Rating - Ummm... some parts are steamier, but mostly PG.
Disclaimer - This takes place early season 6 but I've deliberately not concentrated too much on the emotional state of the Slayer. All the characters are kinda wired though... Oh, and all characters belong to someone else. Mutant Enemy and Fox to be specific.
Feedback - Naturally.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
"Not again?" Tara's jaw dropped, disbelieving. She dumped her backpack to the floor of their bedroom with a loud thump.
"Right in front of us. Just like last time." Willow slouched on the bed. "We ordered in our own priest, but Apep got there first."
Tara deflated, dropping to the floor in a heap next to her discarded bag. "This is all my fault."
"Don't say that." Willow objected. She dropped off the bed and on to the floor beside her lover. "It's not a matter of blame now. It's a matter of figuring out what to do next."
"I’ve been thinking…” Tara’s voice trailed off.
“Yeah?”
“We could cast the spell again – the one I tried to do, only this time we specify the effigy to trap Apep inside?" Tara suggested.
Willow frowned. "I did think of that, but it could be really dangerous. If he's watching out for you to do just that, then he might attack you directly while you're casting."
"It may be the only way." Tara insisted, though Willow's objections were also things that had crossed her mind too. Apep would almost certainly be expecting them to try and kill him with a similar spell once they realised what she'd inadvertantly done. He was probably just laying low, waiting for them to try. “Do you think you could protect me?”
Willow frowned. "What if I create a barrier – kind of what I cast to keep Glory at bay – that might keep him away long enough for you to finish casting the spell?"
"Assuming he’s the type of creature who gets stopped by your barrier. There are some that don’t.”
But Willow was getting excited, warming to the plan. "It could be the best possible thing. We could draw him out in the open."
"Buffy might even go for it." Tara said.
"It doesn't matter if she does or not." Willow replied, casually.
Tara wasn't fooled. "Willow, we talked about this. No going off all vigilante."
"Tara, I need to do something." Willow wailed. "This sitting around is driving me crazy."
“I know how you feel, but we run this past Buffy first.”
“And give her a chance to say no.” Willow growled. “And she will you know.”
“We have to try.”
****
“Absolutely not.” Giles responded, immediately. “It’s far too dangerous.”
“OK, lets take some time to think before we respond.” The sarcastic response ripped from Willow’s mouth before she could stop it, but by then she was too angry to care.
“Willow, sarcasm isn’t very constructive.”
“Neither is shooting down every idea just because it’s magical, or because you didn’t think of it.”
“Willow’s right.” Buffy said.
Willow did a double-take. “What?”
“You’re right.” Buffy repeated. “We keep rejecting every idea that involves magic because we’re scared of what it can do, and what the repercussions are.”
“Well, you standing there alive is a fairly cool repurcussion.” Willow caught Giles’ frown in the corner of her eye, and was relieved when he said nothing. No point getting into that argument again.
“Yes, it is, and I’m grateful for it.” Buffy said, keeping her voice as calm as she could. “But what you’re proposing… you’re really putting yourself and Tara in the firing line. That makes me uncomfortable.”
Tara stepped forward. “Would you be more comfortable if it was you in the firing line?”
Buffy didn't pause. “Probably.”
“Then I’ll teach you to do the spell. It’ll set us back a day or two, but if you think you can…?”
“Now hold on a minute.” Giles interrupted. “It was bad enough when the plan involved a trained witch. Now you want an amateur out there throwing power around?”
“OK. ‘Trained witch’ and ‘Throwing power around’ in the same sentence? I don’t know whether to be pleased or insulted.” Tara replied stiffly.
Giles was taken aback. Willow’s callous responses he was growing used to. He wasn’t at all sure how to deal with Tara on the defensive. This tall, confident woman was a far cry from the shy girl he’d first met. He weighed his words carefully. “I just meant that if we’re going to do this at all, at least have someone out there who knows what they are doing.”
“I think you’re right.” Tara said. “So with Willow’s power needed to build the barrier, that leaves me.” She looked at Giles. “Unless you don’t think I know what I’m doing?”
