Title: In the Space of a Lifetime
Series: Destiny Lost, part 4
Authors: Sonya and Erin
E-mail: [email protected] OR [email protected]
Rating: PG
Category: B/X, O/Other, C/D, A/F, AU, action adventure, romance
Chronology: This takes place about a month after "The Princess and the Professor," the final installment of "Destiny Found," the relationship-oriented series of one-shots that followed "In the Space of a Journey." We recommend that you read the whole series ("In the Space of a Heartbeat," "In the Space of Desire," "In the Space of a Journey" and "Destiny Found") before reading "In the Space of a Lifetime," or you'll be way confused.
Disclaimer: We do not own Buffy or any of the original characters or ideas from the show. They all belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. (But since they don't seem to want Doyle any more ::sob:: can we have him?) All we own is our own creative genius (unless that's too strong a word :) and any characters we make up, such as Sonya Parker and Aidan O'Shea.
Distribution: Regulars... SURE!!! Newbies... ask and you shall receive!
Feedback: It's vital! We need to know you're out there! (But no flames please.)
Spoilers: nothing major
Author's Note: This is it. The beginning of the final story in the "Destiny Lost" series. Are you excited? If you are, tell us in feedback! :)
--------------------
In the Space of a Lifetime
Part 1:
Parts Unknown
Factory walls flickered in the distance. Shadows moved like liquid in the candle-light. Their dance was almost hypnotic. Swaying shadows. She could smell burning wax and tiny wafts of smoke with her sensitive nose. It was like that for her. Always sensitive. Even when the Girl... the one who'd been there both times... had almost staked her.
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the Girl. Then there was Him. She couldn't call Him by his name. It hurt too much, somewhere inside where she hadn't hurt in a long time.
Leather creaked as she turned away, ignoring both Him and his words. They weren't the right words. She didn't care. Couldn't. Wouldn't.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonya's Bedroom
"I can't wait to see you tomorrow. I love you."
Buffy smiled. Xander's voice always gave her a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. She never regretted dating him, no matter what life threw their way, from vampires, to evil sorcerers, to months apart while he trained to be a Watcher at the Academy in England. "I love you, too."
"Come on, Buffy!" Amy called.
"Yeah, we're just waiting on you." Sonya's voice held a hint of ire. "I don't think we can keep Ms. Leather Pants here too much longer."
Faith glared at Sonya. "I can't believe I'm spending my Friday night with you people."
"Yes," Cordelia said airily. "You could be out sucking face with a vampire... that's an improvement."
"I live here," Faith retorted. "What's your excuse? Your reputation points are already dropping."
"I've gotta go, sweetie," Buffy quickly said into the phone. "Love you!" Xander's whispered good-bye made her smile as she replaced the receiver in its cradle. Her heart thrilled at the thought of being in his arms again tomorrow. Compared with how long she'd been waiting, a few hours was nothing. To the girls, she announced, "I'm ready."
Faith was glaring at Cordelia, and Cordelia sniffed haughtily at Faith as Buffy slid into her place in the circle. They'd cleared room on Sonya's bedroom floor for a mystical diagram made out of powder Amy had assured Sonya would vacuum right up. Buffy had her doubts as she saw what the red powder was doing to the grey carpet, but she didn't say anything. It had taken Amy long enough to find five women to be a part of her circle, stained carpet wouldn't help the bickering-level in the room right now.
"So, are we gonna do this thing, or what?" Buffy asked.
Sonya slugged Buffy on the shoulder. "You're the one we've been waiting on."
"Well, I'm ready," Buffy replied.
"How's lover boy?" Faith asked.
Buffy didn't take offense at Faith's sharp tone. Buffy had seen glimpses enough to realize there was a real person inside that coat of armor. "He's excited about coming home tomorrow. His graduation ceremony was today."
"I can't believe he got done with his courses so quickly," Amy said as she adjusted a bowl into the exact middle of the circle. She must have used magic to do it because the water inside the bowl didn't move at all.
"Neither could anyone else." Buffy's smile was proud, as it always was when referring to Xander. "He's pretty smart when he wants to be. Now all that's left is his apprenticeship, and Aidan was happy to oblige."
"Did you update him about the Mayor?" Sonya asked. "Or the Mistress of the ferals?"
Buffy shook her head. "Time enough for that when he gets here." Which was true. In Sunnydale there would always be time for trouble. And right now they suspected the Mayor of something, but they couldn't prove it. And then there was the vampire who'd made herself queen of a pack of feral, animalistic vampires almost a year ago. They still couldn't find her lair, but Angel was working on it. But, other than the things they couldn't do anything about right now, life had been pretty quiet on the Hellmouth for a while. Quiet enough that, with Angel and Rio out on patrol, Sonya, Buffy and Faith had been able to stay in and be a part of Amy's experiment.
"Hey!" Cordelia said suddenly, interrupting Buffy's thoughts. "I was told we were going to find out our futures, not talk about boring Slayer-stuff!"
