FIC: A Time for Revenge (3rd of 3 parts)

["Angelina " <angelina2006@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: A Time for Revenge (3rd of 3 parts)
AUTHOR: Angelina 
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. 
SUMMARY: Willow decides to end things once and for all
DISTRIBUTION: If you want it e-mail me ? I'll say yes.
SPOILERS: None really, set at some point in Season 2, before Passion 
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All feedback welcome. "Mochas?" "Yes please!" This 
follows A Day of Revelation. I posted the first bit of this a few 
days ago so you might want to scroll down a bit if you've already 
read it.
NOTE: There are some scenes of sexual violence contained in this 
part, they're not very graphic but I thought forewarned is forearmed.



Willow sat on her bed trying to regulate her breathing. Her stomach 
felt like it was trying out for the Olympic gymnastic team and her 
mouth was as dry as the Sahara desert. She took one last deep breath 
and stood up. She checked her bag of supplies; a crucifix that she'd 
put on once she was out of the house even though she wasn't 
particularly religious she still felt guilty whenever she wore a 
cross ? like she was disrespecting her parents or something. She 
also had stakes, a crossbow and plenty of Holy Water. Her main ally 
would be the sunlight ? if she could stay in the sun as much as 
possible Angel couldn't get her. Her plan was simple: kill Angel.  
She wasn't stupid enough to think it would be easy. He'd managed to 
survive over 2 centuries without dying. But she reckoned she could 
work his ego against him ? taunt him, attack his pride, force him to 
make a mistake and give herself the advantage ? then do whatever was 
necessary.

Zipping up the bag she realised her hands were shaking. More than 
anything she wanted to be with Buffy. But Buffy had suffered enough 
at the hands of Angelus and Willow was going to end it now. She 
walked to her dresser and picked up a photo of herself and Buffy. It 
had been taken at a picnic in the park; Willow was seated on a 
blanket and Buffy was sprawled across her lap. They looked so happy, 
so carefree, and very much a couple ? Willow wondered why this had 
never occurred to her before. Willow gently kissed the picture, a 
solitary tear running down her cheek. She placed it back down and 
picked up the letter she had written to Buffy. She was going to drop 
it off at Buffy's house on the way to the mansion. Buffy would not 
yet be back from the hospital so she couldn't try to talk Willow out 
of her plan. The letter was an explanation of what she was doing and 
why.

*****

At Buffy's house Willow rang the doorbell and Joyce answered.

"Oh, hi Willow, Buffy's not home yet, I'm picking her up later on."

"Yeah, I know, I just wanted to give you this. I might be here when 
she gets home but I may not be able to make it?so if I'm not here 
will you give her this for me?" asked Willow holding up a white 
envelope.

"Sure Willow, but don't you want to come in and wait? The hospital 
are going to call to tell me when she's ready."

Willow felt tears welling up and fought them back valiantly before 
answering. "Ummm, no, I have something I have to do first."

Joyce noticed the quiver in Willow's voice. "Are you OK Willow?" she 
asked, concerned.

"Mmm hmm, I'm fine?I?I have to go now." And with that she turned and 
fled before allowing her tears to flow freely.

Joyce looked at the envelope in her hand, puzzled by Willow's strange 
behaviour. Then the telephone rang.

*****

Meanwhile, Jenny Calendar sat hunched over her computer terminal.  
Listlessly she searched through pages of text. She now appreciated 
how punishing the curse really had been for Angel. The guilt she 
felt over her deception and its consequences was bad enough. She 
marvelled that Angel had been able to stand the guilt he must have 
felt. Suddenly a line of writing on the screen caught her eye.  

"Oh my God?this is it." She whispered, afraid that if she spoke too 
loudly it might disappear. She could barely believe it. She hadn't 
thought it possible ? a way to reverse the curse. And it wasn't 
anything very complicated. Some basic ingredients and a bit of Latin 
chanting were required?.and an Orb of Thessela. She phoned Willow's 
house but there was no answer. <<Never mind, I'll do it as a 
surprise for all of them>> And she quickly got to work preparing the 
spell.

*****

Buffy and her mother were in the car on the way home. Buffy was 
looking forward to seeing Willow so she was surprised when her mother 
said, 

"Willow stopped by earlier."

"What? Why?"

"She said she might not be around when you got home and if she's not 
there I've to give you and envelope."

"Well, where is it?" asked Buffy, a strange feeling of dread was 
building up within her.

"Let's wait and see if she's there or not first" said Joyce smiling 
at her daughter's impatience.

