FIC: The Two - [12/24] - R

[Andy Stoffel <see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: The Two (12/24)
AUTHOR: -Andy- (see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx)
RATING: R (For future violence and adult situations) 
STATUS: A WiP.
DISCLAIMER: This is a derivative work. All characters belong to
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox Television, and others. I don't
own any of this, just the plot and words gluing my story
together. 
SUMMARY: Buffy meets a different kind of Willow in an alternate
universe. (It really is gonna be a B/W folks. Getting there.)
SPOILERS: All seasons of BtVS. Let's pretend Season 5 of Angel
didn't happen.
DISTRIBUTION: buffywantswillow, ikoly, and my blog fanfic pages.
Anyone else, e-mail me please.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: 
[1] Reminder - I write slowly. The next part won't be finished
until late December, after NaNoWriMo.
[2] Feedback welcome/desired. Especially the kind that helps me
write better.
[3] This and the previous 11 parts can be found in the archives
for this list, on http://www.Ikoly.com, and my blog (along with
the occasional spoilers for future parts).

- - -

Part XII Title: "Season Opener"

- - -


It was a faint pressure. Like something pressing at the back of
her throat. It drew her out into the street on Sunday evening,
an hour before sunset. It felt nothing like the previous night
when she'd been following Dawn on patrol. This was somehow very
familiar in an old way. She stood on the sidewalk below her
living room window for several minutes while she tried to figure
out where the feeling was coming from. There was a definite
direction to it, leading away from downtown towards the
outskirts of Sunnydale.

Running back up to her apartment, Buffy changed out of the
sweats she'd been lounging in, into more durable clothes more
appropriate for what she had planned, and grabbed several
stakes, her knife, a small penlight, and several small bottles
of holy water. Pulling on her leather jacket and stashing things
in  assorted pockets, Buffy walked back out of her apartment and
stood on the sidewalk; once more trying to feel for something
disturbing enough to cause her to arm herself. It took several
minutes for her innate slayer senses to find the thread of the
something again. 

There was a vaguely familiar tang to it. It triggered one of
those faint, almost memories that seemed slightly unreal,
verging on a sense of deja-vu. She breathed deeply, almost
trancelike, as she stood there and allowed the part of her
subconscious that was in tune with the mystical world to guide
her and point her in the correct direction. While doing so she
could feel other things, other creatures, out at the edge of her
awareness. Things new to Sunnydale. But investigating them would
have to wait until later. Something told her this was more
important.

She walked quickly and surely down the deserted sidewalk, her
stride deceptive for someone her size. As her unease increased
she assumed that she was getting closer to whatever it was. The
street she was now on, Heisenberg Street, didn't look familiar,
which struck her as odd. She'd thought she would have covered
the entire town at some point during the month she'd shadowed
Dawn on her nightly patrols. She wondered how they'd missed it.
And looking around she couldn't see any landmarks that would
indicate where it was in relation to the Sunnydale she'd spent
such an important part of her life in. 

She'd gotten used to the major differences between the two
Sunnydales but she was occasionally thrown off, especially at
night, by the small things - how an alley might be longer or the
street lights brighter or an abandoned building she could
remember fighting some demon or vampire in not being abandoned
or even there at all. But for some reason, she hadn't gotten
around to mapping out the locations of places in her lost
Sunnydale in relation to this one yet. There'd seemed to be no
point to the exercise. And now she was beginning to regret it.

Suddenly losing the feeling she'd been following, Buffy stopped
and found herself standing in front of an old stone building.
The three story edifice didn't seem to be a house and looked out
of place on the residential street she was now on. She couldn't
quite tell what its purpose was but now that the feeling that
had drawn her to this spot was gone she felt something else.
Something in the building was pulling her towards it. She
resisted its pull and stood there, trying to figure it out. It
wasn't evil but it wasn't necessarily something she wanted to
delve into. As she involuntarily took a step forward, a blast of
icy cold air caused her to shiver. Unlike the earlier force she
had felt across town and the feeling now pulling her towards the
building, this was caused by something distinctly evil. It
seemed to be pushing her back from the building, away from
whatever was attempting to pull her into it.