"Ready?" Buffy asked Amy, careful not to roll her eyes so Cordelia would see. The brunette socialite had taken to hanging out with them on occasion. Sometimes Buffy couldn't make up her mind if it was a good thing, or a bad thing.
Amy nodded, stifling a giggle at Buffy's face. "Yeah. I'm ready."
"What do we have to do?" Sonya asked. Her face didn't show any sign of apprehension, which Buffy took as a good sign. After her experiences with Nathan the evil druidic sorcerer, Sonya would have been within her rights to never willingly participate in magic again. It didn't seem to scare her, though. Magic, that is. Of course, since the magical after-effects of killing Nathan were what had the once-paralyzed Sonya walking again, maybe she didn't have as much reason to be scared as one would first think.
"We all have to hold hands, and you have to concentrate on my words as I chant so I can direct our willing energy," Amy explained.
Cordelia raised a perfectly-plucked eyebrow. "I'm not a witch. How do you expect to get your mitts on my *energy*?"
"By concentrating on the spell and listening to my words you lend me your energy," Amy told Cordelia. "But if you're sitting there thinking about shopping or something then I can't direct your energy, and it won't work."
Cordelia nodded. Then Faith spoke up. "I hope you plan to use English and not that Latin junk or one of those languages beyond time itself. I can't concentrate when I don't know what you're saying."
Amy blushed. "Actually, it will be in Latin."
"Why don't you translate it for us first," Buffy suggested quickly. "Then we'll already know what the spell means when you say the words in Latin."
The others had no objections to that plan, so Amy translated. "Basically, I'll be asking the Fates to show us our destinies. The Fates are those old crones in Greek mythology. The ones who determine how long you live and what happens to you. I'll be asking for a glimpse of our futures. If they are amenable to our request, after I use the proper supplications and everything, we should get an answer."
"How, exactly, will we get this answer?" Sonya asked.
"That's the part that's an experiment," Amy admitted. "I guess we'll find out when we get there. I tried to ask Jenny about it..." Ms. Calendar, the witch/computer science teacher, served as Amy and Rio's teacher and mentor into the world of magic. "...but she didn't know either." What Amy didn't add was that Jenny thought future spells frivolous and most likely phony, not worth the time and magic spent to make them work. Amy hoped to prove Jenny wrong tonight.
"Let's just get this over with," Faith interrupted suddenly. "Some of us do have better things to do."
"Faith," Buffy said chidingly. The brunette fell silent, but it was a grudging silence.
Amy took that as her cue. She held out her hands and Buffy took one. Cordelia took the other. Faith was next to Buffy, putting Sonya in the middle of Cordelia and Faith, acting as a buffer. Then Amy closed her eyes and began to chant.
Buffy waited, concentrating on the words of the spell with all her might. She repeated them back in her head, but she didn't understand them. She didn't know Latin, though, living on the Hellmouth, it might be a wise language elective choice. After a moment, her extraneous thoughts faded away in the echo of Amy's voice.
Then Amy said loudly, "Cordelia!"
A shock of power went around the circle, bringing the scent of jasmine. Cordelia let out a surprised yip, and didn't bother to try and cover it with coolness. Buffy suddenly knew right where to look. In the bowl of still water in the middle of the circle. A blob of light appeared there that slowly began to shape and mold into a picture...
Cordelia's face. A white gown. A baby. Tears. Laughter. A man. Dark haired. Leather jacket. Baby crying. A kiss. Blue.
"Faith!"
Another shock of power whizzed through the circle bringing with it the scent of citrus, and the picture in the bowl faded and morphed into something new...
Angel. Faith. Angel. Kiss. Fangs. Kiss. Stake. Hug.
"Sonya!"
They were expecting the small power burst this time. The five women eagerly breathed in the scent of cinnamon as they watched the bowl closely...
Sonya and Oz. Church. Moon. Cross. The glint of silver. A ring.
"Amy!"
This time the burst of power brought the aroma of pine needles and cool mountain air. They all inhaled the crisp, cold scent and watched the picture in the bowl avidly...
Night. Amy bathed in a pink glow. Squeaking. Chanting. A man. Tall. Black clothes. Holding hands. Chanting. Success!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A Factory, Parts Unknown
"I'm not sure about releasing this thing into the wild, Will. It is a demon." Buffy gave her best friend a worried glance.
Across the room, Willow's evil, vampire counterpart, looking much more natural in black leather than a fuzzy, pink sweater, eyed Angel warily.
"I just can't kill her," Willow said, a note of pleading in her voice.
"No. Me, either," Buffy said regretfully. It was true. Willow's yell had not been the only thing that stopped her from plunging a cue stick into her best friend's doppelganger's back at the Bronze.
Willow continued, "I mean, I know she's not me. We have a big nothing in common, but still..."
"There but for the grace of getting bit," Buffy agreed. For just a moment, Buffy pictured life if her best friend had gotten bitten. There'd been so many things that she would have missed out on, including today, and dating back even from Buffy's first week in Sunnydale, the time Willow decided to "seize the day." But Buffy knew enough not to let stuff like that show on her face. She was the Slayer. She had to be the strong one.
