Chapter Forty
Pairing: W/T
Angst/Drama/Smut Rating: PG-13 and a good 7 on the drama-meter.
Setting: Sunnydale
Disclaimer: I in no way, shape or form own the characters or the occasional bits of dialogue that are being borrowed from BtVS; they’re owned by Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy et al. All original characters are in no way connected to BtVS except by me in this forum. No money is involved; this is simply for my own pleasure, and hopefully that of the people reading too.
Email:
riverwillows@me.comFeedback: Please?
Author’s Notes: I’m not sure if anyone is still interested in this story at this point, and I had always planned on finishing it. Unfortunately, RL and a severe case of writer’s block had other ideas. However, I am taking advantage of while I can. I really only envision three or four more chapters before this is completed anyway. I don’t have a beta for this, so if you find anything glaring pm me and I’ll fix it. Music for this chapter is Alabama Shakes “Sound and Color”, Banks “The Alter”, Alicia Keys “Here” and Florence + The Machine “How Big, How Blue, How Beautifull”.The Time Is Drawing Near
Bunny’s question hung in the air as the gears in Buffy’s head began to spin. She looked at Tara and Willow for several long moments, before taking a deep breath and smiling softly to herself.
“Reincarnation?” Buffy asked quietly she eased back in the chair and folded her hands together in her lap. “Do you actually
know who I am?” She asked Bunny and Marisol.
Bunny and Marisol looked at each other before turning back to The Slayer, waiting for her to continue speaking.
“Let
me ask
you this. How many times have
you died and been brought back?” Buffy asked seriously.
Bunny’s eyes widened and he looked at Marisol. Marisol stared owlishly at Buffy and shook her head in the negative.
“See, I’ve already died twice,” Buffy stated. “And it seems like I just can’t stay that way. Each time I come back, I come back as me, so I kinda feel like this whole gig is a little more like the mob, you know?” she looked around at everyone and did a very poor Al Pacino impersonation. “Just when I thought I was out; they keep pullin’ me back in.”
Willow snickered, “The Godfather, classic Xander…” Willow noticed the smirked on Buffy’s face. “Uhh, sorry, Buff.”
Buffy looked over at Willow and could tell by the look on her face what was going through her mind. She smiled at Willow and winked. “Coming back from the dead isn’t a walk in the park, and I should know! As for reincarnation… well, I’ve seen too much to say no outright, but I guess I just can’t let this life go.”
Buffy eased back in her chair, crossing her legs and while looking at Marisol and Bunny closely. The metaphysical tone of the conversation, volleying back and forth between Bunny and Buffy, much to the surprise of Willow and Tara. Neither had really talked much to Buffy about her thoughts on the afterlife and her lack of one to know honestly where their friend might stand or what she might actually believe in if anything.
As the flow of the conversation kept rolling around the room, Tara took a moment to slip out of the room and up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Willow. Tara went to their closet and began pulling out the books she and Willow had brought back with them from Tucson. As she was leaving the bedroom she met Dana on the stairs.
“Just who I was looking for!” Dana said as she looked up at Tara from her spot on the stairs.
“Are you okay?” Tara asked.
“Yes, I think I found something,” Dana said as she and Tara began to make their way back down to the first floor.
Willow turned her head to watch them both make their way down the stairs, as Tara went directly back to her seat with Willow. Claude came through the front door heading directly for Dana, passing her what looked like a “Triple A” roadmap. “Excellent, Claude where did you find one?” she asked.
“Mr. Giles,” Claude replied with a smile. “Man, is he wound too tight!” she said laughing.
“That’s our Tweedy Englishman,” Buffy said with a fond smile. “Whatcha got there?” she asks Dana while pointing at the paper in her hands.
“I asked your Tweedy Englishman for a map of the area,” Dana said. “I think we can do a type of location spell because there is no way that the pretty, shiny, pointy toy doesn’t give off some sort of signature.”
“Like weapon-location, like bats?” Willow asked. “Bat’s use echolocation to get around and if we can weed out the natural hell-mouthy type vibes we might be able to locate Buffy’s new toy!”
“Wait, what do bats have to do with a map?” Claude asked a little confused.
“Willow knows a spell to locate and classify all the demon presences with the help of a map of Sunnydale,” Tara explained. “We can modify that spell and filter out other echoes that might intrude because most cemeteries are on consecrated ground that will help us narrow the echoes and compare to rule certain types of echo signatures out, like a bat using echolocation, right, sweetie?” Tara finished.
Willow grinned and moved to squeeze in next to Tara. “Bingo, baby,” Willow said then kissed Tara’s cheek sweetly. “Dana, why don’t you gather everyone and bring them up to speed? Tara and I can gather the ingredients for the spell and meet at The Magic Box.” Willow finished.
“Why The Magic Box?” Dana asked.
“We’ve warded the house with a potent spell and that might interfere with the sorting out of power, demons and other magick that we’ll be trying to filter – we don’t want to miss our signatures as well,” Tara answered.