Taking a moment to ground herself firmly in the present in an
attempt at shielding herself, Buffy tried to reach out using a
part of herself she normally kept hidden. She'd never really
attempted to develop her ability to sense the dark aura given
off by evil beings. There were so many abilities that made up
what she'd taken to calling her slayer senses that she'd only
developed those she really needed. And on an active Hellmouth
sensing evil hadn't required much work so she'd rarely used this
particular ability. She'd actually had to bury it as deeply as
possible to avoid being driven mad, almost like the one time
she'd accidentally become telepathic. She wasn't sure if even
Giles was aware of how sensitive she'd become to evil, though
she was certain there was something in a musty old Council book
somewhere that described the ability.

Buffy shivered. The presence radiating from the building, trying
to keep her away, was almost too much for her untrained senses
to withstand. But now that she'd had a chance to stop she
thought she knew what she was probably dealing with. The dormant
Hellmouth that she'd been lax in finding was beginning to wake
up. She knew she didn't have any chance to stop it on her own
but she needed to make sure nothing was helping it along. An
awakening Hellmouth was bad enough to be unleashed on an
unsuspecting town but an open one would be cataclysmic. 

She hesitated only briefly, fighting the inclination to run away
and cautiously drawing on the other feeling that wanted her
there for support before walking up to the front entrance.
Pulling on the doorknob, it was clear that the door was locked.
While she could resort to her old companion, violence, she
preferred to find another way in that wouldn't alert the
neighborhood or any possible building residents.

Stepping off of the porch into the surrounding high grass it
appeared as if the building had been abandoned a long time ago.
But from the appearance of the intact windows she could see it
was not as neglected as it first gave the impression of being.
Buffy could feel something watching her from a nearby stand of
trees but dismissed it as unimportant for now. Staring up at it,
she noticed that the building was larger than she'd originally
assumed. And she didn't have much time to get in and look around
before the sun went down. But now that she was aware of it she
could return in the morning if necessary.

<b>- - -</b>

Walking around to the back of the building, Buffy tried the rear
entrance. The locked door at the top of a flight of stairs
looked impervious even to her enhanced slayer strength. Not
ready to give up, Buffy had just started walking back down the
steps in search of another way in when she heard a sharp
metallic click. Cautiously turning around, she saw the heavy
door slowly start to open. She quickly stepped to the side, off
of the steps and out of sight of the opening door. If something
was going to come out she didn't want to get in its way.

Several tense minutes later, when it looked like nothing was
going to happen, Buffy walked back up the steps to the door and
cautiously looked around before pushing the door open wider and
entering the building. It was like walking into a soundproofed
room. The subtle background noises of nature and the town that
she'd barely noticed seemed to disappear completely into an
echoing space. This gave her the impression of being in a large
empty room.

Straining her hearing, she couldn't detect anything living
within the building. Examining the door Buffy couldn't find any
reason for it to have opened on its' own. Now that the door was
open she couldn't think of a good reason not to explore and look
for the source of the earlier evil presence. Hoping this wasn't
going to turn into a big mistake she warily closed the door
behind her.

To her right, behind a door near the back entrance, she found a
stairwell that seemed to lead in both directions. Skipping it
for now and quickly looking around she noticed that the ground
floor contained several empty rooms along a hallway that
extended the length of the building. Nothing in them gave her
any clue about their intended purpose. With the exception of the
large windows in each room, none of them seemed to have light
switches or any other form of light. As good as her night vision
was, even with the penlight she'd grabbed, she had no plans to
stay in the building once the sun went down if she could at all
help it. Wandering around an unknown building in the dark wasn't
one of her favorite activities. 

Reaching the front, she noticed a large curved stairway to the
right that led upward. After giving the ground floor one last
glance, she took the stairs all the way to the top landing. She
found herself in a hallway lined with doors, two on either side.
Checking each door she found that, with the exception of the
door leading to the back stairs, they all opened on empty rooms
with tall skinny windows. And only one of them seemed to give
any indication of having a purpose. The large blackboard on one
wall reminded her of a classroom.