Resolve-face in tact, Willow said, "We send her back to her world, and she stands a chance. It's the way it should be anyway."
Buffy was about to say something else, when Giles suddenly announced, "We're about ready here."
Willow left Buffy's side and walked over to her evil counterpart. Buffy moved over closer to the circle. She passed Oz and then Xander on the way. Xander was his normal, goofy self, still jazzed over the fact that his doppelganger was a badass vampire. Then her eyes found Angel's... as they always tended to do when the two of them were in the same room. Buffy felt the involuntary shiver, and then the gut reaction "I can't," and then pain. With a tiny sigh, Buffy turned back to the circle to keep a watch on Evil Willow.
Giles warned Anya, "Don't you try any tricks now, dear." Buffy seconded that sentiment. She'd just about had enough of this chick.
"I don't need tricks," Anya proclaimed. "When I get my powers back, you will all grovel before me."
[Oh, please] Buffy thought, but she didn't say anything.
"Yes," Giles replied, in a tone that showed how little stock he put in Anya's claims. "Uh... if you... uh... Willows... would like to... uh... complete the circle." He pointed to the place where they should kneel.
Buffy stepped a little closer and watched Willow say goodbye to her evil twin from an alternate dimension.
"Good luck. Try not to kill people." Willow embraced the Willow-vampire and gave her a big hug. Suddenly, a shocked look came over her face and she jumped back. "Hands! Hands!"
Willow was a little more skittish as they joined the circle and knelt where Giles indicated.
Now it was time for the big magic. Buffy, Xander, Oz and Angel were pretty much useless for this part. The three of them stood far enough away so as not to interfere, but close enough in case they were needed. No matter how much the vampire looked like Willow, Buffy still didn't trust her. Maybe it was a Slayer sense, or some sort of premonition, but as Giles and Anya started the spell, Buffy's skin began to crawl. She clutched her ever present stake, needing some comfort in the palm of her hand.
The lighting in the room began to change as the spell's power grew. Anya reached for Willow's hand, ready with a blue powder Buffy didn't recognize.
That was when Evil Willow made her move. Before Willow could surrender her hand to Anya, the vampire turned toward Buffy's Willow, and her face morphed into its true visage. The others didn't even see it at first, except Willow who froze for just a split second too long. Everyone else was focused on the spell. Magic flowed all around them, but it hadn't reached out for the vampire yet. Evil Willow hissed, bearing fangs.
Buffy didn't wait another second. She had to stop this before it got ugly. Slut-Willow was *not* going to kill her friend!
Her stake was in her hand out of pure instinct, and Buffy was running. Before the vampire could get her fangs close enough for a taste, Buffy barreled into her, pushing Willow out of the circle with her free hand. Buffy and the vampire fell into the middle of the spell, cracking the plate on the floor in the middle of the circle. Giles froze mid-chant. Anya shrieked and jerked back. Blue powder went everywhere. Buffy plunged the stake into Evil Willow's leatherette top. Vampire dust joined blue powder floating in the air around her. Buffy took in a deep breath and started to choke.
"Buffy!" several voices cried.
Her skin tingled. The air around her began to fade. The weird light was vanishing. [Did they stop the spell?] she wondered, but it was hard to take in air. She couldn't get enough in to talk without choking on dust and powder. The light continued to fade. All of the light. The magic light and the real light.
"Take my hand!" Giles yelled. "You have to get out of the circle."
Buffy reached for him, but her vision was fuzzy. It was like she was trying to see through the fade-out effect on a video camera.
She heard Angel's voice, thin and faint. "Buffy!"
Darkness enveloped her. Darkness and cold... and the faint scent of honeysuckle.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonya's Bedroom
"Buffy!" Amy cried, confident now that her spell had worked four times.
But this time, the burst of power was greater than the times before. It felt almost like an electric shock. It skittered through the circle leaving pins and needles in its wake. The delicate perfume of honeysuckle became cloying and strong. Almost too strong. The picture in the bowl changed and moved. It started to close in on something, then faded. It tried again, something glinted red, and then it went black.
"What's hap..." Buffy started to say, but her voice quit, born away on a crash of thunder. She choked, and blackness began to cover her eyes. It entered her nose and her ears at a trickle, and began pouring into her open mouth. Amy and Faith clutching tightly to her hands were her only links left to the world around them. She whimpered as frigid air blew over her body, raising gooseflesh on her neck and her arms. She heard someone call her name through the darkness, and then she was floating. She couldn't feel Amy and Faith's hands anymore. Then the blackness crept over her mind and she exhaled into nothingness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonya's Bedroom
Sonya opened her eyes and found herself lying on the carpet in her bedroom. Her head hurt amazingly. [What the hell...]
Eventually, she pulled herself into a sitting position, and saw the other girls doing the same. Faith was first, and then Amy. Sonya reached out and helped Cordelia pull herself to a sitting position as well. She knew the brunette didn't have as much experience with this magic stuff... though Cordelia had been a half-Slayer for a time, so maybe this didn't phase her as much as Sonya first thought. They all seemed kind of out of it, though. Maybe their heads were pounding like Sonya's was.
