TITLE: To Cross the River Styx(4b/?)
AUTHOR: Chazzman
E-MAIL: charles.parise@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of thecharacters in this story. They all belong to Joss and the WB network. Please don't sue.
SPOILERS: Open season on Season 4.
SUMMERY: I'm re-inventing season 4.
RATED: PG
DISTRIBUTION: Just ask me, please...
FEEDBACK: Is very welcome.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you again to all the wonderful people who have sent me feedback saying they are interested in seeing more.
To Cross the River Styx
Chap 4b
Tara sat on the floor in Rupert Giles' apartment working her way through the finder spell. She wasn't quite certain how she had gotten here. Within 15 minutes of meeting her,Buffy had managed to get her to admit to having some spell capabilities and having been practicing magic since she was very young. Before she knew it, Buffy was walking arm-in-arm with her of the campus as if they had known each other for years instead of five minutes.
Tara had been working magic for as long as she could remember, but this girl, who barely knew her, was so enthusiastic and was pinning so many hopes on her success that Tara couldn't help but be nervous. Buffy had generated an urgent need in Tara to be successful.
When Tara began the casting she feltthe power begin to slowly build and start to swirl about her. Suddenly, the spell abruptly sputtered out. Panic immediately began to grip her.
"I told you, Giles. The Havalich had to be fresh," murmured Willow from the counter where she sat.
"S...S...Something's wrong. I could feel the spell s...start, but it didn't hold," she said apologetically to Buffy.
"Well at least she didn't summon little Timmy the Tinkler again, eh Rupes," said Spike with a smirk.
Giles ignored the jab and moved to look over the spell components, "Maybe the translation of the phrasing is wrong-"
"Phrasing is fine," said Anya as she bit into an apple. "It's the dried Havalich. Itlooses potency over time. The best is fresh."
"See Giles, even demon girl knows better," Willow sighed.
"Are you certain about that?" Giles asked.
"Why would I have said so if I wasn't?" Anya said irritably. "Look, I've been around for 1100 years. Demon powers are great, but occasionally I needed to cast a spell to find someone."
Tara's eye widened slightly at that statement and she looked at Buffy. Rolled her eyes and sighed. She would have to do some explaining. She noticed Olivia giving Gilesa look and grinned. Looks like she wouldn't be the only one having to explain. "I'll explain later," she whispered to Tara as she tried to smile reassuringly.
"Ok fresh Havalich. No problem. We just hop on down to Mage Depot-" Xander began to say.
"They won't have it," interrupted Anya. "It's too temperamental. You need a specialty shop, maybe in LA."
"On it," said Buffy and she moved to pick up the phone and begin dialing. She listened for a moment. "Hello Angel? Hi, do you know of any magic shops down their that might carry fresh Havalich. We need it to cast the finder spell for Willow. You do? Great. Uhm do you think you could get some up here tonight? Maybe send Doyle or Cordy if you can't come? Angel? Angel, what's wrong?" Her sudden stillness caught everyone's attention. "Oh. Oh god." Gileswas by her side in a flash. Tears began to escape as she continued to listen to the phone. "Angel, I-. Oh god, I'm so sorry. I- How's Cordelia? I see. No. No you don't have to. We can wait. Oh. OK then. We'll be at Giles'. OK. See you in a while."
She hung up the phone as she turned toward the apprehensive and questioning looks directed at her.
"Doyle...died last night."
****
Maggie sat next to Eve and watch as she rapidly answered question after question on the computer. She nowonly experienced the slightest twinges of guilt about what she had done tothe body of Willow Rosenburg. After all she was dead. Now, Evewould help her solve the problems that had arisen from her death, and she could get on with her work on Adam. Her real accomplishment. She knew Dr. Ackerman had been astonished by what she had achieved with 'Eve', but that was because he did not understand what she had done.
She had cheated.
She had done what she had promised her father she would never do.
She had used "The Book" and created an 'abomination'.
She knew most people would consider Adam to be the abomination. Because most people were fools, who wouldonly judge him on his appearance. But his appearance was of no concern to her. It was what he would be capable of when he finally was complete. The ultimate warrior. Designed by science.
Eve was a couple of left over parts that could be hidden in a dead body over which she had several spells cast in secret. In truth she hadn't needed the parts, but then Dr. Ackerman would have certainly known that something was wrong and might have let slip to Jude Law what was really going on.
Jude Law. She really hated that man. He irritated her in a way that no one else ever had. Hiscontrol over HER project. His snide comments. He was a thug. A bully. He had no respect for her or the people under her, and she could see the way it was slowly wearing them down. Eve had to be a spectacular success so that she could once again get back control over her whole project and get him off of her back.
"Finished," said Eve as she completed the final question.
Maggie looked at the screen and entered the check code. The results appeared within seconds, showing Eve to have answered 99% of the 500 questions correctly.
"Very good," said Maggie. "You only missed 5 questions."
"Actually, I didn't," saidEve. "I intentionally entered them wrong."
"Why did you do that?"
"'To err is human'," Eve said with a shrug. "While Willow Rosenburg is smart, she is stillcapable of mistakes. To be perfect would draw more attention to me. Since this was a test of my knowledge as Willow Rosenburg, I decided to provide a few errors that would have been in character for Willow. Even if she would have preferred to have received a 100%."
Maggie smiled. "Very goodEve. You are perfect."
Eve smile at the praise. Just like she would have if she were a real girl.
