Fic: Triality (1/?) B/W/T NC-17

["TheBear" <thebear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Triality

Author: The Bear!

Spoilers: up through season 5: This begins to diverge from Checkpoint
episode canon

Pairing: B/W/T

Summary: Begins the Triad Trilogy- Sequel to the Please Trilogy. The
new Triad deals with an angry Hellgod, a surly Teenager, and enough
tweed in one room to violate EPA regulations.

Warnings: NC17 Ahoy! I Love BDSM. I Love chains and whips. I love
Sex! If any of these gives you the wiggins, then so will this story.
(Part 1 is very tame, however. Maybe PG-13ish, not quite as high as R)

Disclaimer: If I owned 'em, they'd have to show it on the Ecstasy
Network.

***

Part 1

Buffy was walking to the Magic Box, thinking about Willow and Tara.
This whole 'Council' ordeal was putting a strain on their relationship.
Not that there was any problem between the three of them, but it was
interfering with how much time they could spend together.

Plus there was that bastard Travers. His disdainful sneer when the
subject of their relationship was brought up made her want to slap his
face right off of his arrogant little pin-head. It was a good thing
Mistress Tara reigned in both her and Willow. He was really lucky
Willow didn't have her way with him. She'd been all for shrinking his
manhood down to the size of a toothpick. Buffy'd just wanted to beat
him up a little.

Add to that the stress of finding Glory in her house, and having Dawn
right there with her! Buffy thought she'd have an aneurysm right there.
They needed to find out how to beat Glory, and soon. That was the only
way to be sure Dawn would be safe.

Unfortunately, it seemed the only way to get that information was to
suck up to the Watcher's Council, even though it made her gag to do it.
Her brain suddenly caught the double meaning in her musings and she
stopped walking, shaking her head. "Ok, I *really* need to get laid
tonight," she thought. It had been two whole days without sex with
either of her lovers and it was getting to her.

As she stood there, musing, she was suddenly tackled to the ground.

Buffy spun around on the ground and leapt to her feet, facing her
attacker. She saw a figure in medieval style armor, including
chain-mail covering its face. The figure backhanded her into a pile of
garbage.

As she again jumped to her feet, she noticed that her attacker was
joined by two more, similarly dressed, figures. The two newcomers had
long metal staves, and the first had a longsword.

As the three creatures circled around the slayer she asked, "Uh ...
Guys? Any way we could... Not do this?"

The knight with the sword swung at Buffy's head. She ducked, spinning,
and punched him. She ducked a staff thrust, kicked the other staff,
ducked again, and kicked the first staff-holder in the stomach. 

She had to duck another swing, and then kicked the second staff guy
twice. She ducked a slash from the sword wielder, blocked a punch, and
then punched him in the face while holding his sword arm. She kicked
him in the chest, forcing him back long enough for her to grab the staff
of another assailant and push him away, causing him to loose his weapon.


She spun around and deflected an attack from the other staff wielder,
knocking his weapon away to land near the first. Then she jumped into
two back handsprings that carried her over the two staves. She quickly
grabbed one staff and thrust it into one knight's stomach. She used it
to deflect a sword thrust and then kicked the sword swinger in the
stomach. 

She rammed the staff into the disarmed knight's stomach again and ducked
just in time to avoid the staff of the other one, who had recovered his.
As the staff passed over her, she kicked him hard in the stomach causing
him to go spinning away. Buffy and the disarmed knight grappled for his
staff for a moment, and then she finally just hit him in the face with
it, knocking him down. 

Buffy dropped her staff, deflected an overhand chop from the sword
wielder with one hand, punching him in the face with the other, knocking
him to the ground. She shot the staff wielder who was still on his
feet a leaping snap kick to the bridge of the nose, knocking him out and
picked up the staff again, facing off with the sword wielder who was
staggering to his feet. 

Buffy disarmed her disoriented foe and pushed him to the ground. She
dropped on top of the prone figure and held her staff to its throat,
growling, "Okay. Let's see what you are." She tore away the chain-mail
mask to reveal a human looking guy with a big symbol-thing tattooed onto
his forehead, ".or who you are?"

