Chapter Forty-Two
Pairing: W/T
Angst/Drama/Smut Rating: PG, no smut to speak of and a little language but not a lot.
Setting: Sunnydale
Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own the characters or the occasional bits of dialogue borrowed from BtVS; they’re held by Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy et al. 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.
Feedback: If you feel so inclined.
Author’s Notes: I am committed to finishing this story, as I have said many times. I apologize for the long delays between the later chapters, but RL likes to be a bitch to me regularly. There should only be 2-3 more chapters and potentially an epilogue left. Although I don’t think I will use the epilogue because that left it open for a sequel which I can pretty much guarantee won’t happen. So know the end is nigh!
Mists and Mysteries
Once the spell was concluded and Dana dispersed the circle's energy, the rest of the coven began to clean up. Willow and Tara had drifted back into the central part of The Magic Box. The rest of the core Scoobies gravitated over to them, along with Faith and a few older Potentials. Everyone sat around the large, round table as the rest hovered in the background, listening to Willow and Tara as they explained what they had found using their new spell.
As the information soaked into everyone present, Buffy turned to Faith, Willow, and Tara, and with a subtle nod, they followed her away from the rest of the group. The four women began to plan their next move quickly to recover all three magickal objects in each cemetery.
Times slipped by quickly as it was decided that there would be three small groups that went out to recover the items. A larger contingent of potentials would be staying behind with Dawn, Andrew, Jo, Bunny, the twins, and Anya either at The Summer's residence or the store to prepare for any potentially incoming injured.
The four rejoined the group again and began to go over their plan, covering who would be where and with whom and what the objective for recovering the objects. Since they had no idea what the items looked like, there would have to be a member or two of the coven with each group to help ferret out their prizes' locations.
The first group would include Buffy, Willow, Tara, and an older Potential named Coya, who had proven herself a formidable fighter when training with the other Potentials. The Second team would be headed up by Faith and Dana, taking Marisol, Vi, Tammy, and Lisa-Marie in their group. The third team would be headed up by Giles, Xander, Jake, Jo, and Mimi.
With a plan in place, everyone went on their separate ways to prepare themselves until they had to regroup after sunset at The Summers's home. Given that it was located at an equal distance from all three cemeteries, it made sense to base things there for the evening's events.
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Several hours later, battered, bruised, and bloodied bodies slowly made their way back to 1630 Revello Drive. Some limped independently; others were carried gingerly to avoid any further trauma to an already damaged body, and an even smaller few were held with no less care for the now empty shell of who they had once been.
The severely wounded were being placed in the living room, with Anya tending to them as quickly as possible. Andrew, surprisingly enough, was quite a proficient triage nurse and worked well with Anya. He patched the minorly injured up, and for those injuries, he couldn't manage he, had Potentials help move the more seriously wounded into Anya for further care.
As Anya worked her way around the injured, the groups' team leaders met with Buffy, Willow, and Tara in the dining room around the large table. Three objects lay in the middle of the table for all to see. One appeared to be a Scythe that Buffy was loathed to let go of even to gauge Faith's reaction when handling it.
The following intriguing trinket was a necklace with a pimp-tastic stone in the center of an elaborate setting and gold chain. The Coven members who had handled the necklace quickly passed it along as it set their teeth on edge. The Potentials didn't suffer the same effects from the necklace, and currently, Jo was twirling it around her finger by the chain, watching the light refractions along the wall from the stone.
The last item was the least impressive on sight. It was a slim book with a garish purple cover that had no writing on the outside, and for all intents and purposes, appeared to have nothing inside it either. However, each page was dated as though it might have been a journal at one time that no one had bothered to use. The only exciting thing was the first page had Thursday, Ides, 1593, which Dana translated to Thursday, March 15, 1593.
Giles was practically drooling over the old journal and muttering about ways to test for ink and magic on it to see if perhaps it contained something more that might aid in the fight against The First. He kept flipping intently through the blank pages as if he were willing the pages to reveal any secrets they may have until Buffy reached over and placed her hand on the cover.
"Giles, you might want to pay attention here," Buffy said, smirking at him with a raised eyebrow.
Giles coughed, trying to cover his embarrassment. "Yes, of course. My apologies. Have we come to any new insights to go along with the items we know have in our possession?" He asked as he looked around the table.
Before anything else could be said, something odd happened. Faith was twirling the Scythe between her hands when of its own accord; the Scythe stopped mid-spin to hovered above Faith's hands. Everyone fell silent as they watched the scythe float in place. It then began to drift towards Willow, Tara, and Jo. As it got closer to the trio, it dropped quickly, impaling the table in front of Jo.
They all watched as Jo slowly reached for the Scythe. There was a musical sound when she touched it, like someone running their fingers over the strings of a harp, and the room filled with the scent of jasmine. Nervously, Jo looked at Willow and Tara as she waited to see what else would happen next.
