FIC: Finding the Slayer (6/?) Buffy/Willow PG

Title: Finding the Slayer

Author: Ivy Gort

Email: ivygort@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Spoilers: Placed in Season Two, plot points from Season Seven

Rating: PG

Pairing: Buffy and Willow

Previous Parts: http://www.fanfiction.net/~ivygort

Summary: Buffy is injured by Spike and starts have strange dreams.

Disclimer: I don't own these character.

Feedback: Please!

Ann Marie is the Great BETA Goddess.

Special Thanks to BHV for prereading for me. BHV and Ann Marie have done and do so much work to help my writing it is unbelievable!

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PART SIX

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The sense that she was dreaming was becoming familiar to the Slayer. The cold wind blew through the deep forest as her heavy boots crunched on the ice-covered snow. The crescent moon hung low in the sky and the Slayer felt a deep longing within her soul. Every time she saw the tiny sliver of the moon hanging just above the trees she had the sense that there was more to her life than just her duty.

Her Watcher had sent her to a distant town to check out some mysterious deaths. Since women were not supposed to wear pants she had to take the back trails through the deep forest and snow-clogged valleys. Fighting in a dress was possible but trying to stay warm and fight was not.

She had been taken from her peasant family as a young girl. Her parents more than happy at the ransom the Council paid them. And truth be told they were pleased to be rid of a girl that wouldn't be able to tend the fields. She had been called to Service the week of her first blood and had been protecting farm and kingdom since. She carried herself with some pride for she knew that she was one of the best Slayers to ever carry a cross and stake. Her reputation had preceded her in the faraway town tonight, her contact informing her that her trip had been in vain. The twitchy little man had let the Vampra buy passage on a ship to the New World.

It was a tedious journey back through the woods without the satisfaction of doing her job and sending a demon back to the ninth circle of Hell.

Halfway home the moon began to play hide and seek with the clouds and a freezing drizzle rolled in, turning the crunchy snow into slick ice. The ice layer on the snow became so thick that the Slayer had to use the footprints she had made earlier in the evening to maintain her balance. She feared that if she fell out in these thick woods she would either freeze to death or be attacked by wolves. She had started to despair when she heard the sounds of laughing and music coming from deeper in the dark forest.

Her parents warnings about the Fay folk danced through her head but then a primal darkness curled in her belly and she drew herself up to her full height. She was the Slayer, if the laughing and music was from the Fairies then the snow would run red with their blood before the night was out.

A dark trill ran down her spine, she had been denied her rightful battle this night when the cowardly Vampra had fled ?maybe she could find her release here under the crescent moon?

It took the Slayer longer than she thought to creep forward over the ice-covered ground. Unable to keep her feet she slid, like a snake on her belly, around trees so ancient that even in the dead of winter they blocked out all the moon's light with their barren branches.

As she pushed a bush out of her path the Slayer had a vague sense of memory that instead of fighting with the forest she should be a part of it. Instead of standing outside of life, she should be immersing herself in it.

Her coat and clothes were soaked through with icy water by the time she felt a faint tingling that meant magic was being worked. She blocked the coldness out of her mind as she continued her hunt. Nothing could stand in the way of a fully mature Slayer. No Vampra, no demon, no evil Fayfolk ?magic just meant she had to be more careful. She had read the diaries of the greatest Slayers throughout the ages and she longed for her name to be included among them..

Slaying an entire clutch of evil fay--even if she died this night her Watcher would find her--would guarantee she would live on in the Watcher's lore. The lust for the fight burned through her, turning her sight red as a roaring filled her ears. She had to stop and take deep breaths to regain some control over her desperate desire to just jump up and rush into battle. Finally, she was able to continue her stealthy journey, until she came to the top of a small rise ?what she saw in the clearing below made her blood run cold.

Witches. Very real, very human, Witches. Evil people that subverted nature's laws and rules. Only the Council was allowed to have and use magic. All others who used magic were the vilest and evilest forms of humans. They were worse than any demon or Vampra because they had a soul and chose to be evil.

She knew they were evil because she was told so every day by her Watcher. She was to strike down any suspected Witch she on sight. They were the only humans it was her duty to kill.

What she saw in the glade made her hand twitch to grab her sword and charge down the hill. The people below were subverting nature and the Slayer needed no other proof. They were dancing and singing naked within a ball of shimmering magical light. Within the sphere there was no snow or ice, just the green grass of a summer meadow. Her Watcher had told her of such a ball of light, she would not be able to enter it without permission so she would just have to wait in the frozen snow until they left its safety.

The Slayer lay still and watched the vileness within the circle. She noticed that one of the Witches stood taller than the rest. Her long red hair flowing down her back as if it were a cape. Her skin was the color of the richest cream. The Witch's breasts were heavy with milk ? her belly showing that she was with child. Yet the Slayer ached to take the woman into her arms, to claim both the Witch and child as her own. The longing in the woman's green eyes answering the same in the Slayer's. Her need to run her hands through the silk of red fire was almost overwhelming ? She violently shook herself from the spell that the Witch was obviously casting over all.

The Slayer tore her eyes from the woman to watch all of the Witches in the glade but as the night wore on her eyes were drawn to that one over and over again. The loneliness of the Witch's gaze more than once nearly pulled the Slayer from her hiding place. Only her training and her Watcher's words of warning echoing in her mind were keeping her in place.