“Plus, since we came back from The Grove Tara and I have made The Magic Box and “Club Slay” no-fly zones for the baddies.” She said smiling proudly. “I planned for Claude though, her magick is earth magick so we can use her energy to rule her out and it will be easier to see if we aren’t sitting right on top of it,” Willow added.
“No fly zone, Will?’ Buffy asked.
“Yup, given the circumstances and the potentials dying, Tara and I manage to cobble a couple spells together to basically make them disappear off any map used to try and find the Hellmouth. If you don’t know it’s there you can’t find “Club Slay” at all, it’s like a magical and energy dead zone.” Willow said taking a breath before finishing. “Combined with the alarm spell that will eject anyone it’s not already keyed to, it’s as safe as we could possibly make it. The Magic Box has a masking spell so that anything inside no longer broadcasts its presence to any of the many things that come to or out of the Hellmouth.” Willow explained.
“That really neat, Willow!” Claude said. “So that’s why you needed all my lemon verbena, right?”
Willow nodded. “That and all the white heather I could find,” Willow said with a sigh and a shrug. “Thought I’d cover as many repelling options as possible for the baby Slayers.”
“Gee, Will, I guess all the time you two spent in your room wasn’t just for witchy lovin’, you guys were actually busy!” Buffy teased.
Willow and Tara both flushed bright red. Willow raised her chin and said, “Trust me, there is plenty of lovin’,” she said flushing brighter still. “However, we do have our priorities.” She sniffed haughtily.
This garnered a round of laughter from everyone in the room. Tara kissed Willow’s cheek and gave her a sly wink.
Willow waited for the laughter to die down before looking at Marisol and Bunny for a moment, “You are both more than welcome to come along, I have a feeling there’s a reason you two, in particular, were sent here,” she said.
Marisol nodded, “Yes, I doubt Our Lady sent us here for the weather.”
Bunny stood gracefully. “Well, girls let’s get this show on the road. The humidity is bad for my hair.” He said as he patted his expertly coiffed head daintily.
“Do you need an escort, Will?” Buffy asked
Willow and Tara looked at one another. “Sure, Buff, but you‘ll have to stay at Club Slay with the rest of the Slayers so we can identify you all once the spell starts.”
“You keep calling it that, when did we decide on that name?” Buffy whined.
“Oh, Dios mío,” Bunny muttered, and Marisol swatted his arm.
“Play nice or I’ll send you home, hermanito,” Marisol scolded.
“And on that note, we should probably head out, right Will?” Tara said as she began to stand from the chair, pulling Willow with her.
“Magick waits for no one,” Willow said smiling. “Dana, we’ll see you and everyone else in about an hour. The sun should be setting by then too, so we can do this tonight.”
Dana nodded and she and Claude left going into the kitchen and out into the backyard. Willow and Tara were already heading for the door, Tara carrying the large book she had brought downstairs earlier.
“It’s going to be a long night, isn’t it?” Willow asked.
Tara nodded. “I think that might just be an understatement, sweet love.”
Willow opened the front door for Tara, with Marisol and Bunny following right behind Tara with Willow bringing up the rear. “Yay.” She said sarcastically.
The group casually walked down the street as if they didn’t have a care in the world. In less than twenty minutes they arrived at The Magick Box. Pushing open the door the bell above it tinkled in greeting.
“Hello and than – oh, it’s just you,” Anya said see Tara and Willow walk through the door.
“Good to see you too, Anya,” Willow snarked.
“And who is this?” Bunny asked as he held the door for his sister.
“Bunny this is Anya, Vengeance Demon Extraordinaire. Anya, this is Marisol and Bunny Campos,” Willow said indicating each to Anya who stuck out her hand in greeting. “I met them in Arizona, Marisol is part of the coven there and Bunny is her brother.”
“Aren’t you just fabulous, and very obviously gay,” Anya said with a wide smile, shaking Bunny’s hand excitedly. “I’ve heard all about you from Tara.”
Bunny shot Tara a look that said
“What in the damn hell?!?!” and Tara just shrugged.
Anya moved over to Marisol and shook her hand with significantly less enthusiasm. “Nice to meet you. Hope you didn’t come here to die.”
“Die?” Marisol squeaked.
“You’re not going to die, Mari, don’t listen to her,” Bunny said giving his sister a wink.
“Well, now that we all know who we are, we need supplies for a spell,” Willow said and went to the shelves.
“You have to pay for that,” Anya said.
“Put it on my tab,” Tara said with a raised eyebrow.
“Fine,” Anya huffed and went back behind the counter. Watching Willow and Tara as they pulled jars down and began to mix the ingredients she made a list of everything they used.
“Are you two making up spells again?” Anya asked with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. “I have no idea what you are trying to locate but you’re really throwing the net out there, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea,” Willow said smirking.
TBC…
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