If Destiny Wills (4/20) B/Willow By Alex P.

["Diana" <DianaBouvier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: If Destiny Wills (4/20)
Author: Alex P. keeper444@xxxxxxxxx
Feedback: Please any comments or suggestions to: keeper444@xxxxxxxxx
Archive: Gary's site and Bill's Bubblegum Crisis, A Slayer an A Hacker
Otherwise if you want it, ask.
Sequel to: A Higher Power, Truth and Consequences, Next Illogical Step,
Spoilers: General Fourth Season
Rating: NC-17 This story is about two adult women that are sharing their
lives-if this isn't your thing or if it is illegal where you live please
delete this email now.
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy Willow Giles and any others from
BTVS are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy etc. No infringement
of any kind intended.
A special thanks to Bill and Gary for giving a home to the ramblings of my
demented mind.

Part Four

<>Thoughts<>

Kresis sat on his high-backed makeshift throne; his leg casually draped over
the arm of the chair. He was trying to mask the seething frustration that
these...wanna warriors were invoking in him. A hundred vampires and demons
and not a one had the potential to even be an arms-bearer in the Royal
Guard. How in the five worlds of Taurus was he supposed eliminate the most
powerful slayer in the history of this world, not to mention her mate, the
Great sorceress with such as these?

Count Kresis couldn't stop the impatient tapping of his talons on the table
next to him, the only outward sign of his boiling emotions. He drank his
favorite thick red mixture of twenty-year-old single malt scotch and AB
negative.

As per the duties expect from one of his rank he was listening to the badly
wounded demon snivel about how the Slayer and Witch had defeated his
carefully planned ambush. He kept the fact that he expected his forces to
lose to himself.

Oh, he had done the best he could by his soldiers-as he did by all his
forces. But, his plan was to wear the Slayer and Witch down by getting them
to fight a series of ambushes on his terms. The General had watched the
training drills weeding out the slackers and identifying the ones who
exhibited the most talent. Then he had separated the strongest to give them
extra training-extra food-he treated them the best and encouraged teamwork.
They were the best of this ragged sorry group-they were his only real hope
of success.

Growing tired of the sycophant's simpering he rose from his throne and
slowly stepped down to stand next to the pathetic excuse for a commander.
He put a reassuring hand on the demon's shoulder; he wanted this to be swift
and painless for the fool.

He didn't like wasting a resource, but he had to somehow keep order within
his ranks. Kresis knew that as the body count rose, discipline would fail,
so he needed to maintain total control of what he laughing refereed to as
his troops.

"Don't worry my friend, you will never again fail me." Kresis said
sarcastically and without warning he tore the demon's head off with a single
smooth motion. "No one fails me twice."

He threw the head down next to its still quivering body and walked to the
door.

"Clean that up!" He ordered the surviving members of the dead demon's squad
as he walked out of the room. He was satisfied that within the hour all of
his commanders and their troops would know the price of failure and
discipline would never become a problem.

He cursed at the shortsighted idiots on the council. They had been so afraid
that he would return to wreak havoc on them they had laid this ludicrous
curse on him that kept him away from the Hellmouth.

He knew that if he could just get at those two bitches then one way or
another all this would be over. The Count wasn't a fool, he wasn't desperate
enough to attempt getting closer to the Hellmouth yet, but time was getting
short. If things didn't start to work out soon-then he might have no
alternative.

*****

Willow came down the stairs after her shower surprisingly refreshed. It was
hard to imagine that less than twelve hours ago she had been taxed to her
magical limits. Under normal circumstances she should have been totally
wiped out for at least two or three days-not bursting with renewed energy as
she was now.

Something had been slowly changing inside her ever since her little jaunt to
Brigit's world. It almost as if they were becoming stronger in their
abilities. Buffy should not have able to stand there and just pound it out
with six vampires and two demons the way she had last night, or as Willow
corrected herself, this morning.

With the thought of Buffy came the memory of their abject failure with the
innocent girl, those bastards, had used as bait. The young witch felt
terrible about the girl-but it was Buffy who was suffering from the soul
poisoning guilt. For the second time in less than twelve hours Willow felt
impotent--what good was all this power she was developing if she couldn't
ease the other half of her soul's pain?

She found Buffy awake when she reached the bottom of the stairs. If awake
is what you would call it, she thought to herself. The young girl was
sitting on the couch staring down at the carpeting, her normally bright hair
nearly brown from the dried blood still matted in it. Willow tried hard not
to gasp as the slayer faced her with dead and defeated eyes. While the
physical damage to the blonde was impressive, it was the utter despair that
radiated from her lover in waves, which truly frightened Willow.

