The First thought Giles. Living in a house with a lot of young women he could hardly go around touching them all the time.
"Why don't we go out and celebrate the deal over lunch," suggested Amy.
"I'm afraid I need to be here with the potentials," explained Giles.
"Bring them with you," suggested Amy. "They'll be safer with you and me than they would be with just you here. Anyway it's broad daylight."
"Didn't you do a protection spell on this house?" asked Giles suspiciously.
"Of course I did, but that's to block magic and to stop explosions going off," said Amy. "I can't do a spell to protect against everything. Nobody's got that sort of power. I thought you knew about magic?"
"Well I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take the girls out for a little while rather than have them cooped up here all the time," said Giles. "We can do some shopping on the way back. With the number of people staying here and with more coming we need to get a lot of supplies in."
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The sun was shining again in LA. The people gathered in the Hyperion Hotel were discussing Faith's dead visitor of the night before. Willow had explained what she had been told about The First Evil.
"So you're saying this First Evil whatchamacallit can pretend to be anybody?" asked Gunn. "How do we deal with that?"
"As far as I know it can't appear as anybody, just anybody who's died" explained Willow.
"Even if they're alive again now," said Tara.
"You mean like Buffy," said Cordelia. Tara nodded.
"Or any vampire, like Angel," said Wesley. "Technically all vampires are dead."
"What about you?" Willow asked Tara. "Can it pretend to be you?"
"I don't know," said Tara, "I hope not."
"You died?" asked Gwen. "Is that what that appearing and disappearing was all about?"
This was the first time some of them knew about Tara's orbing ability as most had assumed that it was the Halliwell witches who were responsible for the arrivals and departures detailed by Gunn in his description of events the previous day.
"Yes, I was technically dead for a while," she said. "Orbing from place to place is something I developed recently." Tara did not go into further detail and the others did not press.
"Well that...whatever certainly seemed to be the mayor. I mean he knew things, things the mayor knew," said Faith, "and his personality, his, his manner everything. That was Mayor Wilkins or his ghost."
"Perhaps pretend isn't the right term," said Wesley. "It seems The First Evil has access to the memories, to the minds of the dead. We've all got to be on our guard. If you see anybody who you know is dead or was dead always check it out, make sure it's a real person and not a non-corporeal imitation."
"There's a point you're missing," said Lorne. "This First Evil guy's got these killers working for him. He's going to try to kill somebody, maybe one of us, without the others knowing, and then take his or her place. We need to keep checking each other out."
This prompted a round of hand holding and general touching to assure everybody that the other people present were who they appeared to be.
"I'll check out Kennedy after we've finished," said Faith. Kennedy was asleep upstairs at the moment. Or at least Faith hoped it was Kennedy.
"And I'll check on Connor," said Gunn. Connor was currently on Angelus watch.
"What I don't understand is why this First Evil is acting this way," said Fred.
"Because it's evil?" suggested Gwen sarcastically. "Isn't that its whole reason for existing?"
"I know that," said Fred. "What I mean is why did it appear as somebody we know is dead? If it had come as Angel, or Buffy it could have really messed us up without us knowing it wasn't the real person."
"It's undoubtedly working to a plan," said Wesley. "We don't yet know what it is."
"Or it may be more limited that it wants us to realise," suggested Tara. "It may only be able to do these short appearances at the moment."
"Yeah, the mayor was only there for a few minutes," said Faith. But long enough to make me sick of what I did when I worked for him she thought.
"If it is limited in this way we can't rely on it lasting. It might be getting stronger as time goes by," said Wesley.
"Or weaker," said Gunn. "If the Beast was his boy, that must have hurt him."
"It might be stronger nearer to the Hellmouth," suggested Cordelia. "In fact it's probably concentrating on Sunnydale at the moment what with all the potential slayers going there."
"Which is why I'd better get on with the soul spell so I can get back to Sunnydale to help Buffy," said Willow.
The group broke up. Faith went upstairs to see Kennedy and Gunn went to the basement. Willow and Tara started making preparations for the soul spell helped by Fred and Cordelia.
Wesley went into the office to continue his researches into the First Evil. He had been shocked by the news of the destruction of the Watchers Council. He had already telephoned his father, a retired watcher and confirmed that he was OK.