The Knight said, "One soldier in a vast army."

Buffy demanded, "What army?"

The fallen Knight answered, "The knights of Byzantium, an ancient order;
and now your enemy."

Buffy was getting seriously pissed off with all these new 'enemies'
popping up all over the place. She pushed the staff harder into his
throat and demanded, "You work for Glory?"

The Knight gave her a dumfounded look, "You think we align ourselves
with The Beast? You must be mad!"

Buffy was confused at his words, but clear on the attacker/attackee
relationship here. "You're the ones who tried killing me," she said as
if that explained her side of things.

"We were fools," the Knight said, "Three of us alone. But if it takes a
hundred men, we'll send a hundred men, and if it takes a thousand, we'll
send a thousand."

"A thousand?" Buffy said, startled by the logistics of fighting such a
group.

The Knight said, "So long as you protect the key, The Brotherhood will
never stop until we destroy it and you. You are the slayer, and we know
what we must do. Now, be done with it. Kill us, and let legions follow."

Buffy tossed the staff aside, got up and picked up the sword. The
knight scrambled to his feet, and she put the sword to his throat. He
turned his head away waiting for the kill stroke. 

"Your ultimate goal is to destroy The Key?" Buffy asked, trying to get
a grip on the situation.

The Knight was puzzled, expecting to be dead already. "Have I not said
it?" he confirmed.

"Why?" Buffy asked, keeping the sword against his throat.

The Knight looked at her as if she were mad. "Why? To stop the Beast,
of course!"

Buffy said, "So, your ultimate goal is to stop Glory, not destroy The
Key."

The knight stared at her for half a beat, then said, "The Key is too
dangerous to be allowed to exist. The key is the link, the link must be
severed, such is the will of God," he said, as though by rote.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but saw this as an opportunity to get some
information on Glory without becoming beholden to the council. Maybe
enough to try something she'd been considering. "Look, at least half of
what you want is the same as what I want. You and me should talk.
Then, when we're done you can decide if I should still kill you."

***

Tara, Willow, Xander and Anya were all sitting on the floor of the
mezzanine in the Magic Box. They were all up against the railing, their
legs hanging over the side and dangling above the main floor below.
They were looking down on all the watchers who had made their last few
days a living hell of tension and anxiety with their constant
questioning and poking their noses into the Scoobies' lives.

"Where is she?" Xander whispered nervously.

"She'll be here!" Willow whispered back, her voice not as full of
conviction as she was striving for. She believed Buffy would be here,
but there was always a tendril of fear that Buffy would someday meet
something she couldn't win against. That tendril was even more
insidious now that she and Buffy were lovers, as well as best friends.
The thought of loosing Buffy had always weighed heavily on her, but the
thought of loosing Mistress Buffy was even worse- not because she valued
Buffy as a lover more than as a friend, but because she would be loosing
both lover and friend. She was just about to let the worry get to her
when she felt a warm hand under her top, rubbing up her back.

Tara smiled when her pet virtually purred as she petted the skin of her
back. She leaned over and whispered into her lover's ear, "Buffy's just
fine pet. We'd know if something happened." 

Willow arched her back slightly, loving it when Mistress Tara played
with her in public.

They didn't always play D/s games, especially in public, but not even
always in the bedroom. Tara often liked it sweet and soft with her two
lovers, but she did revel in the power that came with being Mistress to
two such powerful women. 

The power of the slayer was obvious- chosen one; superhuman speed,
strength, endurance, and healing. Willow's power was less obvious. To
the untrained eye, she was apparently a quiet, somewhat shy college
student- beautiful in an understated 'girl next door' way- but nothing
special. What was not so apparent was the magic power that she verily
buzzed with. Tara had never seen a witch with as much raw power as
Willow. 

Sometimes it scared Tara a little just how much power Willow could
wield- because she was so new and untrained. The girl was almost
entirely self taught, and had never practiced with anyone else till Tara
came along. There were times when she wanted to throttle Giles- not
that she ever would, but she was exasperated with his attitude toward
magic. He worried about Willow too, but rather than teach her, he just
fretted about and tried to keep her from the more dangerous arcanea.
After seeing her hacking skills, and her unquenchable thirst for
knowledge, he should have known better.