Going downward using the smaller back stairs, Buffy noticed that
she was on a floor that was identical to the floor above it,
including the room with a blackboard. And like the rest of the
parts of the building she'd explored, there was no furniture.
The rooms seemed to be waiting for something. For some purpose
to fill them.

Puzzled by what she'd seen so far, Buffy once more took the back
stairs down a flight, ending up on the ground floor. and looked
around again. With still no idea about the building's purpose
she decided to check out the basement. 

She was surprised when she saw that the stairs continued
downward past the basement door. Ignoring the stairs for a
moment, she opened the door and walked through it. The almost
empty room was lit by a faint light coming from a number of
small windows just above eye level. In the center of the room
was a large furnace. She didn't know much about such things but
it seemed too clean to have been used recently. An empty shelf
covered the entire wall opposite the basement entrance. There
also seemed to be some kind of small door or entrance on the
back wall, but she couldn't remember seeing anything like it
when she was outside.

Having gotten her fill of empty basement Buffy decided to follow
the stairs the rest of the way down. Arriving at the bottom, the
penlight she'd hurriedly fished out of a pocket, combined with
her enhanced vision, gave her enough light to see with. The door
at the bottom was a lot heavier than any other she'd seen so far
in the building, even the ones at the two entrances. This was a
door that clearly said 'beware.' It was unlocked and she pushed
it open with slayer bravado.

Entering the room she noticed that it seemed much smaller than
the basement above it. Something in the room reeked of darkness.
Along one wall were three small locked and chained doors. The
rest of the area was empty but something drew her to one corner.
It seemed to be empty but her senses were screaming at her. As
she got closer to it something started pushing her back.
Whatever was there was protected by very strong magic. And since
she hadn't found anything resembling an entrance to the
Hellmouth she had a strong suspicion about what it was
protecting.

It was getting late. It would be dark in a few minutes. Deciding
that this room could wait until she'd done some research on the
building, Buffy took one last look around, trying to imprint an
image of the room on her mind. If she needed magic to get past
whatever was in the corner she knew where to find a witch.
Retracing her steps Buffy went back up to the ground floor.

Standing just inside the back hallway, she took one last look
around. The only thing disturbing the thick, dusty film covering
the floor were her own footprints, charting her exploration of
the building. Closing the door behind her, Buffy headed across
town towards the Coven House to ask someone a few questions.

- - - -

Willow wasn't home when she arrived at the Coven House just
after sunset. Except for a dim light on the porch and one above
the garage, the yard and house were now dark. She'd spent enough
time sitting on the porch with Willow in the past that now that
she was alone she had no qualms about making herself comfortable
while she waited. She consciously picked a place where she could
see anyone approaching the house from the street but they
couldn't see her.

Even though she knew that Willow and Dawn had both been training
to deal with mystical evil, Buffy wasn't sure they were ready
yet to deal with something as dangerous as a Hellmouth. She knew
she would certainly need their help at some point but they'd had
little experience with that level of demonic influence and evil.
Finding out everything she could about the building on
Heisenberg street seemed like a good place to involve Willow
without putting her in any danger. Involving Dawn could come
later.

While she waited in the dim light, Buffy reviewed the things she
knew that seemed to be related to the things going on in
Sunnydale with the Hellmouth:

One - the Hellmouth was becoming active for the first time in
almost a century.
Two - Something had kept her from even thinking about it until
now.
Three - The mysterious house on Heisenberg Street was somehow
connected to the Hellmouth.
Four - Madeline had, more than once, indicated that she knew
something was going on. And then there were the books she'd
given her.
Five - Something magical had attacked Dawn the night before.
Six - Vampires seemed very interested in Dawn's activities but
were showing unnatural restraint and hadn't bothered to attack
her.
Seven - The green demon in LA seemed to know something was up

For now, she decided that the only thing it would be safe to
involve Willow with was the mysterious house. More than that and
the curious witch could get hurt. SHe didn't pause to think why
she was so interested in shielding Willow from the danger. That
was as far as she'd gotten when she saw Willow's car pulling
into the driveway. Several minutes later, preceded by that warm
internal glow Buffy had noticed she occasionally got in her
presence, Willow appeared at the foot of the steps looking up at
her curiously.

