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Disclaimer: None of the characters below belong to me. All the BtVS people belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. I’m just trying to have fun.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow, of course.
Spoilers: Anything up to and including the Series Finale is possible
Rating: NC-17, mostly for language, but who knows what might happen.
Feedback: Well, Yeah! frank_8281@xxxxxxxxx
The Times In Between
May 1st 2004, 10:52 am
“Well,” Buffy said impatiently, “Are you going to tell me where she is?”
“Tell me about your dream, Buffy.” Giles said quietly
So she told him about the dreams and why she thought Willow was in danger. He listened attentively, made the appropriate noises at the right times and occasionally polished his already spotless glasses.
“So, am I just being paranoid because she hasn’t called me in all this time or is she really in trouble?” Buffy asked.
Giles sighed and said, “I wish I could say that she’s fine but… I don’t know.”
For an instant Buffy felt like she couldn’t breathe. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“A few days ago I received a call from Althenea. According to her, Willow had gone on a pilgrimage to a nearby stone circle and hadn’t returned as scheduled.”
“And you were gonna tell me this WHEN Giles?” She said angrily.
“I was hoping not to have to tell you at all, I was going to send Faith to look into it but…” He trailed off.
“I heard.” Buffy sighed, “Do you know where she went?”
Giles hesitated. “I believe… Um, she may have gone to find Kennedy.”
“Dammit,” she cursed, “Is that why she and Robin broke up?”
“I um, wouldn’t know. Though Faith did keep in contact with her after she left. That may have been a source of friction.”
‘Figures,’ Buffy thought, ‘Faith was who she ran to when Will kicked her out. Of course Faith was still ducking the police at the time, hence, the second hotel room breakage.’
“How do I find Will Giles?” she asked out loud.
“Are you sure that you…”
“Giles, I’m going and that’s final!” she growled.
“Fine, fine, I should know better than to argue with you.” He said reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a file folder.
What’s this?” she asked, taking the folder.
“Research on the stone circle Willow was going to visit, a map and aerial photographs of the area.” He said while moving to open a locked cabinet on the wall. “If, as your dream suggests, the First Evil is involved, you may also need… this.” Drawing the Scythe from it’s resting place Giles handed it to Buffy.
(I’ve always had trouble figuring time differences across datelines. So to simplify things I’m just going to ignore it for now. Of course if someone wants to try and explain it to me… please, e-mail me and I’ll fix it later. B.)
‘Perfect!’ Buffy thought, ‘Almost three days of traveling and nobody’s here!’
She glanced around the little village square, at the cobblestone streets, the quaint little shops, and the pub across the way. Closed naturally. Then she felt a familiar tingle at the back of her neck and sighed.
“I’m cold, I’m tired and I am so not in the mood, so come on out here and face me like a…” She saw Faith step around the corner, “Slayer.”
“Hey B,” Faith said with a grin, dropping onto the bench beside her. “You’re a hard girl to catch.”
“Giles sent you.” A statement, not a question
“Yeah,” she said, “Got in about three hours after your plane took off. Giles sent me for backup.”
“Backup huh.” Buffy saw Faith stealing glances back the way she’d come, “You brought her with, didn’t you?”
“She’s hanging back, thinks you might still want to kick her ass.”
Buffy sighed, thinking back to the last time she had seen Willow.
She had cried for nearly an hour with her head in the blonde’s lap after Kennedy had run out. During that time Xander had come back and told them that the police had come and gone, satisfied with promises to pay for the damages.
“Uh, Will?” Xander asked. “What happened in your room? I looked in there a minute ago and it was pretty trashed.”
This started Willow on a fresh round of crying. Buffy stared daggers at Xander until he said, “I think I’ll just head down and get something to eat. You guys use the room as long as you want, I’ll… bye!” He fled from the Slayer’s glare.
She held Willow until her sobs subsided and then asked, “Will, when do you have to go?”
“Soon.” She said, sitting up.
Buffy looked down to hide her own tears. “Oh… do you want me to go to the airport with you?”
“I… I think it’ll be easier if you don’t.” Willow said quietly.
She got up to leave and Buffy caught her hand. “I love you Will.”
“ I love you too Buffy, but I have to do this.”
The redhead had pulled away and left Xander’s room. She’d gone to the airport less than thirty minutes later. Buffy hadn’t seen her (outside of her dreams anyway) since.
Buffy took a deep breath and looked at Faith. “Where’s Kennedy?”
“Around the corner. B, she’s really…”
“Kennedy!” Buffy shouted and stood up. “Get your ass out here!”
The girl stepped around the corner looking like she didn’t know whether to say ‘hi’ or run like hell. Buffy strode up to her with a scowl.
“I’m sorry I said those things…”
Buffy cut her off. “Are you here to help Willow?” Kennedy nodded.
“Then we’re good.” She hugged the younger Slayer and whispered, “But if you hurt Faith, I’ll kick your ass.”
“I won’t. I promise.” She said earnestly.
Faith moved up and put her arms around the younger girl, “See, I told ya it’d be okay.”