Then Sonya turned toward Buffy. It had been Buffy's future that screwed the spell up. Sonya hoped Buffy was OK...
On the other side of the circle, Amy was smoothing Buffy's hair back from her forehead.
"Is she OK?" Sonya asked.
"She's breathing," Amy replied.
"Remind me to never *ever* offer to help you people out with the hocus-pocus stuff again," Cordelia said as she stood up and tried to walk, without wobbling, over to the mirror. She picked up a comb and started running it through her hair.
"Ditto," Faith said. She hopped up, and plopped down on Sonya's bed. "That was a rush, though."
Sonya rolled her eyes and joined Amy next to Buffy. "What happened?" Sonya's voice was a little harsher than normal. Inside, she regretted it, but on the outside, well, old habits die hard.
"I... I... I don't know," Amy stammered. "That shouldn't have... it shouldn't have done that. I researched so thoroughly... It was like... something else took control, some other magic."
"Do you think the Mayor or the feral queen could do something like this?" Sonya asked, her mind already going into Slayer-mode. "Do you think they wanted to do something to Buffy?"
Tears formed in the corners of Amy's eyes. She looked down at her friend and whispered, "Wake up, Buffy. Please."
"Don't freak," Faith said from her position on the bed. "Magic goes wack-o sometimes. It just happens. Buff will wake up in a second, and all will be good."
Cordelia turned from the mirror to look at them all, but -- mercifully, in Sonya's opinion -- she didn't say anything.
A moan brought all of their attention back onto Buffy.
"Buffy!" Amy cried.
"Can you hear me?" Sonya asked.
Buffy's eyes fluttered open. It a minute for them to focus, but they did. Sonya touched her wrist. The pulse was rapid, but strong. Sonya knew then Buffy would be all right. They all still had their Slayer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Factory
When the magic finally dispersed, Buffy and a broken plate were the only things left in the circle. And they were both covered in vampire dust. Angel crouched by her side and cradled his hand in her own. Willow was still on the floor, where Buffy's push had landed her, and Oz had knelt down beside her. They were holding hands. Giles stood over Buffy and Angel. Anya stood in the background. To Xander, it looked like she might try to make a break for it. Xander was not about to let that happen, not if she had caused this. Xander didn't know if she had caused it, of course, but this didn't seem the time to just take her word on that.
When Anya took a stealthy step backwards, she bumped into Xander. He took her arm in his and whispered, "Let's join them."
Anya frowned at him, but did as he suggested.
When they got there, Xander looked down at Buffy. He'd seen her down before, but this time she looked almost fragile. Her skin had paled and there was something about the way she held her face, even in unconsciousness. He wanted to protect her.
"Buffy, can you hear me?" Angel asked.
Xander didn't wince. On the outside. But he knew, once again, that wanting to protect Buffy didn't give him that ability.
"How is she?" he asked.
Giles looked over at him, nodding when he saw Anya in Xander's custody. "I think she's all right. She was exposed to a lot of magic, but her pulse is still strong." He looked around the room. "And nothing seems to have gone amiss with the spell..."
Just then, they all heard a little whimpering sound. Everyone looked down at Buffy. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around.
"Buffy," Angel said in that voice meant only for her. Xander hated that voice. Then Angel crushed her to him in a fierce hug.
"Are you all right?" Giles asked.
Buffy pushed Angel away, a dazed expression on her face. "What... what's..."
Oz helped Willow to her feet and they walked back to the circle.
"Evil me tried to kill me, but you saved me," Willow reminded Buffy.
Buffy looked at Willow and her eyes got impossibly wide. Her breathing sped up. She pushed herself away from Angel and fumbled for her stake. "I killed you!" She took a step toward Willow, brandishing the stake.
"Buffy..." Willow squeaked. "It's me!"
But Buffy didn't stop.
"Buff! Ease off. You got the Evil twin. This is *good* Willow." Xander walked over and put an arm around Willow. "You know, me and Will. The original Slayerettes?"
Buffy looked at him. Her mouth opened slightly, and tears filled the corners of her eyes. "Xander..." Her voice took on a breathy quality. She glanced back at Willow, but seemed willing to take his word for it and didn't attack the red head again. Xander quickly breathed a sigh of relief. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Buffy move. He took his arm away from Willow just in time to catch Buffy as she flung herself into his arms. Xander's heart sped up as the floral scent of her hair drifted up to his nose. He recognized that smell. Honeysuckle... like the vines that used to grow in his Aunt and Uncle LaVelle's backyard.
"Maybe the spell scrambled her brains?" Anya suggested cheerfully. "Or the bump to the head when she fell..."
Giles, who'd moved to stand next to her, shushed Anya with a glare. Angel's expression was unreadable, as was Oz's. Willow, however, looked really, really confused -- though grateful not to have a stake in her chest.
But Xander didn't have a chance to take any of that in. His arms were full. Full of a sobbing Buffy clutching at him as if she'd never let him go. And all he could do was hug her back with all his strength and inhale the scent of honeysuckle.