Tara shook her head as she realized she was off woolgathering. She
focused back on the issue at hand. Glory wanted the Key. Dawn *was*
the Key. That was pretty much all they knew, beyond Glory being
incredibly tough- too tough for Buffy to take on in single combat and
beat. Buffy needed an edge, or a tool, or a trick. something to use
against this creature. "And the Watcher's Council is our only hope at
the moment," she thought.

Anya broke into her thoughts with her usual helpfulness, "Maybe
something ate her!" she whispered suddenly.

Tara tightened her hold on Willow, knowing the redheaded witch didn't
much like Anya to start with, and such comments were likely to result in
a very upset Willow.

Xander, once again torn between his best friend and his lover, tried to
diffuse the situation before Willow began a fight. "Ahn, honey, right
now we are trying to think happy thoughts, Ok? Thinking about all the
bad things that could have happened to Buffy just makes us feel worse,
not better. Ok?

Anya was slightly embarrassed. She had been trying so hard to be more
'sensitive to others' feelings' as Xander put it, but she kept messing
up. It was hard to tell when it was appropriate to lie and be in
denial, and when it wasn't. She kept confusing when it was time for
truth and when it was time for denial. She tried again, "Oh, I'm sure
nothing ate her on the way here. She's much too big to be consumed so
quickly." She smiled, proud that she had said something supportive. 

Xander's smile became sort of a strained, 'please kill me now' grimace
as he turned to Willow and Tara. "She meant it in a good way." he
trailed off, seeing Willow's scowl and Tara's more understanding
half-smile. He turned back to his girlfriend and tried to make the
smile more genuine, "Thanks, Ahn. I'm sure we all feel better knowing
that."

Tara smirked. Anya was just being Anya. Tara knew she didn't mean
anything by it- she was just culturally retarded. You had to accept it
and move on, or be angry all the time. "Speaking of which," she
thought.

Tara stopped rubbing Willow's back with her left hand and reached over
with her right, to turn the scowling face toward her. "Play nice, pet,"
she instructed gently, but firmly before placing a light kiss on
Willow's pouting lips.

Willow was embarrassed about getting annoyed with Anya. "Yes Mistress,"
she whispered, dropping her eyes. She knew such conflict between
Scoobies displeased Tara.

All four Scoobies were relieved when Buffy walked into the shop not even
a minute later.

***

Buffy walked into the Magic Box in somewhat of a daze. Her conversation
with the Knight of Byzantium had revealed some information, but she
wasn't sure that any of it was useful. 

"Glory is a hell god. God of hell," she thought. Not *the* hell,
maybe, but some hell dimension somewhere was missing one of it's gods.
"Goddess, actually," she mused. She knew now why Glory wanted the key.
It almost made her laugh. Glory wanted the key so she could open a
portal, and go back to the dimension. Actually it did make her laugh
when she first heard it, all this trouble so glory can go home.

She stopped laughing when she heard the rest.

Travers looked up from the table he was sitting alone at, several papers
spread out in front of him, and said, "You're late." His condescending
disapproval readily apparent.

Buffy said, "Yeah."

Giles noticed that Buffy was carrying a sword and rose to his feet, "Was
there an attack?"

Buffy said, "Yeah."

Travers leaned forward slightly and said, "we can begin the review at
last." His body language and tone were rife with arrogance and disdain.
"We'll, uh, skip the more obvious questions..."

Buffy interrupted him by putting the sword down on his papers. "There
isn't going to be a review."

Travers raised an eyebrow and said, "Sorry?" clearly communicating that
he must have misheard her, because she couldn't have meant what she
said.

Buffy's voice was calm and even as she said, "No review. No
interrogation. No questions you *know* I can't answer. No hoops, no
jumps." 

One of Travers' toadies began to speak up and Buffy instantly cut him
off, ".and no interruptions."

The toady reluctantly shut his mouth.