Giles shook his head. “Of course you do.”
“Besides Buffy, when Apep shows his head, I’d rather have you outside the barrier helping to contain him, rather than inside it.” Willow reasoned.
“Hang on, we haven’t absolutely decided this is the plan.” Giles argued. He looked around at the faces staring back at him and recognised his futile position. Even Buffy seemed to be warming to the idea. “Well, if we are going to do it, I’ve got a few refinements to suggest.”
The tension eased from Willow’s shoulders and she turned to face her friend. “Thank you Buffy.”
“What for?”
“For listening. And for letting me help. I was beginning to think you didn’t trust me.”
Buffy smiled back. “You’re my big gun, Will. If anyone can do this, you can.”
Willow straightened, for once filled with confidence rather than dread at the thought of being the lynchpin of the offensive. “You’re right. I can.”
Buffy took Willow’s hand and squeezed, a sudden rush of emotion pouring through her. It felt… good.
****
Once again, Tara found herself on the beach, the early morning air filling her lungs. She breathed in and out slowly, deeply, trying to ease the tension in her limbs and clear her thoughts. It wasn’t easy, knowing that somewhere nearby Apep must be hiding, knowing that Willow stood about fifty feet away preparing her own spells, that the Slayer herself was hidden behind some rocks nearby waiting to spring out at the first sign of trouble.
And there would be trouble, she told herself firmly. There was no point in pretending that her life wasn’t in danger. She had to face that fact, deal with the fear, and just move on. The spell was the most important thing. Nothing else mattered.
She remembered a conversation she’d had with Buffy that morning before they set off for the beach.
“So, who do we think will show up for the party?”
“Oh you know, possessed priests, monsters, evil spirits. The usual crowd.”
“Sounds like a blast. You bring the magic, I’ll bring the axes.”
At the time it had made her laugh. Now her skin prickled in apprehension.
“Tara?” Willow’s voice echoed in her head and she gave a tiny start.
“I’m fine.” She answered the unspoken question. “Just a little jittery.”
“Well, I just wanted to tell you we’re all set over here. You can start whenever you want.” Willow hesitated. “Don’t worry. This is going to work.”
“With you protecting me, why would I worry?” Tara answered, breezily.
She could almost feel Willow’s answering smile. “You’re in good hands.”
“The best.”
There was a soft laugh and the gentle contact was broken. For a few moments Tara felt hollow, like she could sense the space her lover had just vacated in her mind. It was ridiculous, she knew, but the mind contact was such an incredibly personal thing. Willow rarely used it, knowing how uncomfortable it made most people feel. But in this case Tara could feel her strength returning, bolstered by the knowledge that Willow was there.
With her heart and mind settled at last, she began the ritual. She went over the entire process in her mind, remembering the subtle variations Giles had suggested in order to change the outcome of the ritual.
Unlike before, as Tara concentrated on the spell at hand she felt no doubt or waverings in her mind, no distractions from her purpose. Solidly focussed, she felt her magic swell within her before she had incanted a syllable, and she knew that this time, she wouldn’t make any mistakes.
A brief heady sensation accompanied the end of Willow’s spell, and she knew, without having to look at the shimmering barrier, that the spell had been cast. The magick was strong - Willow had put more into the spell than Tara would have thought possible. Her feelings warred between confusion at Willow’s power and relief and joy that her lover should expend so much energy for her protection. Finally, the will to complete her task won out, and all other feelings faded from her mind.
First, the power circle. There was no clay effigy this time. Tara had no intention of symbolically trapping Apep and throwing him into the water. This time the entrapment had to be for real, and he had to be trapped into something that could be destroyed. The long, pointed stick she used to draw her power circle would become the vessal for capturing the demon. She laid the stick at her feet, with the black rag and corn. The bag that had held her magical items she dumped just outside the circle. Then, with her finger, she drew in the sand to close the circle.
Giles’ voice echoed in her head.
“The circle should be completed by you, not with the wand. If you seal the circle then nothing can escape from within it until you give it leave.”
“The personal touch?”
“Well, yes, exactly.”
