FIC: To Cross the River Styx (4b/?)

["Parise, Charles" <charles.parise@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: To Cross the River Styx (4b/?)
AUTHOR: Chazzman
E-MAIL: charles.parise@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters 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 felt the 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. It looses 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 Giles a 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." Giles was 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 now only experienced the slightest twinges of
guilt about what she had done to the body of Willow Rosenburg. After all
she was dead. Now, Eve would 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 would only 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. His control 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," said Eve. "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 still capable 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 good Eve. You are perfect."

Eve smile at the praise. Just like she would have if she were a real girl.

****

"Who are you people?" Tara asked 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 put it," 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
person to 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 at her 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 over because 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 instead to 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, when they 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 tried to 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 been stolen.

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 in on 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 power 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 certain because 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 had taken everybody's voice was hiding in there.
The only problem was; how would she inform Buffy.

****

End Chap 4b