Buffy looked around the square again, “ Yeah, everything’s great! Except Will is god knows where, in who knows how much danger and the coven member who was supposed to meet me is nowhere in sight!”
“Actually, Miss Summers, I’m right here.”
All three Slayers turned to face the voice. They were a little surprised to find a white haired older woman dressed in a tweed suit less than ten feet away.
Faith snapped, “Who are you and how the fuck did you get that close?”
“My name is Althenea. Rupert suggested that I wait to greet you until you were all together and with three Slayers about and all this tension in the air I felt it was prudent to be cautious. So I performed a small glamour to conceal myself until things settled a bit.”
Buffy’s eyes narrowed, “Do I look settled to you?”
“No my dear, you do not. And no wonder! With you worrying about your mate and all. But come along now, we shall retire to the coven house and discuss how best to retrieve Willow.”
8:00 am
It was a big place, surrounded by miles of countryside. When they drove up to the place in the old witch’s little car, Buffy had thought to herself, ‘I can see why Will came back here. It’s beautiful.’
They unloaded their gear from the car and once Althenea had finished introducing them to some of the other coven members, they ate breakfast. Buffy barely managed tea and toast, while Faith and Kennedy showed Althenea one of the perks of having Slayer metabolism.
After breakfast, Althenea, Faith and Kennedy went over the maps and photos of the circle, working out the best approach route. Buffy had fallen into a fitful doze on the overstuffed couch in the coven house common room. As she slipped into a deeper sleep, she began to dream.
Willow walked into the common room, unnoticed, past the others where they were working at the table. The redhead sat next to Buffy and held her hands.
She smiled as she said. “About time you got here slowpoke! I’ve been sending dreams to you for what seems like forever!”
“You sent me those dreams?” Buffy pouted, “You couldn’t have made them a little clearer? Or, at least, less traumatic?”
“I’m sorry Buffy, I couldn’t control exactly what you got because of the distance involved, but now that you’re closer I can actually enter your dreams! Isn’t it nifty?”
The blonde Slayer grumbled, “Yes, so nifty I woke up trying not to scream and wake Dawn.”
“I said I was sorry,” Willow said with a grin. “Besides, have you forgotten just WHO is the one locked up in a small dank, cell in a cavern underneath the stone circle?”
“No.” she said, gently stroking Willow’s cheek. “ I haven’t forgotten how much I’ve missed you either. Are you okay Will? What happened?”
“Apart from a few bruises, and a lump on my head, I’m fine. And what happened was, I got here and found a cadre of Bringers and Ubervamps had set up camp in this cave under the circle.”
“And you tried to take them on yourself?” Buffy made an exasperated noise. “Why didn’t you call Giles? Will, you could have been killed!”
“Honestly Buffy, I didn’t think that there were more than five or six,” the Wiccan sighed, “at least until I got caught and knocked unconscious. Now I know why Giles hates it so much. Anyway, I woke up in this damn cell and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve tried to get out but something’s blocking most of my magick. I think the Bringers are working some kind of mojo to prevent me from escaping. Oh, and I’ve missed y
ou too.” She said with a smile.
“Do you know what they’re up to Willow?”
She nodded, “Oh yeah, the First hasn’t exactly been shy about it.”
“So it’s there?” asked Buffy.
Willow looked thoughtful, “Yes…but something’s wrong Buffy. It’s only appeared in your form and no one else’s. Now in Sunnydale, it changed form almost constantly. Why not here?”
Before Buffy could answer the redhead, the room darkened and went away, leaving the two of them in a flame lit cavern surrounded by at least fifty Bringers and Ubervamps. The Slayer and the Witch instinctively moved closer together as a familiar voice said cheerily, “THERE you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Imagine how worried I was when the Bringers told me that your body was in your cell but your esse
nce had gone wandering.”
A petite blond, identical to Buffy, stepped from the crowd and approached the pair. “Now I find you on the dreamscape, cavorting with her.”
“Not yet,” said Buffy with her hands on her hips, “but if you’d come a few minutes later…”
An angry look crossed the First’s stolen features. “Always joking Slayer, even in the face of Death.”
The Slayer shrugged, “Been there, done that, already got the t-shirt.”
“But this time she won’t be around to bring you back.” The ersatz Buffy gestured and Willow vanished.
The Slayer’s fists clenched as she advanced on the First. “Bring her back!” She growled growled.
“Now Slayer, I only sent her back to her body, but I’m still using her as a conduit to reach you. So unless you want to give ‘your’ Willow an instant lobotomy, you’ll listen quietly.”
“What do you want?” Buffy asked angrily.
“Really Slayer, I thought I’d made that clear the last time,” sighing as she crossed her arms the First continued. “What I want is the slayer line ended and all of you dead!”
“Old news,” the blonde hissed. “What do you want with Willow?”
“I want to use her to undo what you did. You see, by a happy coincidence, well happy for me anyway, one of the side effects of Willow’s big lightshow in Sunnydale is that her fate is now linked to the Slayer power. I kill her and the line ends. One by one I hunt down and kill all the Slayers and no more will be Called. Finally, I’ll let you live and take you as my trophy, because I’ll have already destroyed you by
killing Willow.”
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