She felt the shimmerings of power as the air inside the circle became enchanted, and the ritual truly began. She held up the corn in offering. The wand on the ground began to move, snakelike, through the loose sand.
"Let the power of Maat, Goddess of justice, truth and harmony, rule on this plane. Grant me peace, the power of myself and the joy of living."
Again, subtle differences from the spell she had so meticulously researched. But this incantation was her own, and as such, should be more powerful than one simply borrowed from an ancient text. She was bending the magic to her will, not just using it to placate her inner demons.
The magic that poured over her now did not soothe her soul. It made her feel alive, vibrant. She could only guess what the others were seeing from their places outside the circle. She bent over to pick up the wand and complete the last of the spell. She wouldn’t break the power circle this time. She would summon Apep from within it. What they didn’t know, couldn’t know, was if the God decided to attack, would he attack in spirit from within the circle, or in his corporeal form from without? It was the one contingency that they had not been able to account for.
"Serpent God of chaos and disorder, your true name is Apep. As I know your true name, you can no longer manifest on this plane. You do not rule here. Be caught within this blessed wood. You no longer have the power to hurt me and those that I love."
A wallop of sudden ferocity picked her up and slammed her against the boundaries of the circle, but it did not break. She fell to the ground, as another force that felt almost human kicked her in the stomach and knocked her head. She doubled over in pain. Her hand clutched the wooden wand as tightly as her wounded body could manage.
Well, I guess that answers that question…
“TARA!” She heard Willow’s anguished scream in her brain before the world went dark.
***
Willow knew in an instant that whatever she was seeing, she couldn’t trust her senses anymore, especially what she was seeing, or Tara was dead. Her protection spell dissipated in an instant and she was on her feet, headed for the beach at a flat run.
“Willow? What in hells are you doing?” Giles yelled.
“It’s Tara, she’s in trouble!”
“But she’s just sitting there! She hasn’t even begun the ritual yet.” Giles protested, dragging himself to his feet and following after.
“That’s what we’re meant to see!” Willow screamed. She didn’t have time to explain. In her mind she felt the agony as Tara’s form was thrown against the confines of the magic circle. But Tara hadn’t moved. All she could trust now was what she felt in her mind.
***
“What’s happening?” Buffy hissed.
Xander looked bewildered. “Nothing. She’s just sitting there.”
Buffy shoved him out of the way to get a better position. “But why is she just sitting there?”
“Maybe that’s part of the ritual?” Xander suggested.
Anya sighed. “She looks so peaceful.”
“Willow.” Buffy said, suddenly.
“No, Tara.” Anya corrected.
“No, I mean, Willow! Look. What the hell is she doing?” Buffy jumped up and begun to run towards Willow, who in turn was headed full circle for Tara, still sitting cross legged and unmoving on the sand, as if she were meditating.
She caught up with Willow at the circle. The witch was frantically casting spells towards Tara, all of which were reflecting uselessly from the powerful circle. Tara still sat within, serene, like a statue.
“That’s not her, is it?” Buffy yelled over the din.
Willow shook her head. “She’s in trouble, Buffy. Apep is inside. I have to break the barrier somehow. He must have been too strong for the binding spell.”
“He was ready for us.”
“As am I.” A familiar voice ring out from behind, as well as the clicking of a revolver as a round slid into the chamber. Buffy’s senses rankled at the sound. Guns weren’t something she was used to dealing with. “Get away from the circle.”
Willow barely spared him a glance, her eyes black and raging, raw power flowing from her fingertips. The power circle flared red, but held. “I can’t stop Buffy. I won’t. I can’t hear her any more.”
Buffy nodded, understanding. “You keep going. I’ll deal with the hammer guy.”
Cooper, don’t be an idiot. “Giles called out, a crossbow aimed at the priest’s head.
“Drop it or the girl dies.” Cooper raised his arm and pointed the gun at Willow. “Tell her to stop or she dies.”
“Repetitive much?” Buffy quirked an eyebrow. “Well, while we’re on the subject of dying, what do you think is going to happen to you when Apep gets free?”