Series: Destiny Lost, part 4
Authors: Sonya and Erin
E-mail: [email protected] OR [email protected]
Rating: PG
Category: B/X, O/Other, C/D, A/F, AU, action adventure, romance
Chronology: This takes place about a month after "The Princess and the Professor," the final installment of "Destiny Found," the relationship-oriented series of one-shots that followed "In the Space of a Journey." We recommend that you read the whole series ("In the Space of a Heartbeat," "In the Space of Desire," "In the Space of a Journey" and "Destiny Found") before reading "In the Space of a Lifetime," or you'll be way confused.
Disclaimer: We do not own Buffy or any of the original characters or ideas from the show. They all belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. (But since they don't seem to want Doyle any more ::sob:: can we have him?) All we own is our own creative genius (unless that's too strong a word :) and any characters we make up, such as Sonya Parker and Aidan O'Shea.
Distribution: Regulars... SURE!!! Newbies... ask and you shall receive!
Feedback: It's vital! We need to know you're out there! (But no flames please.)
Spoilers: nothing major
Author's Note: This is it. The beginning of the final story in the "Destiny Lost" series. Are you excited? If you are, tell us in feedback! :)
--------------------
In the Space of a Lifetime
Part 1:
Parts Unknown
Factory walls flickered in the distance. Shadows moved like liquid in the candle-light. Their dance was almost hypnotic. Swaying shadows. She could smell burning wax and tiny wafts of smoke with her sensitive nose. It was like that for her. Always sensitive. Even when the Girl... the one who'd been there both times... had almost staked her.
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the Girl. Then there was Him. She couldn't call Him by his name. It hurt too much, somewhere inside where she hadn't hurt in a long time.
Leather creaked as she turned away, ignoring both Him and his words. They weren't the right words. She didn't care. Couldn't. Wouldn't.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonya's Bedroom
"I can't wait to see you tomorrow. I love you."
Buffy smiled. Xander's voice always gave her a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. She never regretted dating him, no matter what life threw their way, from vampires, to evil sorcerers, to months apart while he trained to be a Watcher at the Academy in England. "I love you, too."
"Come on, Buffy!" Amy called.
"Yeah, we're just waiting on you." Sonya's voice held a hint of ire. "I don't think we can keep Ms. Leather Pants here too much longer."
Faith glared at Sonya. "I can't believe I'm spending my Friday night with you people."
"Yes," Cordelia said airily. "You could be out sucking face with a vampire... that's an improvement."
"I live here," Faith retorted. "What's your excuse? Your reputation points are already dropping."
"I've gotta go, sweetie," Buffy quickly said into the phone. "Love you!" Xander's whispered good-bye made her smile as she replaced the receiver in its cradle. Her heart thrilled at the thought of being in his arms again tomorrow. Compared with how long she'd been waiting, a few hours was nothing. To the girls, she announced, "I'm ready."
Faith was glaring at Cordelia, and Cordelia sniffed haughtily at Faith as Buffy slid into her place in the circle. They'd cleared room on Sonya's bedroom floor for a mystical diagram made out of powder Amy had assured Sonya would vacuum right up. Buffy had her doubts as she saw what the red powder was doing to the grey carpet, but she didn't say anything. It had taken Amy long enough to find five women to be a part of her circle, stained carpet wouldn't help the bickering-level in the room right now.
"So, are we gonna do this thing, or what?" Buffy asked.
Sonya slugged Buffy on the shoulder. "You're the one we've been waiting on."
"Well, I'm ready," Buffy replied.
"How's lover boy?" Faith asked.
Buffy didn't take offense at Faith's sharp tone. Buffy had seen glimpses enough to realize there was a real person inside that coat of armor. "He's excited about coming home tomorrow. His graduation ceremony was today."
"I can't believe he got done with his courses so quickly," Amy said as she adjusted a bowl into the exact middle of the circle. She must have used magic to do it because the water inside the bowl didn't move at all.
"Neither could anyone else." Buffy's smile was proud, as it always was when referring to Xander. "He's pretty smart when he wants to be. Now all that's left is his apprenticeship, and Aidan was happy to oblige."
"Did you update him about the Mayor?" Sonya asked. "Or the Mistress of the ferals?"
Buffy shook her head. "Time enough for that when he gets here." Which was true. In Sunnydale there would always be time for trouble. And right now they suspected the Mayor of something, but they couldn't prove it. And then there was the vampire who'd made herself queen of a pack of feral, animalistic vampires almost a year ago. They still couldn't find her lair, but Angel was working on it. But, other than the things they couldn't do anything about right now, life had been pretty quiet on the Hellmouth for a while. Quiet enough that, with Angel and Rio out on patrol, Sonya, Buffy and Faith had been able to stay in and be a part of Amy's experiment.
"Hey!" Cordelia said suddenly, interrupting Buffy's thoughts. "I was told we were going to find out our futures, not talk about boring Slayer-stuff!"