Buffy looked around at her audience and began to pace. ""See ... I've
had a lot of people talking at me the last few days. Everyone just
lining up to tell me how unimportant I am. And I've finally figured out
why." She stopped pacing and looked Travers in the eye, "Power. I have
it. They don't. This bothers them."

The slayer removed her coat as she walked to the table. "Glory came to
my home today," she said as if describing the weather.

Giles was alarmed and said, Buffy, are you."

Buffy interrupted Giles, "Just to talk." She tossed her coat over the
back of a chair and resumed pacing. "She told me I'm a bug, I'm a flea,
and she could squash me in a second." She stopped and looked again
directly at Travers, "Only she didn't. She came into my home, and we
talked. We had what in her warped brain probably passes for a civilized
conversation. Why?"

Buffy paused and the whole room leaned imperceptibly forward,
anticipating the answer. "Because she needs something from me. Because
I have power over her." She put her hands on her hips and looked
around. She started walking, looking from one watcher to the next as
she said, "You guys didn't come all the way from England to see whether
or not I was good enough to be let back in. You came to beg me to let
*you* back in. To give your jobs, your lives some semblance of meaning."

The toady who was going to interject earlier spoke up. "This is beyond
insolence." he began. The sudden presence of Buffy's sword sticking out
from the wall a mere centimeter from his nose effectively interrupted
him. He leapt back, shocked.

Buffy didn't ever raise her voice as she said, "I'm fairly certain I
said no interruptions."

Xander whispered, "That was excellent!"

Willow and Tara grinned, their eyes shining with love and amazement at
their powerful, masterful lover in action.

Buffy continued, "You're watchers. Without a slayer, you're pretty much
just watchin' Masterpiece Theater. You can't stop Glory. You can't do
anything with the info you have except maybe publish it in the "Everyone
Thinks We're Insane-o's Home Journal." She paused and turned to
address Travers directly. "So, here's how it's gonna work. You're
gonna tell me everything you know. Then you're gonna go away." She
began pacing again, her energy obviously making her antsy. "You'll
contact me if and when you have any further information about Glory.
The magic shop will remain open. Mr. Giles will stay here as my
official watcher, reinstated at full salary..."

Giles coughed, "Retroactive."

Buffy amended, "...to be paid retroactively from the month he was
fired." Buffy looked up at the faces of her friends and lovers, sharing
a special smile with Tara and Willow. She looked back down at the
assembled watchers and continued, "I will continue my work with the help
of my friends...

The schoolmarm looking toady interrupted, "I, uh, I... Don't want a
sword thrown at me, but, but, civilians, I. we're talking about
*children*."

Buffy again looked up at the balcony, her eyes resting briefly on each
face looking down at her. She answered, "We're talking about two very
powerful witches and a thousand-year-old ex-demon."

Anya piped up, "Willow's a demon?!"

An as-yet unheard from toady said, "The boy? No power there."

Buffy laughed disdainfully, "'The Boy' has fought more demons than all
of you combined. He has saved the life of each and every one of us at
one time or another. He's one of us."

Willow reached over and gave Xander's hand a supportive squeeze.

Xander glanced at Willow, a giant grin on his face. "I'm one of us!"

Buffy once again addressed the watchers, "Now, you all may be very good
at your jobs. The only way we're gonna find out is if you work with me.
You can all take your time thinking about that." she turned back to
Travers. ".but I want an answer right now from Quinton, 'cause I think
he's understanding me," her tone a disdainful mockery of his words to
her.

Travers cleared his throat and said, "Ah, your terms are acceptable."

Giles smiled hugely. The Scoobies burst into cheers and applause, but
quickly stopped, looking embarrassed. 

Buffy didn't smile, but looked very satisfied. She sat down across from
Travers, looking at him expectantly. "So?"

Travers nodded and said, "Ah, Rupert?"

Giles answered, "Quinton?"

Travers said, "When we inventoried your shop, we found a bottle of
single malt scotch behind the, ah, incense holders."

Giles stuttered, "Well, it's, it's not, you know, during working hours."

Travers said, "I think I could use a glass."

Giles said, "Well, I suppose we could use a drink." and walked away to
get a couple of glasses.

Buffy recaptured Travers' attention and said, "So? Glory. I wanna know."