****
"Who are you people?" Taraasked Buffy directly and without any of her characteristic stammering. "If you expect me to do a spell for you I have to know your intentions."
Buffy looked at Tara who held her gaze steady. Tara normally would have looked away but she needed to know before she went any further that her instincts about Buffy were right. She really wanted to trust her. But Anya's demon comment had thrown her for a loop.
"How much do you know about demons?" asked Buffy.
"Only that they exist. My mother...she knew about a few, and I've read a few books."
"And did you by any chance happen to come across a reference to 'The Chosen One' or 'The Slayer'."
"Oh yes. A girl blessed by the gods and goddesses with the strength and skill to fight the demons..." Tara trailed off as she looked at Buffy.
"Blessed is not how I would putit," Buffy said with a shake of her head.
"And Anya?"
"She used to be Anyanka. A vengeance demon. Only something happened and she lost her powers and now she's human again."
"And Spike? Cause I've noticed that nobody seems to like him and he's not really very nice."
"Spike. Spike's an annoyance. He is a vampire who can't hurt people because the commandos who took Willow put something in him. He came to us for help in exchange for information about them."
Tara's eye's got even wider at this information.
"There's something else I suppose I'd better tell you. The guy I called who is coming up here. Angel. Well, he's a vampire too, only he got cursed with a soul. So he's good now, and he helps people who need help."
"OK" Tara said slowly. "That leaves the question 'Why did the commandos take Willow?'"
Buffy bit her lip. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that they took her cause they thought she was a vamp and then haven't released her because they found out she was a witch. At least I hope that is all it is."
****
It was after midnight when Angel finally knocked on Giles' door. As Tara and Anya prepared the Havalich for the spell, Angel told Buffy, Xander, Giles and Olivia about Doyle's sacrifice.
"How's Cordelia taking it?" Giles asked.
"She's having a pretty rough time. She was just beginning to get close to him. I tried to bring her, but she insisted that she didn't want to see anyone." Angel frowned. "Which in an odd way makes Dennis the perfect personto take care of her at the moment."
"Dennis?" asked Xander.
"He's a ghost in her apartment," Angel explained.
"Oh," said Xander as he nodded his head. A second later her lifted his head to stare at Angel and ask, "Say what?"
"A ghost?" said Willow suddenly perking up.
"His mother bricked him up in the wall in the 1950's to stop him from marrying a girl she disapproved of," Angel explained.
Xander blinked. "Suddenly, the idea of my parents charging me rent to live in the basement seems quite charitable of them."
"Argh!" Willow clutched ather head. "Buffy why didn't you stay the night at her place, maybe I could have talked to him."
*****
"So what are you thinking about," asked Forrest.
Riley took a long pull on the beer. "I'm think about how much I would like to be out there kicking some hostile's ass."
"Yea, I hear you," nodded Forrest. "Still it shouldn't be too much longer before they let us back out for some action."
"No, I don't care about that. I just want to beat the hell out of something. I just can't believe this whole thing is happening. I mean, we're the 'Good' guys. Even though we weren't allowed to tell people, at least we knew we were doing something to be proud of. Now, hell I can hardly look at Buffy because I feel so guilty. What am I gonna do when I see her with that...that thing."
"You're gonna do nothing. Move on Riley. It's for the best. Don't screw your career overbecause you wanted to nail some girl."
"It wasn't about that. I'm not Parker."
"Damn right you aren't. And you got a lot more to loose. So listen up to your buddy. Don't be chasing after this girl. Let her go. There's to many chances you'll let something slip. Why risk it. The doc's got things handled as long as we stay cool. OK."
Riley said nothing, choosing insteadto take another drink from his beer.
*****
Meanwhile in downtown Sunnydale, within a clock tower, tall sinister shapes began to prepare a ceremony of their own. The center of their attention was on a little wooden box that had been gently placed upon the table.
*****
It was past one in the morning, whenthey began the spell again. Tara sat calmly in the center of the room.
"Diana, Goddess of the hunt. To you we appeal to show us the way to she who has been taken from us. We-"
Tara felt a sudden sharp pulling in her throat and she paused to swallow. She began to speak again, and nothing came out. She raised her hand to her throat. Buffy triedto ask 'What was wrong?' and when nothing came out she realized what she too couldn't speak. Seconds later everyone in the room was trying to say something, anything, to even get a whisper out but to no avail.
In an instant, their voices had beenstolen.
Willow, however, had seen it happen. A faint whisp of what looked like white smoke had escaped from everyone's mouth and suddenly they were unable to speak. She follow the whisps outside where they joined others in a swirling cloud like mass that rapidly proceeded towards downtown. Willow tried to follow but soon reached as far as she could go from Buffy. "Dammit!" she cursed as she watched the cloud like substance disappear down the street. An idea occurred to her and she flew up into the air. Rising high above Sunnydale she watched as from all across the town, the white cloud whisps converged on a clock tower. Willow concentrated, trying to focus inon the tower. To her amazement she was suddenly seeing colors from all across the spectrum. The town was glowing with energy and she could see dozens of lines entering the town from all directions, throbbing and pulsating with powe r and color. It was beautiful, entrancing and she lost track of how long she stared at the shimmering panorama before her. But then she noticed something else.
It was difficult to tell for certainbecause she was so far away. But the line that passed through the clock tower seemed to dim as it exited the tower. Whatever new evil hadtaken everybody's voice was hiding in there. The only problem was; how would she inform Buffy.
****
End Chap 4b