"Ready?" Buffy asked Amy, careful not to roll her eyes so Cordelia would see. The brunette socialite had taken to hanging out with them on occasion. Sometimes Buffy couldn't make up her mind if it was a good thing, or a bad thing.
Amy nodded, stifling a giggle at Buffy's face. "Yeah. I'm ready."
"What do we have to do?" Sonya asked. Her face didn't show any sign of apprehension, which Buffy took as a good sign. After her experiences with Nathan the evil druidic sorcerer, Sonya would have been within her rights to never willingly participate in magic again. It didn't seem to scare her, though. Magic, that is. Of course, since the magical after-effects of killing Nathan were what had the once-paralyzed Sonya walking again, maybe she didn't have as much reason to be scared as one would first think.
"We all have to hold hands, and you have to concentrate on my words as I chant so I can direct our willing energy," Amy explained.
Cordelia raised a perfectly-plucked eyebrow. "I'm not a witch. How do you expect to get your mitts on my *energy*?"
"By concentrating on the spell and listening to my words you lend me your energy," Amy told Cordelia. "But if you're sitting there thinking about shopping or something then I can't direct your energy, and it won't work."
Cordelia nodded. Then Faith spoke up. "I hope you plan to use English and not that Latin junk or one of those languages beyond time itself. I can't concentrate when I don't know what you're saying."
Amy blushed. "Actually, it will be in Latin."
"Why don't you translate it for us first," Buffy suggested quickly. "Then we'll already know what the spell means when you say the words in Latin."
The others had no objections to that plan, so Amy translated. "Basically, I'll be asking the Fates to show us our destinies. The Fates are those old crones in Greek mythology. The ones who determine how long you live and what happens to you. I'll be asking for a glimpse of our futures. If they are amenable to our request, after I use the proper supplications and everything, we should get an answer."
"How, exactly, will we get this answer?" Sonya asked.
"That's the part that's an experiment," Amy admitted. "I guess we'll find out when we get there. I tried to ask Jenny about it..." Ms. Calendar, the witch/computer science teacher, served as Amy and Rio's teacher and mentor into the world of magic. "...but she didn't know either." What Amy didn't add was that Jenny thought future spells frivolous and most likely phony, not worth the time and magic spent to make them work. Amy hoped to prove Jenny wrong tonight.
"Let's just get this over with," Faith interrupted suddenly. "Some of us do have better things to do."
"Faith," Buffy said chidingly. The brunette fell silent, but it was a grudging silence.
Amy took that as her cue. She held out her hands and Buffy took one. Cordelia took the other. Faith was next to Buffy, putting Sonya in the middle of Cordelia and Faith, acting as a buffer. Then Amy closed her eyes and began to chant.
Buffy waited, concentrating on the words of the spell with all her might. She repeated them back in her head, but she didn't understand them. She didn't know Latin, though, living on the Hellmouth, it might be a wise language elective choice. After a moment, her extraneous thoughts faded away in the echo of Amy's voice.
Then Amy said loudly, "Cordelia!"
A shock of power went around the circle, bringing the scent of jasmine. Cordelia let out a surprised yip, and didn't bother to try and cover it with coolness. Buffy suddenly knew right where to look. In the bowl of still water in the middle of the circle. A blob of light appeared there that slowly began to shape and mold into a picture...
Cordelia's face. A white gown. A baby. Tears. Laughter. A man. Dark haired. Leather jacket. Baby crying. A kiss. Blue.
"Faith!"
Another shock of power whizzed through the circle bringing with it the scent of citrus, and the picture in the bowl faded and morphed into something new...
Angel. Faith. Angel. Kiss. Fangs. Kiss. Stake. Hug.
"Sonya!"
They were expecting the small power burst this time. The five women eagerly breathed in the scent of cinnamon as they watched the bowl closely...
Sonya and Oz. Church. Moon. Cross. The glint of silver. A ring.
"Amy!"
This time the burst of power brought the aroma of pine needles and cool mountain air. They all inhaled the crisp, cold scent and watched the picture in the bowl avidly...
Night. Amy bathed in a pink glow. Squeaking. Chanting. A man. Tall. Black clothes. Holding hands. Chanting. Success!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A Factory, Parts Unknown
"I'm not sure about releasing this thing into the wild, Will. It is a demon." Buffy gave her best friend a worried glance.
Across the room, Willow's evil, vampire counterpart, looking much more natural in black leather than a fuzzy, pink sweater, eyed Angel warily.
"I just can't kill her," Willow said, a note of pleading in her voice.
"No. Me, either," Buffy said regretfully. It was true. Willow's yell had not been the only thing that stopped her from plunging a cue stick into her best friend's doppelganger's back at the Bronze.
Willow continued, "I mean, I know she's not me. We have a big nothing in common, but still..."
"There but for the grace of getting bit," Buffy agreed. For just a moment, Buffy pictured life if her best friend had gotten bitten. There'd been so many things that she would have missed out on, including today, and dating back even from Buffy's first week in Sunnydale, the time Willow decided to "seize the day." But Buffy knew enough not to let stuff like that show on her face. She was the Slayer. She had to be the strong one.