The Slayer didn't move as the moon moved across the sky. On some level she could feel the cold water seeping through her clothes layer by layer. She watched as the ice crystals formed on her eyelashes, as the sleeve of her coat froze to the hardened ice-covered ground, as the temperature around her dropped even further.

She lay in wait, her training keeping her in place as the night grew old ? and she watched as the Witches celebrated and danced ?she stayed still as they began to couple off, dropping to the ground where they stood. Making love in the open and in front of all the other lovers. The Slayer was secretly pleased when she saw that the beautiful Witch didn't chose a lover for that night.

The Slayer cursed when she realized that she had fallen asleep. The sun was now high in the sky and all the Witches were waking up. They were laughing and joking as they put on their heavy fur-lined coats and boots preparing for the cold. The Slayer tried to throw off the sluggishness of sleep; tried to gather the energy it would take to cross the glade and strike down the evilness. She pushed at the ground to stand, if she followed the trail around the meadow she could catch them unawares as they entered the forest on the other side.

But the more she pushed at the ground the more she realized that she was stuck. Her clothes creating a prison of solid ice. Where her body heat had melted the ice, it had frozen back as she lay still. Then the freezing drizzle and mist made the shackles as strong as the most tempered metal. She knew that she could break the ice bindings but the noise would give her away. She was paralyzed, frozen to the ground, as surely as if she was held down by the hand of God.

She watched as the people below her gathered up the last of their belongings and started the trip up the other side of the meadow. The Slayer knew it was too cold to melt her prison, and the sun would never reach her under the huge oak. She took comfort in the fact that her Watcher would come back with men of the church.

By her word, the Witches would die.

That thought was suddenly painful for the Slayer. She didn't want the beautiful Witch and her unborn baby to die.

The sad woman was the last to leave the glade. She moved around it as if looking for something, grief shining in her eyes. The Slayer's attention focused on the Witch as she slowly trudged down the path away from her. Then her heart leaped into her throat as the Witch turned around.

Before the Slayer could stop it, she tried to reach her hand out to the Witch. She felt that if she could just touch her ? but the ice held her captive and then her training stilled her.

She was being ridiculous and bringing shame to her Watcher.

Yet, it seemed as if time stood still as the Slayer saw green eyes blink the tears away and then Witch turned and continued down the path away from her.

By her word, the Slayer knew, that all the Witches would die.

*****

Willow paced between the table and the stairs in the library at Sunnydale High.

"What do you mean Giles has turned evil and Buffy's leaving for England?" Xander asked from the chair at the head of the table. His confusion written plainly on his face.

"I mean that some Watcher guy has cast a spell on Giles and Mrs. Summers to let them take Buffy to England." Willow turned toward the gang in frustration. When she had come up with the idea of hacking into the police files to make it appear that Buffy was a missing child from 16 years ago, she thought it would give her four to five hours to formulate a rescue plan. Now she had a growing feeling of dread that she would have less than two hours, 30 minutes of which had already flown out the window trying to convince Xander, Oz, and Cordelia that something evil was going on.

"Look guys please just trust me!" She finally screamed at her friends. Oz stood up and walked around the table, taking her silently into his arms.

"I believe you." He told her, giving her his unconditional support. "What do we have to do?"

At his question she deflated more ? because she didn't know what to do. She had just started studying Witchcraft with Ms. Calendar and the Council members had years of combat experience. All Ms. Calendar had taught her was how to construct simple shields ?.

"I don't know exactly." She said, moving away from Oz's comforting embrace to start her pacing again. She was trying to clear her head so she could think of a plan that they could execute in the next 30 minutes.

"Look I don't like you losers but I do owe Buffy. So let's just calm down and find out what we do know and go from there." Cordelia said from her seat at the table. Her chair was as far away from Xander's as she could get and still be considered at the table. "These Council men have some kind of mojo that makes people do things they normally wouldn't? Right?" Willow watched as the Queen of Sunnydale High listed what she knew and had told them. "They are heavily armed and the police are now guarding Buffy's door ?so?."

Willow sat bonelessly in a chair. "Yes, that's pretty much it."

Xander raised his hand, after Willow nodded, he asked, "Is there anyway you could like block the spell on Giles and Mrs. S?"

"No, Xander. I might have been able to do something before the spell was cast ? I do know a simple shield but not now that it's already been cast. Giles and Mrs. Summers now think it's their idea to send Buffy away?. I'm just not strong enough to change someone's mind." Willow thought for a moment, "I might be able to do a simple confusion spell on the police officer?." She said, but the hope in her voice quickly faded.

There was nothing they could do to save Buffy. Even if they could get past the police the Council had the hospital surrounded and they'd never get away.

Cordelia reached into her purse and pulled out a small compact. Willow saw the mirror and an idea began to form in her mind. They wouldn't need magic - or really much magic - they could use the Council's power against them.

"Cordy, how many of those things do you have?" Willow asked, as an idea began to take root.

"What!?" Queen C demanded as Willow continued to stare at her. "I may hang around with you freaks but I still have to look good." She huffed, "If anything I have to look better?."

Oz spoke up, interrupting Cordelia's rant. "Just answer the question, Cordy, Willow has an idea?.."

End of Part Six