by Sassette » Wed Apr 17, 2002 12:58 am
For the Record: I refuse to be a prison slut. I love everyone, but not in a prison way. I love Ruth in a prison way. I love Autumn in a prison way when she's hopped up on mochas. I love TX the way a pimp should love her bitch. And, God Help Me, I love Joel in the sickest prison way imaginable, but Joel doesn't love me.
Now that that's been said, I'll go on.
**tommo: Absolutely ... when we're both done with current projects, we'll ... talk.
**TX: If you can have a husband and a kid, I can love Ruth in a prison way. *G* And I do - I can't help it ... she's the Smut Pimp! And, dammit, Final Exam is adorably mushy AND smutty - I didn't stand a chance.
**bulldog tidnab: People lining up? Declaring their love? Ummm ... this thread just gets weirder and weirder. But, hey - study buddies are always good *G* What are we studying.
**TX(again): A-HEM! Please remember that my geek-infested roots are mine and I choose who plays with them But, ummm ... no pictures. Seriously - keep those to yourself. *blush* And could you lay off the 'cute' stuff?
-Sass
Answering Darkness 47b - Searching
“And I always thought she was so sweet and quiet,” Buffy muttered, jogging a little to catch up with the group.
Giles sighed, watching swinging his axe up to his shoulder. “Yes, well, it’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it?” he asked into the night.
A silent group reached the parking lot, a certain energy humming in the air around them. Giles recognized it immediately. It was an almost palpable determination, and it meant the Scoobies would not fail. Never before had they fallen short - never before had an obstacle been too large. And now, with Willow and the world at stake, Giles knew that once again these children would dig deep, finding the courage and ability to defeat this latest threat.
He just had no idea how.
The adrenaline of the chase was starting to fade, and he opened the car door with a trembling hand. He slid in behind the wheel, Buffy and Dawn entering the car silently. Xander, Anya and Tara drove off, and he followed, numbly noting the sound of sirens as they drove away.
It certainly seemed hopeless. Willow was likely being tricked into Hell now, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Xander sped up, likely being goaded by Anya taking potshots at his manhood. Some things never changed.
But some things did. He set his jaw, increasing his speed and tearing off after Xander's car, his mind racing. There had to be something - anything - he could do.
"So now what?" Dawn asked quietly from the back seat.
Buffy took a deep breath before answering. "Now we regroup back at the house and make a plan," Buffy said, biting back a testy reply. Dawn was just worried, she knew - they all were - and Dawn didn't have the benefit of experience here. She only had her fear and worry to go on, and Buffy would be patient with her sister. "And then we save Willow."
"We still can?" Dawn asked gingerly, feeling a flood of hope welling up inside her.
"We still can," Buffy confirmed with a nod.
They lapsed into silence, finally pulling into the Summers driveway and getting out of the car. They walked in quickly, seeing Xander and Anya sitting close together on the couch, Xander's arm wrapped protectively around his fiancee as Tara was rapidly flipping pages in the necronomicon.
"So how do we fix this?" Buffy asked without preamble, dropping a sword and a stake on the ground at her feet. "Ideas?"
"We need more information," Giles said wearily. "We have to find out a way to defeat The Trickster."
"Now is not the time for research," Buffy said with a shake of her head. "Research phase is over. We need a plan and we need it now."
"Troll Hammer?" Xander offered up.
"Right," Buffy said, going to the hall closet and pulling out the heavy hammer. It had been decided over the summer that the hammer was far too useful to be sold, and Anya had reluctantly agreed. "What else have we got?"
"Well, what if Willow isn't in Hell yet? I mean, what if The Trickster can't get her through the Hellmouth?" Dawn offered up.
"Which is why we don't have time," Buffy agreed with a nod. "He isn't using Willow until tomorrow night, so if she isn't in Hell yet, we have a chance to get her back now."
"But if she is in Hell, what can we do about it?" Anya asked seriously. "Regular mortals can't just walk into Hell - they'd be incinerated. And that's IF you can get past the Hellmouth."