Resolve-face in tact, Willow said, "We send her back to her world, and she stands a chance. It's the way it should be anyway."
Buffy was about to say something else, when Giles suddenly announced, "We're about ready here."
Willow left Buffy's side and walked over to her evil counterpart. Buffy moved over closer to the circle. She passed Oz and then Xander on the way. Xander was his normal, goofy self, still jazzed over the fact that his doppelganger was a badass vampire. Then her eyes found Angel's... as they always tended to do when the two of them were in the same room. Buffy felt the involuntary shiver, and then the gut reaction "I can't," and then pain. With a tiny sigh, Buffy turned back to the circle to keep a watch on Evil Willow.
Giles warned Anya, "Don't you try any tricks now, dear." Buffy seconded that sentiment. She'd just about had enough of this chick.
"I don't need tricks," Anya proclaimed. "When I get my powers back, you will all grovel before me."
[Oh, please] Buffy thought, but she didn't say anything.
"Yes," Giles replied, in a tone that showed how little stock he put in Anya's claims. "Uh... if you... uh... Willows... would like to... uh... complete the circle." He pointed to the place where they should kneel.
Buffy stepped a little closer and watched Willow say goodbye to her evil twin from an alternate dimension.
"Good luck. Try not to kill people." Willow embraced the Willow-vampire and gave her a big hug. Suddenly, a shocked look came over her face and she jumped back. "Hands! Hands!"
Willow was a little more skittish as they joined the circle and knelt where Giles indicated.
Now it was time for the big magic. Buffy, Xander, Oz and Angel were pretty much useless for this part. The three of them stood far enough away so as not to interfere, but close enough in case they were needed. No matter how much the vampire looked like Willow, Buffy still didn't trust her. Maybe it was a Slayer sense, or some sort of premonition, but as Giles and Anya started the spell, Buffy's skin began to crawl. She clutched her ever present stake, needing some comfort in the palm of her hand.
The lighting in the room began to change as the spell's power grew. Anya reached for Willow's hand, ready with a blue powder Buffy didn't recognize.
That was when Evil Willow made her move. Before Willow could surrender her hand to Anya, the vampire turned toward Buffy's Willow, and her face morphed into its true visage. The others didn't even see it at first, except Willow who froze for just a split second too long. Everyone else was focused on the spell. Magic flowed all around them, but it hadn't reached out for the vampire yet. Evil Willow hissed, bearing fangs.
Buffy didn't wait another second. She had to stop this before it got ugly. Slut-Willow was *not* going to kill her friend!
Her stake was in her hand out of pure instinct, and Buffy was running. Before the vampire could get her fangs close enough for a taste, Buffy barreled into her, pushing Willow out of the circle with her free hand. Buffy and the vampire fell into the middle of the spell, cracking the plate on the floor in the middle of the circle. Giles froze mid-chant. Anya shrieked and jerked back. Blue powder went everywhere. Buffy plunged the stake into Evil Willow's leatherette top. Vampire dust joined blue powder floating in the air around her. Buffy took in a deep breath and started to choke.
"Buffy!" several voices cried.
Her skin tingled. The air around her began to fade. The weird light was vanishing. [Did they stop the spell?] she wondered, but it was hard to take in air. She couldn't get enough in to talk without choking on dust and powder. The light continued to fade. All of the light. The magic light and the real light.
"Take my hand!" Giles yelled. "You have to get out of the circle."
Buffy reached for him, but her vision was fuzzy. It was like she was trying to see through the fade-out effect on a video camera.
She heard Angel's voice, thin and faint. "Buffy!"
Darkness enveloped her. Darkness and cold... and the faint scent of honeysuckle.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonya's Bedroom
"Buffy!" Amy cried, confident now that her spell had worked four times.
But this time, the burst of power was greater than the times before. It felt almost like an electric shock. It skittered through the circle leaving pins and needles in its wake. The delicate perfume of honeysuckle became cloying and strong. Almost too strong. The picture in the bowl changed and moved. It started to close in on something, then faded. It tried again, something glinted red, and then it went black.
"What's hap..." Buffy started to say, but her voice quit, born away on a crash of thunder. She choked, and blackness began to cover her eyes. It entered her nose and her ears at a trickle, and began pouring into her open mouth. Amy and Faith clutching tightly to her hands were her only links left to the world around them. She whimpered as frigid air blew over her body, raising gooseflesh on her neck and her arms. She heard someone call her name through the darkness, and then she was floating. She couldn't feel Amy and Faith's hands anymore. Then the blackness crept over her mind and she exhaled into nothingness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonya's Bedroom
Sonya opened her eyes and found herself lying on the carpet in her bedroom. Her head hurt amazingly. [What the hell...]
Eventually, she pulled herself into a sitting position, and saw the other girls doing the same. Faith was first, and then Amy. Sonya reached out and helped Cordelia pull herself to a sitting position as well. She knew the brunette didn't have as much experience with this magic stuff... though Cordelia had been a half-Slayer for a time, so maybe this didn't phase her as much as Sonya first thought. They all seemed kind of out of it, though. Maybe their heads were pounding like Sonya's was.
