Tireseus: The Cycle: Chapter One

[aerisjade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Series: Tireseus 
Title: The Cycle 
Chapter: One 
Rating: PG-16 
Pairing: Willow/Buffy 
Spoilers: Season two. 
Timeline: This is Angel becomes Angelus and goes all grr. 
Beta Readers: Scotty Welles 
Shadow Mage 
The Dark Gremlin

Summary: A spell sends Willow's life spiraling out of control, and 
no matter what she does things only get more and more complicated. 

Disclaimer: So not mine 

<><><><><><><> 
PROLOGUE 
<><><><><><><> 

Willow slunk along the bookshelf and peeked around it. Her dark red 
hair came loose from where it'd been safely tucked behind her ear. 
Short hair was something she was still getting used to; the spell that 
had changed her back had left her hair much darker than before and, in 
her opinion, much sexier. The temporary transformation into male form 
had shortened her hair considerably, and seeing how much less trouble 
it was that way, she'd kept it short upon returning to female form. 
She'd grown to love it this way; still girlish, but light and sassy. 

At the moment, though, her hairstyle was the last thing on her mind. 

On tiptoe, she slunk past the table where Buffy was trying to read her 
history book. She took slow, careful steps, watching out for any lint 
that would make noise under her sneakers. She lifted her arm and 
pressed her hand to the library doors, pushing them open with exquisite 
care. She held her breath as she stepped out into the hall and... 

"Willow...?" 

'Damn.' She spun around with a fake smile pasted on her face, giving 
the blonde Slayer a wave. "Ohhh, hiiii! I didn't see you there." She 
ignored the 'yeah, right' look and stepped back. "Oh, is that history? 
Wow, that's a good book, a best seller, my favorite book of all. It's 
got some interesting articles on Vikings. Which I'm sure you'll love. 
You know, with all the violence, and weapons, and mystic beliefs, 
and...oh, look what time it is," she said, looking at her bare wrist. 
"I've got to go. Jenny'll be waiting for me." She dashed out of the 
library, and started to walk rapidly towards to computer lab. 

"Willow. Wait." It wasn't a request. 

She shifted from foot to foot, biting into her bottom lip. "I've 
really got to..." 

"Please." 

'Oh no, not the eyes, please don't...Oh goddess, she did.' Willow 
nodded nervously, trying to avoid looking at her friend. 

"Wills, are you mad at me?" Buffy asked her, the voice softening. "Did 
I do something wrong?" 

"NO! I mean, no. Why would you think you did something wrong? If 
anyone did anything wrong then it would be me, not that I did anything 
wrong, because I didn't. You're my friend and I would never 
intentionally hurt you, because you're you, and I'm me, and...I need to 
go." She brushed past her friend, determined to get as far away from 
her as she could. 

Buffy stepped in front of her. "Is it Angel?" 

"It's not Angel," she said, trying to get out of there. 

"But you admit that there's something wrong," the Slayer persisted. 

'Oh that was sneaky.' Willow kept her back to her friend, knowing that 
if she looked at her friend she'd be a gonner. Those pleading blue 
eyes and.... 'NO!! Bad Willow.' 

"You're my best friend, and since you came back, it's like you don't 
want to be around me anymore. Is it me? Did I say something, or...?" 

"No, I just...Buffy, I've really got to go." She forced her feet to 
move, ignoring the part of her that wanted to engulf the Slayer in her 
arms and tell her everything. 

"Willow...I miss you." 

The lost, pleading voice tore through her heart, but she kept going, 
unable to risk losing her friend. 

'You already have,' she told herself. 


<><><><><><><> 


She walked past the chem lab...and stopped, backing up quickly. Did 
she see what she thought she saw...? 

She cocked her head curiously and entered the room, staring in shock. 
Yup, she did. 

Cordy didn't notice her as she added something to an already half-full 

beaker. A spell book was beside it. 

'Oooh, Cordy and magic, not a good combination...' 

Curiosity turned to fear as the cheerleader began to chant a summoning 
spell. She opened her mouth to stop Cordy, but froze as the last 
ingredient fell into the mixture, setting off an explosion... 


<><><><><><><> 
CHAPTER ONE 
<><><><><><><> 

"Whoops." 

She groaned, trying to ignore the male voice that parroted her. A male 
voice that sounded distinctly like... 

"Oh my god, William! You're back!" Cordy shrieked. "Eww, what are you 
wearing? That's just gay. Cute, but gay." 

She forced her eyes open and sat up. "Giles..." She gulped and 
reluctantly looked down. "...someone stole my breasts..." Recognition 
entered her mind as her...no, his voice resonated in the room. "Oh 
goddess, not again..." 

He reached down and yanked the sneakers off his sore feet, having been 
crammed into the too-small shoes. He let Cordy help him up, taking 
some pleasure in the lustful look in her eyes as he pulled off the 
fuzzy, bright pink flowered sweater. He wasn't crazy enough to go 
walking around the school in it, for any length of time. 