"I'm afraid Anya is right," Giles said, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. "If Willow is already in Hell, there's nothing we can do about it but hope she survives and returns."
"Unacceptable," Buffy snapped.
Tara let the conversation wash around her, reading page after page as quickly as she could. She felt, on one level, that she already knew this book. That every word was something she was remembering, rather than something she was just learning. Had she and Willow studied it together in their past lives? Of course they had - it was the only explanation for why it had been in with her mother's things.
She skipped things that were clearly not useful, like Pictish history, ceremonies and rituals. It was undoubtedly interesting, but something for another time. For a time when she had Willow with her.
"I'm sorry, Buffy, but Giles is right. Our only hope is to get to Willow before they manage to get her into Hell," Anya said.
"So there's no way we could go in and get Willow?" Buffy asked. "None at all?"
"That's right," Giles confirmed.
"Then why are we waiting?" Xander said, rising to his feet and reaching for his keys.
"We need to formulate a plan," Giles insisted. "We are not going to run off with no idea of what we're doing - that's a sure way to get us all killed."
"Xander, I left something in the car," Tara said, snapping the necronomicon shut and grabbing his keys, heading to the front door.
"I don't care. If they're working on a way to get Willow through the Hellmouth, we need to go now," Xander shot back angrily, barely noting that Tara had snatched his keys right out of his hand.
"So we have a Troll Hammer and some attitude?" Buffy said, cutting to the chase. "That's just great!"
"But we have to do something," Dawn said, moving to stand with Xander. "We can't just let Willow go."
The sound of a car starting reached them, then the sound of squeeling tires. The Scoobies all froze and looked at each other, then moved to the window, looking out into the street in time to see Xander's taillights disappearing around the corner.
"Damn it," Giles yelled, grabbing his keys and heading for the door. The Scoobies all followed, scooping up their weapons.
"Go, go," Xander said, hurrying everyone out the door and to the rental car. It was a cramped fit, but they all managed to squeeze themselves into Giles' car, barely getting the doors shut before he tore off, heading for the ruined high school and the Hellmouth that lay beneath.
"Of all the impetuous, short-sighted," Giles muttered, driving like the proverbial bat out of hell.
"Tara's lost it," Anya said nervously. "And she's going to get there, and she's going to fight, and she's going to get herself dead before we can get there and save her. The Trickster doesn't need her. He won't keep her alive like he will Willow."
Dawn paled visibly and gulped. Xander looked sideways at her, patting her knee in comfort.
"It'll be okay, Dawnie," he said. "You'll see. We'll get there in the nick of time, save Tara >and< Willow, then we'll all leave town for a few days until the stars are out of alignment again, then we'll come back and have a pizza party. Typical Hellmouth weekend, you'll see."
"So, you guys did this all the time in high school?" Dawn asked weakly, suddenly wondering if the Scooby Gang was really the place to be. Sure, saving the world sounded cool, but she didn't feel cool. She just felt worried and scared, and a little sick to her stomach.
"Yep," Xander said cheerfully, forcing a confident smile past his own fears. "And we all went to class the next day, too," he went on, a wave of nostalgia washing over him.
"Okay, now that's just sick," Dawn noted. "You saved the world and you didn't get a day off school?"
"And you won't either," Buffy said, looking back at Dawn. "So don't even ask. You've done more than your fair share of skipping school."
The car shook as Giles drove it onto the curb past Xander's car and up onto the old high school grounds. He navigated it through the rubble, hitting jagged pieces of cement and twisted steel.
"I guess I won't be getting my deposit back," he said dryly, stopping the car as close to the old library as he could.
Without any further conversation, they all got out of the car, running into the ruined shell that had been Sunnydale High, their weapons in hand.
"We have to be careful," Giles urged as they reached the library, then headed underground. "There's no telling what kind of magick Tara is utilizing."
"She wouldn't use anything ... bad, would she?" Dawn asked.