“He’ll join with us. Make our Order strong again. We’ll rid the world of the evil forever!”
“Evil? Who’s holding the gun here?” Buffy objected.
He waved the revolver menacingly between Buffy and Willow. “Stand back. I have a righteous cause!”
Buffy watched as Cooper collapsed suddenly, his knees buckling underneath him. His unconscious form slumped to the ground. As he fell he revealed Xander standing behind him, his left hand holding a large rock, obviously meant as extra ammunition should his first shot go wide.
Xander grinned happily. “One shot. Bam. Down he goes.”
“Xander, you could have been killed!” Anya called out, dragging herself out from behind an outcropping of rocks.
“Me caveman. Me throw big rock.”
“Big rock knock down bad man.” Buffy smiled. “I approve.” She turned and rushed back down the beach as Giles moved to check on Cooper.
Willow was still going. Sweat poured down her face as she battled to break the barrier between her and Tara. Buffy stood to the side, battle ready, her anxious face betraying the frustration of feeling helpless. “Anything?”
“He’s weakening.” Willow said with effort. “But so am I.”
“How’d he get in there?”
Giles moved to her side. “She called him to her. It was the one thing we were afraid of.”
“She couldn’t get the circle broken in time. He was too strong to be bound. I’m too late.” Willow’s hands dropped to her sides and the bombardment stopped. She wavered on her feet and only Giles’ quick reflexes kept her upright, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder.
“You’re not too late. If Tara were dead the power circle would be broken immediately.” Giles said.
Willow swallowed. “Well, there’s alive, and then there’s…” Grief welled in her throat and she couldn’t finish the sentence. “I have to go on. I just needed a few seconds to breathe.” She re-commenced the attack, more viciously this time, pouring all her grief and anguish into the magic to make it even more potent.
She stopped again. “Buffy, I need to borrow your power for a second.” Willow stated. She grabbed Buffy’s wrist in an iron grip and squeezed. The outpouring of migic intensified as Willow dragged the power of the Slayer into the spell. Buffy felt as though her lungs were being wrung out. She grasped Willow’s arm and tried to pull away, but they were locked together, as much by the power of the spell as by Willow’s inhumanly strong hold.
The power circle smashed and exploded outwards, like a glass wall hit by a bullet only the shards didn’t eviscerate them as they passed through them. The shockwaves of power exploded in her brain and Buffy sank to her knees.
Willow’s grip finally loosened and she ran to the tortured form of Tara sprawled on the sand, doubled over and unconscious.
Apep loomed like a great, green shadow, swirling on the wind and knocking everyone to the ground. Giles screamed over the wind. “Willow! You have to wake her up! She’s the only one who can finish the spell!”
Willow nodded that she’d heard, but her eyes were all for her lover.
Xander threw his rocks at the beast and they sailed harmlessly through, while a gust of wind threw them all backwards and lashed at their skins. Buffy looked down and saw her arms were bleeding in pinpricks, like needles had been pushed through the pores.
Oh, this is not good.
“Tara, Tara baby wake up!” Willow slapped at Tara’s face, shook her shoulders, each pummelling of the fierce winds Apep struck them with forcing her forward onto her stomach. She touched her face, drew her fingers back and saw blood. “Tara! You have to wake up!”
Tara’s eyelids fluttered and she shifted slightly in Willow’s arms. Willow suppressed a yelp of joy. Apep looked distracted, focussed on Buffy and Giles as they attempted to scramble to their feet and run out of the range of the winds and the stinging sand. No point letting him know the one person who could hurt him was coming to. Willow knew she had no power left. It was up to Tara alone.
Incredibly, Tara still held the wooden wand fast in her left hand. She raised it a little.
“Tara, if you can hear me, I’ll try and weaken him enough to let you cast the spell. We have to finish the binding.” Tara’s response was a vague flop of the head. She opened her left eye and looked around, consciousness slowly creeping in. Willow’s heart leapt. “Do you understand me?”
Tara opened her mouth and spat out some sand, her voice rasping. “Go.”