Looking back down at himself, he sighed. The baggy jeans he'd been 
wearing as Willow were now excruciatingly tight, hugging his lower body 
like skin. The white top he'd worn under the sweater was even tighter, 
making it impossible to breathe comfortably. 

"Did I say gay?" Cordy whispered huskily. "I meant...sexy." 

He rolled his eyes at Cordy, trying to think about something other than 
the lithe body pressed into his arm, and the long, graceful hand laying 
over his heart. Ruby red lips drifted closer to his and... 

"It's me, Cordy," he said, leaning his head away from hers. "Willow." 

She opened her eyes, lips still half-pursed for the kiss. "Willow...?" 

"Yeah. It's me." 

Those eyes widened with comprehension, recognition...and then disgust. 
"EWWW!! Ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ewww...!" Cordy backpedaled fast, bumping into 
the table and bouncing nervously in place, as though trying to shake 
off the last few moments. 

"What did you do, anyway?" Turning away from her in annoyance, he 
grabbed the spell book, marking the page, and tucked it into her...his 
book bag with her...HIS shoes and sweater. He scowled at Cordy, with 
the knowledge that it was more effective as a male, then stalked 
through the empty hall towards the computer lab. 

He glared over at Cordy when she fell into step with him. "What are 
you doing? Haven't you caused enough trouble today?" 

"Are you kidding?" she squealed, already over the girl-kissing cooties 
thing. "I'm not about to miss any of this for the world." 

Typical. He ignored her and turned into the classroom to sat in the 
chair across from Jenny. 

"H'lo, Willow," the young teacher absently acknowledged him without 
looking up from the forms she was filling out. "With you in a 
minute..." 

Cordy set next to him and studied him. "That look is sooo you. Well, 
the William you anyway. Hmm...I know just the thing. There's this 
shop at the mall that specializes in men's clothes, and there's this 
sexy outfit that would just..." 

"Oh my goodness, what happened?" Jenny cut in, suddenly looking up and 
taking notice of her change. 

He shot another glare over at Cordy. "Why don't you ask Miss May 
Queen?" 

Cordy bristled under Jenny's sharp look. "Hey, it's not my fault. I 
was just trying to help." 

"Yeah, right. And Bart Simpson knew what happens when you mix acids 
and bases..." 

Cordy glared back at him. "It's your fault, you big doofus. Ever 
since William...you...left, Buffy has been moping around like her 
favorite dog died. Then Willow...the other you...has spent the last 
three months acting all awkward and trying to avoid her. So yes, I was 
performing a spell." 

Jenny rubbed her forehead. "What spell?" she asked, obviously dreading 
the answer. 

"It's only a summoning spell." Cordy grabbed the book from his book 
bag and handed it to the gypsy. "See, look." 

The teacher scanned the page quickly, then groaned. "Oh, 
Cordiella...You didn't." 

Cordy gulped, slightly looking unsure. "What is it?" 

Jenny handed the spell back to her. "Read it out loud." 

She took it, obeying. 

"Goddess Aphrodite, Goddess Discord. 
Bring back the love of the mourning. 
Bring the man and woman of guilt back together, 
For only together shall they bring 
Their love's mourning to an end. 
For the cycle shall bound the man and woman into one, 
And then shall find balance. 
Let the cycle permanent the soul 
Of the two of the one." 

William involuntarily braced himself for another explosion, but no 
magical powers were invoked by the words without the accompanying 
ritual. 

"Do you know what that means?" Jenny asked patiently. 

"Um, that Willow and Buffy would be friends again, and Buffy would get 
her human teddy bear back?" 

"It means that Willow now has an extra set of chromosomes," Jenny 
informed her, her own patience clearly wearing thin. "Male 
chromosomes." 

Cordy looked blank. 

Jenny sighed and tried again. "It means that I'm now going to have to 
teach her how to change from male to female at will. It means that 
we're now going to have to search for a spell to counteract this, and 
unless we do, then that means that Willow will be stuck constantly 
shifting from form to form." 

"Um. Oops?" 

"Oops?" William turned to growl at Cordy. "You rearrange my entire 
reproductive system, and all you can say is Oops? I've gotta replace 
my entire wardrobe, learn how to pee standing up, and start shaving my 
face instead of my legs, and that only merits an Oops?!" 

"Wills," Jenny broke in, the nickname working either way. "Calm down. 
This may not be an insoluble problem, or an insurmountable lifestyle 
adjustment." 

"Yeah," Cordy muttered. "Have a cow, already..." 

He sighed tiredly and rubbed his eyes. "Look, we need to get out of 
here before Buffy sees me." 

Jenny nodded. "Unfortunately, I'm going to need to stay here and talk 
to Rupert. I can't drive you right now." 

Cordy perked up. "I can take you home." She eyed him critically. 
"But we're going to have to do something about that hair Style it a 
little more." 