Wesley's father knew the names of some of the dead but had been out of touch with Council operations for a number of years. What both puzzled and annoyed Wesley was that his father had not contacted him. He supposed his father might have assumed he would already know but suspected it was a continuation of his father's disapproval over his split with the Council.
"That just leaves you and me," said Lorne to Gwen. "Fancy helping me put some lunch together?"
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Giles stopped his hire car outside the Summers house. As he got out of the car with the four potentials he saw a girl waiting outside the front of the house. Another potential he thought, I knew I should have stayed here. At least she seems to be all right.
The new girl was Sophie, an American from Georgia. Her watcher had gone to England a couple of weeks earlier and she hadn't heard from her since. She'd come to see Buffy because that's what her watcher had told her to do in an emergency. She hadn't seen any Bringers or even heard of them. She'd had an uneventful journey by plane and bus.
Sophie helped the other girls unload the supplies and take them into the house, thus incidentally confirming that she was properly corporeal. All the time the other potentials chatted about the slayer and what had happened to them in the past few days. They all seem brighter, more confident, than when they first arrived thought Giles.
As Giles locked up the car after everything had been taken out Xander pulled up behind in his car. "Buffy about?" he asked.
"She's not back from school. She should be here in about half an hour," replied Giles. "Something up?"
"New potential," said Xander.
"She's already here," said Giles.
"Huh?" replied Xander puzzled.
"Sophie, she just got in from Georgia," explained Giles pointing to the blonde girl chatting to Molly.
"No, this is another one," said Xander, "somebody local. Buffy had a call from England. As there was nobody here they rang me."
"At work?" asked Giles, puzzled.
"I was at home," said Xander. "I've been doing a few late shifts lately and was having a day off."
"Who exactly rang?" asked Giles.
"Somebody called Althenea. She said there was a new potential here in Sunnydale but they didn't know who it was."
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Willow and Tara were doing the spell to ensoul Angel together. They had already done the spell to release his soul from its container, wherever it was. For a long time they had done all their spells together but this was the first one together since...since, since we brought Buffy back thought Willow. They were both enjoying themselves immensely, neither of them could stop smiling at each other.
Gunn and Connor were downstairs watching Angelus, Lorne was in the kitchen and the others were watching Willow and Tara. Gradually Fred began to realise something. She whispered "Do you think Willow and Tara..."
Cordelia, Faith, Kennedy and Gwen all looked at Fred as if she were stupid. "Oh...right," said Fred realizing she was the last to notice. Or perhaps not quite the last:
"What?" asked Wesley.
"I'll explain later," said Cordelia smiling. Wesley gave her a puzzled look but said no more.
Willow and Tara finished the spell.
"How will we know it worked?" asked Kennedy. "How will we know he isn't faking?"
"Again," said Cordelia.
"I'll know," said Tara leading the way down to the basement.
In the basement Tara declared that Angel did indeed now have his soul back. Gunn unlocked the cage and released Angel from the chains. They all then went back upstairs.
Back in the foyer Lorne joined them and Willow introduced Tara to Angel and Faith introduced Kennedy. They all brought Angel up to date on what had been happening.
"Sorry we can't stay," said Willow. "But we've got to get back to Sunnydale."
Faith and Kennedy explained that they too would be going to Sunnydale to join up with Buffy and the potentials as it seemed The First Evil had primarily declared war on all the slayers and potentials. "It killed my watcher," said Kennedy. "This is personal for me."
Wesley explained that while he had thought about going to Sunnydale he had decided he could be more use staying in LA and carrying on research into The First and the Beast master. "What about the rest of us?" asked Fred. "I think we should go to Sunnydale to help as well."
Suddenly Cordelia staggered. She no longer had the severe pain from having the visions but she had been taken by surprise. Angel immediately moved to steady her knowing before the others what was happening. He helped Cordelia over to the couch to sit down.
"What was it," asked Angel, "what did you see?"
"Tonight, big band of vampires and demons downtown, looking for trouble," she said.
"There must be an awful lot of them in town at the moment, attracted here by the darkness," said Wesley.
"Guess that takes care of what we're doing," said Gunn. "We're staying in LA to clean up the mess left behind by the Beast."
"I think we can spare one evening for a little fun before we go," said Faith.