"I need to talk with you about something." Buffy announced
brusquely to the tired looking woman.

"Okay." Willow gave her a nervous look before suggesting - "Why
don't we take this inside? We can go up to my apartment. It's
been a really long day and I need some place more comfortable
than here to relax."

"Sure, that's fine." Buffy stood up and followed her around the
porch to the back entrance. The apartment was at the top of
several flights of stairs. Willow unlocked the door and tiredly
waved Buffy in. This was the first time Buffy had seen her
apartment and she looked around curiously before removing her
coat.

"I'll take that." Willow told her when she saw Buffy standing in
the entryway with her coat in her hands. Buffy watched her put
it in a closet near the door before turning back to examining
what she could see of the apartment.

"You haven't been here before, have you?" Willow mused. "There's
not much to it but let me give you a really quick tour." She
walked into the center of the apartment. "Over there is the
bedroom and bath." She pointed down a short hallway. "We're
almost in the kitchen. My office is over there. And you can see
my living room from here." She pointed to several parts of the
apartment as she talked. "It would be cozy for two people. With
just me it seems a bit large at times. Of course, add the
occasional slayer visit to the mix and it starts to feel
cramped. Fortunately there's plenty of room downstairs for
meetings if we need the space."

"It doesn't seem too bad." Buffy told her with a small smile.
"It is certainly larger than my loft."

"Why don't you have a seat on the couch?" Willow suggested.
"I'll get us something to drink. Coffee, tea, or...?" she
trailed off, turning red.

Buffy wondered what had caused Willow to faintly blush at her
own comment. "Tea is fine."

"Great! I've got the real thing." Willow went into the kitchen,
leaving Buffy in the living room. Looking around she spotted the
couch Willow had mentioned and made herself comfortable on one
end.

"Go ahead and take your shoes off," Willow ordered with a smile
as she brought a tray with a teapot and two cups into the room.
Setting it on the coffee table in front of the couch, she kicked
off her own shoes before sitting at the other end of the couch
herself. "We're friends. It's allowed."

Following her example Buffy gave Willow a quick smile and curled
her now shoeless feet underneath herself on the couch. Taking a
sip of the tea Willow had just handed her, Buffy sighed in
appreciation. "It's been a long time since I've had tea made
that way." she told Willow. "Reminds me of home."

"Really?" Willow gave her another small smile. "I spent a year
at Oxford and my advisor insisted that this was the only way to
make it. Most people around here don't seem to notice the
difference."

"Oh? What did you study there?" Buffy asked her. She'd wondered
if Willow had pursued any of the opportunities her own Willow
had turned down to stay and help her with her destiny. "An old
family friend went there but the closest I've ever gotten was
hunting vampires nearby."

"Ancient languages." Willow shrugged. "A lot of the older slayer
lore is contained in old manuscripts that are in several obscure
dialects of Sumerian and Greek. My advisor was one of the few
experts in those dialects. He occasionally does work for us. The
Elders recommended that I study with him when I joined the
coven."

"So, if I have a book or two in some obscure language you might
be able to help me translate it?" Buffy asked half seriously.

"Sure. If I know it. Do you have it with you?" Willow asked with
a slight frown. "Is that why you're here?"

Wondering why Willow seemed disappointed, Buffy shook her head.
"No, it was just a thought. But I do have a mystery that I
thought you might be able to help me with."

"What?" Buffy noticed a faint sheen of excitement in Willow's
eyes, like a small child given a surprise gift. She smiled at
Willow's enthusiasm, causing her to blush faintly from the
attention.

"What's the mystery" Willow asked, recovering quickly.

"Well, it is actually several things." Buffy replied.

"Just a minute." Willow got up from the couch and left the room.
Returning, she sat back down on the couch, a pad of paper and a
pen in hand. "Okay. Go ahead." Taking a sip of tea she motioned
for Buffy to continue. 

Buffy grinned slightly at the picture Willow made sitting there,
trying to keep her excitement under control and look serious at
the same time. It was so much like the reaction her Willow would
have had that she had to consciously suppress the nostalgic
feeling the sight gave her.