William snatched up his book bag and followed behind her, thinking of 
all the evil things he could do to her. Maybe he could cut a lock of 
her hair off, or... 

"William!" the astounded voice burst out. 

'Rosenburg, you are so busted.' He subtly pushed his book bag into 
Cordy's arms, and turned to the Slayer, taking in the sight of the 
blonde dressed in workout clothes. "Buffy, hi..." He cleared his 
throat, and smiled happily. "I was going to try and find you tonight." 


She broke into a huge smile, posing coyly. "Why not now?" 

He pointed at his clothes and shoeless feet. "I had a small accident." 


Buffy laughed softly, taking in his attire. "What happened? A clothes 
demon come after you?" 

"I stopped over at the beach and got pushed in. Lost my shoes, and my 
clothes shrunk up on me." 

The Slayer walked into his arms and sighed contentedly. "I've missed 
you so much. You left so suddenly, and...I wanted to talk to my friend 
Willow about you, but she's been..." She broke down into tears, 
soaking his shirt. 

He frowned at the 'I told you so' look that Cordy was shooting him and 
did the only mature thing he could. He stuck his tongue out at her and 
crossed his eyes. 

He pulled the smaller woman tight against his chest, trying not to 
admit whata thrill it gave him. "Hey, it's all right. I'm here now." 


"I don't know what to do..." 

He ran a hand through her hair, and engulfed himself in the rich smell 
of his friend. "Tell you what, why don't we meet tonight? We can go 
up to that mountain view that I saw on my way here." 

"That's make-out point..." Buffy looked at him. "...and there's no 
one else I'd rather go with you." 

"Great. I'll pick you up at eight, and then we can talk." 

"Is that what they're calling it now?" Cordiella interrupted. "Because 
I thought it was sex." 

"Tell me, has anyone bought your book yet?" he responded. "'The 
Virtues of Cheerleader Sluts'?" 

"Meow. Someone forgot to get declawed." 

"I'll call your vet for you, but I'm not sure they take cats with 
rabies." 

Cordy raised her eyebrow with a one-cornered smile. "Remind me to take 
you with me to be neutered." 

"Aren't you afraid they'll put you down?" 

"They're probably a lot better at it then you." 

"Oh, I don't know, I think I could figure out a way to kill you. 
Painfully." 

"Look, are we going or not? I have things to do other than play taxi 
driver to you," Cordy snapped back. 

"Fine." He kissed Buffy quickly then chased after the brunette, 
narrowing his eyes as he thought of all the delicious things he could 
do to the brunette. 


<><><><><><><> 


William grunted in frustration and dumped the last of the shopping bags 
on the floor. How on earth had he gone from trying to kill the 
cheerleader to shopping with her was beyond him. But at the time 
Cordy's argument seemed logical. 

"You can't run around in the same tight shirt and jeans for however 
long you're stuck like that," she'd pointed out. "Besides, the only 
pair of shoes you have that actually fit are those horrid, torn-up 
loafers." 

He ran a hand through his newly cut hair and sighed. This whole thing 
was just so messed up. He was supposed to be Willow right now, not 
William. The only good thing was that today marked the last week of 
school, and being Willow, she had been exempt from all her exams. 
Normally she would've taken them anyway but unless he learned to stay a 
'she' before tomorrow, then that just wasn't going to happen. 

He grabbed the pair of black cargo shorts and one of his new tee 
shirts, yanking them on without bothering to remove his new running 
shoes. 

"Willow?" 

He sighed and went down stairs to see Jenny and Giles leaning over a 
couple of books. The frustrated faces of his mentors didn't bode well 
with him, alerting him that something was terribly wrong. "What's 
wrong?" 

Giles took off his glasses and glanced at him nervously. "We've found 
a spell that will help with your predicament. However, while it will 
leave you female, it will simply suppress your male form." 

Will looked from one to the other, searching for some hint. "But 
that's a good thing, right?" 

"By and large, yes," Giles admitted. "It will stop the constant 
shifts, but the second set of chromosomes will still exist. There 
doesn't seem to be a way to make them remain dormant, but..." 

"Can't you just reverse the spell?" 

Jenny glared angrily at the nearby wall. "The spell that Cordiella 
performed is permanent." 

Will gasped desperately, and fell back aiming for the couch...and 
missing. From his seat on the floor he stared up with tear-filled 
eyes. 'Oh goddess, I'm in trouble now.' 






" I signed the release waiver, 
so feel free to put things in my slot anytime."

- Charles Angels.

Odo: Madam Ambassodor, I'm not like you.
Every sixteen hours I revert to a liqiud.

Lwaxana Troi: I can swim.

- DS9: The Forsaken.

Aeris Jade Orion
list mommy: erslash@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
erslash-adult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
AIM: Aeris Jade
ICQ: 51496263
AT&T/Pow-Wow: Jade
Pow-Wow Community: Orion

Web Site: http://members.fortunecity.com/aerissword/Index.html