"Mom, I really think I should see it now, it may be important, and if 
she's going to give it to me later it won't matter will it?"  
Something in Buffy's voice touched Joyce's heart, an urgency that she 
very rarely heard from her daughter. She handed the envelope to 
Buffy who grabbed it and ripped it open. She read it, every word 
weighing her heart down a little more.

"Dear Buffy,
Somehow that beginning doesn't seem adequate but it'll have to do 
because I'm in a hurry. I'm writing this hoping you never have to 
read it. But in case you do, I'd better get my apology in now. I'm 
sorry. 

I've gone to kill Angel and if you're reading this it means I 
haven't come back. I want you to understand that I love you more 
than I thought humanly possible and I don't want to ever leave you.  
But I have to do this. I have to stop him from hurting you any 
more. You probably think I should have told you this first huh? But 
you would have stopped me. You've saved my live countless times.  
Let me do this one thing for you.  

If the worst has happened and I can't be with you in person, please 
know that I'll always be by your side. I know we'll be together 
again, someday. I want you to be strong, like you always are. And 
keep fighting the good fight. For me.

I'll love you forever.

W"

"Mom, when did you speak to Willow?"

"I don't know, just a little while ago?"

"Drop me off here."

"What? Buffy, you're just out of hospital, you need your rest?"

"Mom please, just trust me on this, I think Willow's in trouble?she's 
going to?do something I don't want her to do."

"Well honey, you can't run Willow's life for her"

"Please mom, I won't be long, I promise, I'll find Willow and we'll 
come straight home"

Joyce stopped the car reluctantly and Buffy sprang out of the door, 
ignoring her mother's shouts of "One hour, no longer!"

Jenny prepared to begin the ritual. The Orb was in place. She 
looked over the Latin again to get in straight in her head. Then she 
began.

*****

In her weakened state Buffy was tiring quickly but she could not 
allow herself to slow down. All her attention was focussed on 
getting to the mansion in time. If she was too late?.

*****

Willow stepped into the darkened mansion. Drapes covered every 
window. Now that she was actually there, her earlier fears were 
multiplying. She decided that the first thing to do would be to shed 
some light on the situation. She started to walk towards one of the 
large windows when a voice from the shadows stopped her in her tracks.

"Hello Willow."

Her insides froze as she turned to see a fully awake and alert Angel 
stepping out of the corner.

"So nice of you to drop by. Very considerate of you to save me the 
trouble of coming to find you. Although I always did like the 
chase." He was walking slowly towards her, enjoying her fear.  
Willow realised that she had to act fast and she dived for the window 
and pulled down the heavy black sheet, bathing herself and a large 
portion of the floor in sunlight. She stood in the centre of the 
pool of light, shaking.

"Hmm, so I see you've prepared a battle plan? You always were the 
thinker weren't you Willow? The brains of the operation." Angel was 
walking around the edge of Willow's safe haven, circling like a 
shark. "Pity that when in comes to action you have to rely on 
someone else. Where is your lady in shining armour anyway?" He 
paused, pretending to remember something. "Oh that's right, I stuck a 
stake through her belly." He smiled at the memory. The smile made 
all the rage Willow had felt since the attack come bubbling back up 
to the surface. She reached into her bag and brought out the 
crossbow. She pointed it directly at Angel.

"And I'm going to kill you before you can hurt her anymore." Her calm 
voice did not betray the fear she was feeling.

"Ah, so you're here to avenge her? It's only right I suppose. It 
was your fault that I hurt her after all." Willow faltered, this 
wasn't going according to plan. She was supposed to be playing with 
his mind, not the other way around. Angel continued. "But I suppose 
you've had a big heart to heart and she's told you that it wasn't 
your fault. Buffy's a very forgiving girl. But then, she's always 
had some weird thing for you." Willow looked up; this was something 
she could use.

"Weird thing? That would be love ? not that you'd understand 
anything about that."

"Love? You think she loves you? She pities you, you stupid little 
girl."

"I know she loves me. Guess you weren't satisfying her Angel, coz 
the whole time she was with you she was thinking of me." Willow 
wasn't entirely sure this was true but it sounded good nonetheless.   
When Angel turned back to look at her he was wearing his vampire face.

"Taunting a vampire? You're not as bright as I thought." Angel was 
pacing like a caged tiger. "I could snap you like a twig. And if 
Buffy `loves' you as much as you say then I think that finding your 
lifeless body might just be enough to break her." He stood still in 
front of Willow, facing off with her. Seizing her opportunity Willow 
fired the crossbow at his chest. He dodged easily.