"Well, you know I've been following Dawn almost every night for
the past few weeks." Willow nodded. "Well, tonight I felt
something strange, some sort of unusual vibe in the air. Not
quite evil but really close. So I thought I would follow it and
check it out."

"You can sense if something is evil?" Willow looked at her in
surprise.

"Yes. I usually have to be within several feet of something to
feel anything." Buffy shrugged. "But whatever it was tonight I
could feel it from a good distance, so I followed it. Sort of
like you would follow a smell with your nose."

"Oh." Willow wrote something down after Buffy's explanation.

"Anyway, I ended up on some street I don't recall seeing before.
It wasn't one I recognized from observing Dawn's patrols." Buffy
paused to take a sip of tea. "I was wondering if she
intentionally skips it."

"What's the name of the street?" Willow asked. 

"It's Heisenberg Street." 

"I've lived here all my life and that name doesn't sound
familiar." Willow got back up and left the room again, returning
with a map of Sunnydale. "Hmmm..." she murmured, looking at the
map, Buffy gazing at her expectantly. Looking up she said "I
recognize the streets on either side but not that one."

"That's strange." Buffy muttered. "Sunnydale isn't that big of a
town."

"No, it isn't." Willow frowned. "That certainly is a mystery. As
far as I know we don't have any streets she doesn't patrol.
She's not patrolling tonight but I can ask her about it
tomorrow. What else did you have questions about?"

"Well, I was wondering about one of the buildings on that
street." Buffy shifted back on the couch and rubbed her
forehead. "But if you've never heard of the street I'm assuming
you don't know anything about what is on it."

"No." Willow thought for a minute. "But we do have extensive
historical archives about Sunnydale in the Coven library. If you
don't mind waiting until tomorrow I can show you where they are
before I head to school." Willow yawned. "Was there anything
else?" she asked sleepily.

Buffy grinned at her. "Just something simple and then I'll get
you into bed." Willow blushed again and Buffy wondered what had
caused that reaction before realizing what she'd said and
blushed herself. "By yourself." she corrected, embarrassed.

"What was your last question?" a still blushing Willow asked.

"I've been here a month and I haven't found the Hellmouth yet."
Buffy decided to not mentioned that she'd actually been in no
hurry to find it. "Where is it?"

Willow abruptly sat up at the question. "Why do you want to
know? It isn't active."

"I think it's connected to that street somehow." Buffy told her.
"I also think it isn't quite as inactive as you think."

"Dawn and I can show you if you really want to see it." Willow
admitted. "But can it wait until next weekend? It's in a cavern
deep underneath Sunnydale and getting there can take a whole
morning."

"I'm not sure if it can wait. I think it is starting to become
active. Waking up." Buffy told her. "I think that is part of
what I sensed tonight but I want to double check."

"Waking up?" Willow paled.

"Yes. I don't think it is dangerous yet." Buffy reassured her.
"But if it is becoming active it'll start attracting all sorts
of evil creatures to Sunnydale unless something is done about
it."

Willow visibly shivered. "That isn't good!"

"No it isn't" Buffy told her glumly. She put down her cup and
reached for her shoes. "I should get going so you can get to
bed."

"Why?" Willow pouted, something Buffy hadn't seen her do before.

"Because you aren't the only one who needs to get some sleep."
Buffy looked away from WIllow before she gave in to her unspoken
request that she stay. "If Dawn isn't going out later I should
head home."

"Okay." Willow yawned again and leaned back. "Can you show
yourself out?"

"Sure." She told her. Rising from the couch, Buffy headed to the
closet to get her coat. Noticing a small blanket on the shelf
above it, she grabbed it and walked back into the living room.
Giving Willow a quick smile, she tucked her in and with a quiet
'Goodnight' left the surprised woman staring at her as she let
herself out and headed back to her loft.

- - -

TBC in "Apocalypse Blues"

- - -


Hope y'all liked this one. We're now halfway there.

-Andy-

=====
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- http://radio.weblogs.com/0104508/
-


		
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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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