Willow nodded and stood as best she could, still buffeted by the winds. Pain ripped over her arms as sand sliced her skin. She steadied herself and thanked random Gods that Apep’s non-corporeal form didn’t allow him to do much else.
“Apep!” She screamed.
The winds stopped a little, as the green shadow moved and twisted in her direction.
Raising her arms, Willow called some wind of her own. The gale slammed into the shadowed figure of the God. She sent a silent apology to Buffy and Giles who were caught in the tail and were slammed headfirst into the sand. The shadow seemed to split and move in different directions, the wind taking on what Willow thought was a howl of pain.
Wishful thinking? She wondered, and used the last of her energy to slam the ghostly figure again. It howled again, furious and agonised. Willow dropped to her knees, spent, on the verge of unconsciousness.
Tara clutched the wand as the ghostly form howled. Her mind was clear, focussed. She wasn’t sure that moment of her name, where she was, even who she was. All she knew was the spell, and the horrible being that was Apep as it loomed above her. The words came out as if by some compulsion she couldn’t control, not much louder than a whisper only she could hear. Her, and the Gods who were listening.
“You are Apep. You are Named. You have no power here. Assume your wooden effigy, and be bound for eternity.”
After the howling and scraping of the winds, the silence felt deep and profound. Tara let her body flop back on the sands, her hand still clutching the wooden wand, knuckles white. Willow felt the last of the winds dissipate before slipping into unconsciousness. Buffy and Giles hauled themselves up, blood streaming from shallow cuts on their legs and arms, their faces grim. Anya and Xander, huddled behind rocks, dared to poke up their heads, the precise cuts from the glass-like stinging sand showing in speckles of blood.
Apep was gone.
Giles was the first to reach Tara. She stared up at him, exhausted, holding out the wooden wand, now the vessel that held the spirit of Apep. “Burn this.” She croaked.
“Yes.” Giles agreed. “I believe I will.”
***
Cooper awoke, hours later, tied to a chair in the Magic Box with a concussion and no memory of where he was.
“I’m in Sunnydale?”
Giles nodded, his bandaged hands still seeping through with blood, a gash on
his cheek cleaned but still red and gaping.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“The creature you served up until four hours ago happened to me.”
Cooper shook his head. “I serve the Order of Malleus—“
“—Maleficarum. yes, we know.” Buffy interjected. The hours that had passed since their showdown with Apep had been more than enough for her Slayer accelerated healing to take care of the damage. Her hands looked as if she’d had an encounter with nothing more menacing than a cheese grater. “And it might interest you to know that two witches just saved your life.”
His eyes narrowed. “Witches?”
“Uh huh.” Buffy nodded.
Cooper scowled, still taking everything in. “So why am I tied to a chair again? And who are you people?”
Buffy sighed, exasperated. “Great. He learns what should have been a valuable lesson, and he’s fuzzy on the details.”
Giles shrugged. “How are Tara and Willow?”
“At home, sleeping.” Buffy replied. “Xander and Dawn are there to check on them.” She looked up at Giles. “Gotta admit, they really came through today.”
Giles nodded. “Yes. Yes, I suppose they did.”
Buffy hesitated, not sure how to say what she wanted to say. “I know we’re both a little… nervous about Willow’s new powers and all.”
“Nervous? That has to be the understatement of the century.”
Buffy went on, undaunted by the disapproving scowl that had spread across Giles’ face. “But she’s a big girl now, and a talented witch. We need her on side. We need every power we’ve got. Her brains, her firepower…”
Giles said nothing.
“…And she’s Willow. You know? As different as she might seem right now. Plus, she has Tara to keep her grounded.” Buffy added quickly. “I think she’s gonna be fine.”
Giles thought this over for a moment, his scowl relenting. “She’s playing with forces that she has no business meddling with.”
“Maybe.” Buffy said. “But those forces saved our asses today. And I don’t know about you, but I like being alive. And for me to say that…?”
Giles smiled sadly. “This will end badly.”
Buffy shrugged. “Doesn’t it always?”
“I hope not.” Giles replied. “I sincerely hope not.”
THE END