Jo turned stiffly to Tara and said rather formally, "Please, High Priestess, take this weapon from me."
Willow and Tara looked at each other, and both reached for the Scythe. This time the sound of rolling thunder could be heard when the Scythe was passed over, and the room filled with the scent of rain. Willow and Tara turned to each other mechanically, and they both gently lifted from the floor and hovered in place, their heads titled back and eyes closed.
Dana quickly called the rest of the coven to form a ring along the room's outer edges, forming a circle. She looked at the coven and said, "Protection." And the coven began to chant a protection spell softly in an effort to potentially give Willow and Tara a buffer between them and everyone else in the house should something go wrong.
As the pair floated next to the table with their eyes closed, the Scythe began to glow. A low but audible hum seemed to take over the room as everyone watched. Willow and Tara gently touched back down to the ground and slowly opened their eyes. Tara looked for Buffy, and with a subtle nod, Buffy approached the pair.
Willow and Tara extended the Scythe towards Buffy, and she reached for the weapon. As soon as her hand touched the staff of the blade, all three women vanished with a pop like a champagne cork. The trio landed hard on their feet, everyone stumbling a bit, trying to keep their balance. The three looked around, trying to determine where exactly they landed.
Willow and Tara let go of the Scythe, leaving it in Buffy's capable hands.
Buffy turned in a circle; she couldn't smell the sea, though, and thought she knew where they were. "Is this Kingman's –"
"No," Willow cut her off. "There is no temple to Prosperexa that would be just over there. "She pointed to where the bluff started to rise towards the skyline." The power it emanates is not here; Tara and I wouldn't be able to miss it. Plus, the woods don't come so close," Willow observed as she looked around the area.
It looked almost like the bluffs that surrounded Sunnydale but without the sound and scent of the ocean. The hill was covered in dew on it as though they were in a much wetter climate. There were no animal sounds, no flowers perfuming the air. The area seemed to be untouched by humans or animals, and it didn't quite make sense.
Tara had been staring at the tree line. "Will, I think we need to go into the trees. There is something in there; I can feel it."
"Ok, then let's go into the woods," Willow said, trying to sound cheerful but not entirely pulling it off.
Tara led the other two towards the copse of trees stopping at the tree line just before entering. She looked at Willow and Buffy in turn. "Ok, Will, let's do a quick protection spell just in case we run into something." Willow took Tara's hands in her own, and they quickly cast the spell.
With a nod to Buffy, the three walked into the trees. And walked. And walked for what felt like hours, and by the time the trees started to thin out, they could smell the ocean again. They had talked about their next steps and started planning the next moves they would be taking to defeat The First. As they cleared the tree line, the trio realized they were back or still in Sunnydale from wherever the Scythe had dropped them.
None of what happened made any sense. No clues, no hints. They knew they were awake, and Willow raised her hand to her throat, feeling for a pulse that was there thrumming steadily. She took Tara's hand and pulled her to close, and checked for a pulse. Tara looked at her, a question in her eyes, but she remained quiet. Willow released her and turned to Buffy. She walked up to her and went to reach for Buffy's arm.
Willow's hand passed right through her arm, and in one quick motion of her hand, pulled the Scythe away from whatever being was holding the weapon. The image of Buffy hissed at her like an angered cat and vanished.
Willow turned to Tara, who reached out a hand that was taken without hesitation. Their connection and the sensation of their magicks swirling around them and the Scythe helped reassure each other they were not some sort of impostor or ghost and not whatever had been walking with them.
"Well, shit," Tara muttered as she looked at Willow, her eyes hardening. "I have a feeling we've been walking with The First, Will. We have disclosed some of our strategies, and this is not good in any way. We need to get back to the house."
"We're near the beach, but there is no quick way back into town," Willow said, thinking out loud. "I have an idea."
Willow sat down where she was standing and patted the sand in front of her so Tara would join her. "Concentrate on Dana; we are going to tell her what we know and where we think we are."
Moments later, back at The Summer's house, Dana passed out in the dining room and was barely caught by Faith before she hit the floor face first.
Faith caught Dana under the knees, moved upstairs to where Dana had been sleeping and laid her on her bed. Everyone flowed and huddled in the doorway. "This ain't good G-Man. What do we do now?"
Giles looked around owlishly for a moment, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. He cough to clear his throat. "Yes, well, let us take a few moments to gather ourselves. Dana may wake at any time."
"This was like when they all got blindsided by The First," Claude said quietly. "This can't be good." She looked at several of the other Coven members. "Let put a protective circle around her, anything we can do to help protect her and Willow and Tara, wherever they are."
Everyone else started to move away and back down the stairs. "Giles, we are going to need you too. We need all the power we can get right now." Claude said before Giles could leave.
"Yes, of course," He replied. "Did you have a specific spell in mind?"
Claude nods and waves them into the bedroom, and shuts the door. "Let's keep them safe."
TBC...