"Oh, Buffy..." The Witch whispered as she sat down on the couch next to her
soulmate. She reached out to take the slayer in her arms and then pulled
back because there was literally no safe place to touch her. Besides the
gashes on her arms the witch saw cuts and livid busies all over Buffy's
body, even through the ragged, bloodstained clothes she still wore.

"I got her to drink some soup and a little bit of Gatorade." Cordelia said
quietly as she walked into the living area with a mug of soup for Willow.

"Thanks." Willow took the mug and began to sip the hot chicken broth. She
noticed as the slayer dropped her eyes back to the carpet.

"You guys are in serious need of a grocery run." Cordy announced. "I made a
list of the basics, if you could finish it with what you want I'll go, after
we take care of her." The brunette finished with a pointed look at
Buffy-Willow could tell that she was trying to provoke the slayer-Buffy
hated to be spoken of as if she wasn't present.'

But all her lover did was clutched her injured arm tighter against her chest
and sigh as the slow trickle of tears began again.

"Buffy, honey, please let's talk about what happened." Willow begged her
soulmate.

The slayer didn't answer; she just shook her head emphatically, no.

The helplessness Willow felt was threatening to overwhelm her. She just
couldn't stand to sit by and watch the person she loved more than life
itself be in such pain. Yet, she just didn't know what she could do to ease
it.

"Okay then," she said with a resigned sigh. "Let's get you cleaned up and
into bed."

*****

Hela, Countess of the first circle matriarch of the house of Red Swords of
Tarsus sat in her throne room smiling slightly. She was overjoyed as she
watched the couple in a glowing red sphere. Her devious and complicated plan
was coming together perfectly.

That idiot Kresis had been stupid enough to attack those two head on, once
again underestimating his opponents. The Slayer and her little Witch-Kit had
thrown everything right back at him weakening him even further.

Her own mystical attack will be more subtle.

If everything worked according to plan then, the slayer would be under her
control before the Witch knew anything was wrong.

"Oh, Max," the beautiful demon called to her human servant. "You don't want
to miss this, I'm about to start the Slayer's training."

*****

Weeping softly Buffy cradled the young girl's lifeless body. She looked down
at the innocent face as the dull death-clouded eyes turned toward her.

"Why did you forget me? It was your fault, you let me die?" The girl's
hollow voice echoed in her ears. "Why? You could have stopped him?"

"I-I-I t-tried." Buffy stammered, stunned by the accusation. Some part of
the slayer's mind knew this was a dream, that it had already happened and
that there was nothing she could do to change it.

Even as she watched, a red glow covered the young victim's face and it
changed-to Willow's. Instead of cradling the teenage girl in her arms she
held the lifeless corpse of her lover. The witch's blood pumped out through
the wound in her neck spraying Buffy with crimson.

"Will you forget me, too?" The dead Willow asked spitting blood out of her
mouth with every word.

After a shocked instant the tiny slayer felt as if a pit had opened up under
her feet and she was falling. She tried to hide the truth of her failure in
denial, but the lifeless green eyes of her soulmate continued to accusingly
stare up at her.

The dream Buffy let out a horrific scream, dropping her soulmate's body and
curling on herself. She prayed for insanity to come and release her from
the agony of failing the one person she couldn't live without. She lost all
sense of her dream, of who she was, as a red haze filled her mind and she
knew that without Willow, there would be no escaping the pain this time.
She would be lost in this eternal hell of reliving her failures.

She felt the musical voice more then she heard it. It started as a soft
jingling on the very edge of her conscious awareness and grew as she tried
to focus on its beauty. Once she acknowledged it, that she could hear it,
it seemed to reach right into her and run through her nerves to her core.

Buffy found that if she concentrated--the notes almost became words-and the
words began to wash some of the emotional distress away. She forced herself
to uncurl and stand just so she could better hear the song.

As she stood, she understood the words for the first time and a peace
engulfed her.

"Listen," they beckoned. "Listen, little slayer, believe in me. Surrender to
me and you will never hurt again."

Buffy didn't want to question the music; she was frightened it would leave
her, leave her utterly alone, still she was the slayer and she had to know.

"How?" She whispered.

Silence. The beautiful music stopped. Buffy was left straining to try and
hear it. But, all she could make out was her own harsh breathing-panic
seized her as the emotional agony threatened her sanity once again.

"You need to be punished." A voice said softly behind her and the slayer
whirled dropping into a fighting crouch, only to find the dead teenager
looking at her calmly.

"Once you accept your punishment, everything will be all right.... See?" The
dead girl finished. She lifted her hand, placing it over Buffy's heart.