Travers said, "Well, there's a lot to go through."

Buffy said, "I'm not stoppin' you."

***

It was after 1am when the Travers and his toadies finally left. They
would be heading back to England the next morning, and it couldn't be
too soon for Buffy. 

Xander and Anya had left right after the watchers. Xander was still out
on disability leave from his job, but Anya was getting cranky. "You
haven't given me any orgasms in over a day!" she had petulantly
complained. It was getting so that the other Scoobies were almost
accustomed to such outbursts, and no one even batted an eye, though
Giles did find a sudden need to clean his glasses.

For once, Buffy could sympathize- If she didn't get one or both of her
girlfriends naked soon, she felt like she was gonna scream.

She and Giles were discussing their next step. Giles, of course, was
eager to start digging into the research material the council had left
for them. They also talked about what to do with Joyce and Dawn, who
were spending the night in Spike's crypt. They discussed perhaps
sending them away, but Giles suggested waiting until they had a chance
to go through the information from the council and see if they could
determine exactly how and maybe even when Glory intended to use The Key.


It was either that, or come up with a way to defeat her, because
otherwise sending The Key away would just result in Glory chasing after;
as she apparently had been doing for years. All that would result from
such a course of action would be them losing track of the Hellgod and
having to leave the Hellmouth to chase her down.

So they tabled the discussion of moving Dawn, and went into a discussion
of whether or not to tell Dawn. Buffy's initial reaction was not to,
but it took only a raised brow from Mistress Tara to achieve a
compromise in which they would sit down with Dawn after they had
finished reviewing the council's material, and could thus offer the
young girl as much information as possible. Buffy worried that Dawn
would react badly, and Tara had pointed out that her innate curiosity
would lead her to discovery eventually, and her reaction would be even
worse if she found out some other way. She was, after all, already
wigging out, what with the crazy people talking about her like she was a
thing- apparently they saw something that 'normal' people couldn't.

Giles noted that Buffy's attention was becoming less and less focused on
the particular topic at hand; and more and more focused on the two
witches. Tara was sitting on the floor against the wall, while Willow
laid with her head pillowed in the blonde witch's lap. 

Tara was absently running her fingers through the mop of red hair in her
lap, eliciting a contented purring from her pet. Her eyes, however were
observing Buffy. She was coming to recognize that look in her lover's
eyes. Occasionally the slayer seemed to find it necessary to mark her
territory- no amount of discipline dissuaded her. Tara thought it must
be her slayer nature. Whatever it was, something made her need to
dominate Tara once in a while. It had happened twice already, preceded
each time by that look of hunger, and both times Tara had followed it
the next day with a session using the paddle, and denying Buffy's
release until the slayer was crying and begging her mistress for
forgiveness. 

Such forgiveness was always forthcoming, of course. This was still a
game for the most part, not their whole life.

Giles finally realized that there was no point in continuing the
conversation this night. He got up and said, I'm going to take some of
this home with me, Buffy. Will you lock up before you leave?

"Uh huh," Buffy muttered, her lust beginning to interfere with her
thinking.

Giles sighed, "Just try not to break anything expensive, Alright?"

"Un huh," Buffy again muttered, not catching his meaning in her
heightened state of arousal.

Willow giggled, seeing from Buffy's face that she was in for some
thorough sexin' pretty much as soon as Giles walked out the door.
"'Night, Giles," she said. she couldn't resist teasing him though and
added, "Sweet dreams!" knowing what he was likely to dream about that
night. Tweed or no, he was still a man and pretty much no straight man
on the planet was going to be able to walk away from this situation,
knowing what Giles knew, and not think about the three hot girls about
to get naked.

Tara still had the grace to blush, but she too was struck by an impish
need to tease the normally staid Brit, "Good night Mr. Giles. Oh, and
don't worry- we'll use the training room." 

Giles voice broke slightly as he uttered, "Good Lord!" and got himself
out of the store as quickly as he could while still maintaining some
slight sense of decorum.

As the door closed behind him, Willow innocently said, "I thought it was
supposed to be their upper lip that was stiff."

***

end part 1



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