"That your best shot, bitch?" He laughed. "You know what? I'm 
bored with this conversation now." And without further warning he 
lunged at Willow tackling her to the ground. Together they slid out 
of the shaft of light. Angel was smoking slightly but was otherwise 
unharmed. Willow struggled but her efforts were futile against 
Angel's far superior strength. He pinned her arms above her head and 
straddled her waist. She continued to fight but Angel barely 
noticed. He was looking at her intently, like he'd never seen her 
before. He reached out and touched her face. She tried to squirm 
away but he held on to her tightly. He grabbed her chin and squeezed 
it until she cried out in pain.
"So, have you given it up yet? To the little red-haired punk? I bet 
you haven't, you're not as easy as Buffy I'm guessing. Uncharted 
territory? This should be interesting."

He leaned down and kissed her hard on the mouth, if it could even be 
described as a kiss. It was the most horrific experience of her 
life. His fangs hurt her tongue and her lips, he was so rough. She 
could taste blood and she hoped to God that it was only her own. He 
broke the kiss and sat up again. His free hand went to Willow's 
breast. He grabbed her nipple through the fabric of her shirt and 
twisted it until she screamed. Then she finally realised what his 
intentions were for her. She felt nausea well up in her throat.

"Please, please don't?please don't do this?no Angel?please?"

Angel smiled and ripped Willow's shirt open exposing her bra. "I 
love it when you beg." He ran the tip of her finger over the swell 
of her breasts.

Suddenly the door burst open and a very breathless Buffy skidded to a 
halt. The sight before her enraged her more than anything she had 
ever faced.

"Get your fucking hands off her!" she screamed, launching herself at 
Angel. The momentum threw him off Willow and he had no time to react 
before he was subjected to a flurry of blows.

"Buffy?Buffy please?please be careful." Willow pleaded between sobs.

"Get me a stake." was Buffy's only response. She was vaguely aware 
of a pain in her side, indicating that her wound had reopened but she 
ignored it. Willow collected herself enough to get a stake from the 
bag. She tossed it to Buffy who caught it deftly and raised it. A 
millisecond before she brought it down, a strange yellow light 
flashed in Angel's eyes and she felt all the fight go out of him.  
She managed to stop the stakes descent before it pierced his chest.

Angel blinked a few times. "Buffy? Buffy what's happening?"

The tone of his voice, the look in his eyes ? this was Angel, not 
Angelus. And he had no idea what he had done. Buffy found no words 
to tell him. Slowly she stood up, letting him absorb his 
surroundings. What he saw broke his heart. He saw Willow, sweet 
little Willow trying to cover herself up with the remains of a torn 
shirt. She was crying and a line of blood from her lip was drying on 
her chin. Buffy was standing above him, her expression unreadable, 
so many emotions were contained in it. A large patch of red 
spreading on her top showed that she was badly wounded.

"Did I?was this?Oh God no." He scrambled to his feet and stood 
before Buffy. "Stake me."

"What?"

"Do it now, I deserve it."

"No."

"Then I'll do it myself," he said, reaching for the stake in her hand.

"Stop." Buffy and Angel both looked over at Willow. "It wasn't 
you. We know that. It was Angelus."

"But I?"

"But nothing, you survive this once, you can do it again, you have 
friends this time." She approached him and took his hand. Buffy 
dropped her stake and wrapped her arms tightly around Willow who 
accepted the embrace gratefully. But she did not break eye contact 
with Angel; she tried to show him that she trusted him. And she did 
trust him. She knew the man before her bore no relation to the 
monster that had attacked her. He would never harm her. She also 
knew that he and Buffy needed time to talk. But not today. Today 
she needed Buffy to be with her.

"We're gonna go now Angel. Promise me that you're not going to do 
anything silly."

He looked at her with tears in his eyes. "I promise." She nodded.

"We'll talk tomorrow OK?" asked Buffy.

"Tomorrow."

Willow took Buffy's hand and together they walked out into the warm 
sunshine, leaving Angel to sink to the floor and weep into his cold 
hands.

*****

Outside Buffy pulled Willow to a stop. She took off her jacket and 
held it up for Willow to put on. She then fastened it for her to 
cover the ripped shirt. Willow leaned into Buffy. Buffy held her 
tightly.

"Don't ever do that again." Buffy said through a suddenly constricted 
throat.

"I'll try not to." The response was slightly muffled by Buffy's 
shoulder.

"I'd better get cleaned up before my mom sees me."

"Let's go to my house." Willow pulled back and kissed Buffy softly 
on the lips. Buffy responded tenderly so as not to hurt Willow's 
bruised mouth. "We're OK." This was said as a reassurance herself 
as much as Buffy.

"Yeah, we're OK." And with that they headed off to Willow's house, 
knowing that they had a lot to face in the future. But after that 
day, they knew that they could make it through anything, as long as 
they were together.

THE END