Then Sonya turned toward Buffy. It had been Buffy's future that screwed the spell up. Sonya hoped Buffy was OK...
On the other side of the circle, Amy was smoothing Buffy's hair back from her forehead.
"Is she OK?" Sonya asked.
"She's breathing," Amy replied.
"Remind me to never *ever* offer to help you people out with the hocus-pocus stuff again," Cordelia said as she stood up and tried to walk, without wobbling, over to the mirror. She picked up a comb and started running it through her hair.
"Ditto," Faith said. She hopped up, and plopped down on Sonya's bed. "That was a rush, though."
Sonya rolled her eyes and joined Amy next to Buffy. "What happened?" Sonya's voice was a little harsher than normal. Inside, she regretted it, but on the outside, well, old habits die hard.
"I... I... I don't know," Amy stammered. "That shouldn't have... it shouldn't have done that. I researched so thoroughly... It was like... something else took control, some other magic."
"Do you think the Mayor or the feral queen could do something like this?" Sonya asked, her mind already going into Slayer-mode. "Do you think they wanted to do something to Buffy?"
Tears formed in the corners of Amy's eyes. She looked down at her friend and whispered, "Wake up, Buffy. Please."
"Don't freak," Faith said from her position on the bed. "Magic goes wack-o sometimes. It just happens. Buff will wake up in a second, and all will be good."
Cordelia turned from the mirror to look at them all, but -- mercifully, in Sonya's opinion -- she didn't say anything.
A moan brought all of their attention back onto Buffy.
"Buffy!" Amy cried.
"Can you hear me?" Sonya asked.
Buffy's eyes fluttered open. It a minute for them to focus, but they did. Sonya touched her wrist. The pulse was rapid, but strong. Sonya knew then Buffy would be all right. They all still had their Slayer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Factory
When the magic finally dispersed, Buffy and a broken plate were the only things left in the circle. And they were both covered in vampire dust. Angel crouched by her side and cradled his hand in her own. Willow was still on the floor, where Buffy's push had landed her, and Oz had knelt down beside her. They were holding hands. Giles stood over Buffy and Angel. Anya stood in the background. To Xander, it looked like she might try to make a break for it. Xander was not about to let that happen, not if she had caused this. Xander didn't know if she had caused it, of course, but this didn't seem the time to just take her word on that.
When Anya took a stealthy step backwards, she bumped into Xander. He took her arm in his and whispered, "Let's join them."
Anya frowned at him, but did as he suggested.
When they got there, Xander looked down at Buffy. He'd seen her down before, but this time she looked almost fragile. Her skin had paled and there was something about the way she held her face, even in unconsciousness. He wanted to protect her.
"Buffy, can you hear me?" Angel asked.
Xander didn't wince. On the outside. But he knew, once again, that wanting to protect Buffy didn't give him that ability.
"How is she?" he asked.
Giles looked over at him, nodding when he saw Anya in Xander's custody. "I think she's all right. She was exposed to a lot of magic, but her pulse is still strong." He looked around the room. "And nothing seems to have gone amiss with the spell..."
Just then, they all heard a little whimpering sound. Everyone looked down at Buffy. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around.
"Buffy," Angel said in that voice meant only for her. Xander hated that voice. Then Angel crushed her to him in a fierce hug.
"Are you all right?" Giles asked.
Buffy pushed Angel away, a dazed expression on her face. "What... what's..."
Oz helped Willow to her feet and they walked back to the circle.
"Evil me tried to kill me, but you saved me," Willow reminded Buffy.
Buffy looked at Willow and her eyes got impossibly wide. Her breathing sped up. She pushed herself away from Angel and fumbled for her stake. "I killed you!" She took a step toward Willow, brandishing the stake.
"Buffy..." Willow squeaked. "It's me!"
But Buffy didn't stop.
"Buff! Ease off. You got the Evil twin. This is *good* Willow." Xander walked over and put an arm around Willow. "You know, me and Will. The original Slayerettes?"
Buffy looked at him. Her mouth opened slightly, and tears filled the corners of her eyes. "Xander..." Her voice took on a breathy quality. She glanced back at Willow, but seemed willing to take his word for it and didn't attack the red head again. Xander quickly breathed a sigh of relief. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Buffy move. He took his arm away from Willow just in time to catch Buffy as she flung herself into his arms. Xander's heart sped up as the floral scent of her hair drifted up to his nose. He recognized that smell. Honeysuckle... like the vines that used to grow in his Aunt and Uncle LaVelle's backyard.
"Maybe the spell scrambled her brains?" Anya suggested cheerfully. "Or the bump to the head when she fell..."
Giles, who'd moved to stand next to her, shushed Anya with a glare. Angel's expression was unreadable, as was Oz's. Willow, however, looked really, really confused -- though grateful not to have a stake in her chest.
But Xander didn't have a chance to take any of that in. His arms were full. Full of a sobbing Buffy clutching at him as if she'd never let him go. And all he could do was hug her back with all his strength and inhale the scent of honeysuckle.