The slayer looked back up at the girl's face just as an intense wave of red
light crashed down the dead girl's arm and slammed into her chest. Wave
after wave of mind numbing pain tore through the slayer until it hit the
core of her being.

She knew she deserved the punishment and she accepted it for her failures.

"That's right," the dead teen encouraged. "Surrender to it and its
pleasure."

Then the nature of the pain changed and Buffy lost all control as the red
light centered in her sex....

And she woke.

And she was blinded by the bright morning sunlight pouring into through the
windows.

"Giles, she's awake, again." Cordy's voice shouted.

"Thank god, I was beginning to get very concerned." The ex-watcher said
entering the room.

The slayer tried to blink her vision clear but couldn't; all she could make
out were two big people-shaped blurs.

She was terribly confused by the sudden shift from her dream to being
awake....

<> Still, there was a dream, wasn't there? <> She thought to herself, as the
images faded.

"Buffy? How do you feel?" Giles asked, tentatively sitting down on the bed
next to her.

She blinked again, trying to make him come into focus.

"Damn, she must be still out of it." Cordy's voice stated when the slayer
didn't respond.

"No, no, I'm fine." Buffy was able to force the words out. <> I'm sure I had
a dream. It was important. I needed to remember it. <>

"Well, it's about time! " Buffy looked at the blur that had to be the tall
brunette. "Do you know how worried we've been?" Despite the irritation in
Cordelia's voice Buffy could plainly hear the fear her friend felt for her.

"Oh and poor Willow; she has been beside herself-she feels guilty for
leaving you to go to the magic shop so she could get some stinky herbs to do
a healing ritual-how was I to know you were going to spike a fever in the
twenty minutes she was gone. That was just so unthoughtful of you...."

"Cordelia would you please shut-up!" Giles snapped at the babbling brunette.

At the mention of Willow's name Buffy got a flash of a memory-it was more
like a sense memory--that her lover was in extreme danger.

"Willow, where is she? Is she okay?" The slayer asked trying to sit up so
she could find her soulmate.

"She's fine Buffy, she's sleeping in the guest room." Giles said. But, when
he touched her on her chest with the intention of making her lie back down
she got another flash of something or someone touching her in the same spot.

"I need to see Willow, now!" The slayer cried as she got yet another flash,
only this time it was of dead green eyes staring up at her. She tried again
to stand up but her body betrayed her and she fell back down, a sick
dizziness forming in her in her head. Her thoughts were growing even more
confused....

"Giles, I'll carry her in there." Another people shaped blur said from the
doorway. "Keeping them apart will only make her sick again." Xander spoke
walking over to the bed.

"It is against my better judgment, Xander. Willow was up for forty-eight
straight hours and she needs her rest." Giles stated as he stood and faced
the young man.

"I know, Giles, but Buffy won't wake her up. If anything having her there
will help them both rest." The slayer heard as the blankets were lifted off
of her and strong arms picked her.

"I gotta say, I agree with Xander." Cordy piped in following the procession
down the hallway.

Xander gently placed her on the bed next to her soulmate and all Buffy could
think about doing was curling up around her and falling asleep despite the
audience.

*****

Hela sat on her throne as she listened to the report from one of her vampire
spies in Kresis' camp. She knew it would not be long before her ex-mate
would be amiable to her offer of assistance and that would be his downfall.

It had now been a week since her success with her first intrusion into the
slayer's mind.

Like the majority of males, Kresis had made the mistake of underestimating
his opposition because they were female. He had tried to spring two more
ambushes on the Slayer and her mate-both had met with complete failure.

Hela herself had observed last night's ambush and she had to laugh at the
incompetence of Kresis and his troops.

The only thing he had accomplished was killing off a significant potion of
his forces and giving the little slayer vivid nightmares about the people he
had used as bait.

He'd obviously underestimated the Slayer and her lovely little witch and now
she was certain that he would underestimate her ambition, too. HE could
never understand her capacity for hatred and soon he'd be at her mercy.

For centuries she had chafed at the thought of her ex-partner still alive
and able to enjoy life's pleasures after she'd done her best to destroy him.

Exile would never be adequate revenge for her after what he had done! Once
she had total control of the Slayer, and her soulmate, then the council and
the Darklord would fear her!

Maybe she should raise her goals.... Mistress Darklord didn't sound so bad
to her! Either way once the slayer and the little Witch-Kit were under her
control and fully trained no one would dare act on her decision to rid
herself of that arrogant bastard Kresis.

<>Soon it will be time, <> she thought. <>Soon there will be no way that
fool will be able to refuse my terms and then it will be only a matter of
time until he is dead. <>

She chuckled at her own cleverness.

The End of Part Four