"What do you think?" Buffy asked, looking over her shoulder at her sister. "Willow did - we never would have guessed that. But Tara got hurt, and she did."
They checked their weapons, then stepped into the cavern that held the very mouth of hell, coming upon what was obviously a stalemate.
Tara stood, one hand outstretched and the other holding the necronomicon, a white light encasing the Construct and at least fifteen vampires. It had been simple, really. She had walked in, and they had immediately converged upon her, only to be thrown back across the cavern. Then she had held them there, asking the Goddess to grant her this request, that her enemies be held fast.
Simple in theory, at least. It had, in fact, taken a tremendous amount of her power, and she was feeling the strain. But thoughts of Willow sustained her past the point where she felt she had reached her limits. Nothing would stop her from finding Willow. Nothing.
"Where is she?" Tara asked, the edge to her voice indicating that this wasn't the first time she had asked the question. None answered.
She had flipped through the necronomicon at the house, finding it mostly useless for her purposes. There was dark magick of considerable power there, yes, but Tara wouldn't resort to that. Not unless she absolutely had to.
But the Picts, Giles had said, had a unique understanding of balance. There were light spells in there, too. Things she had only heard hinted of in her other readings. This spell was one of them. If she had only had time to read further, she might have found something else useful, but there just hadn't been an opportunity. She couldn't stand by idly while Willow was in danger.
"Tara?" Buffy called, coming up to stand beside her friend. "Tara, she's not here," Buffy pointed out, looking around the room. All she could see were fifteen struggling vamps, wrapped in strands of pure white energy, unable to move.
"But they have her, Buffy," Tara said, her gaze unwavering as she looked at the still figures before her.
"Can that thing even talk?" Xander asked, indicating the Construct.
"It better learn," Tara said grimly, a stream of white light issuing forth from her hands, wrapping around the Construct and constricting.
All the Scoobies flinched, only Tara remaining still, as its unearthly screams echoed through the chamber. The sound rebounded, even after the Construct grew silent, shredding already frayed nerves.
"Tara, that's fifteen vampires. Fifteen," Anya said. "I think we should go and figure out what to do."
Tara looked at Anya, almost snarling. Time was a luxury. Time was something they didn't have. How could Anya speak to her of wasting time when Willow was being dragged through Hell at that very moment?
"You all leave," Tara said, looking at each of the Scoobies.
"We are NOT leaving," Buffy said, hefting her hammer. "And please, please tell me the next part of this plan involves you letting all those vamps go, and me dusting them?"
"You need to go. There's fifteen of them. It's too many," Tara tried to explain.
"Where will you be?" Dawn asked. "You're coming with us, right? We're going to do more research, then save Willow?"
"We don't have time," Tara said, looking at Dawn with sad eyes. "I have to go. Now."
Buffy looked at the expression of calm determination on Tara's face speculatively. She had seen hints of Tara's inner strength before - something Willow had always seen beneath the shy exterior of her lover - but nothing like this. Tara looked like she could move mountains.
"Fifteen isn't too many," Buffy said, meeting Tara's eyes, a look of understanding passing between them. "Go."
Tara nodded, stepping to the Hellmouth, then releasing the spell holding the Construct and the vampires. She would need her energy when she faced The Trickster. And she >would< face The Trickster - no Hellmouth would stop her when she believed Willow was on the other side.
The vampires were stunned for a moment, their ineffectual struggles throwing them off-balance as the restricting white light disappeared suddenly.
Tara's hand raised up, touching the yellow glow of the Hellmouth gingerly. A tingle ran up her arm, and she pressed gently, her fingertips pushing back the barrier, but not breaking through. She pressed a little harder, and the surface tension broke, her fingers dipping inward and sending ripples of light across the opening. Then they stopped, unable to break through further.
The Scoobies met the charge as the vampires and the Construct came at them, Buffy working hard to give Tara time to figure out how she was going to get through the Hellmouth.
A soft sigh escaped Tara and she almost laughed. It was so easy. She knew - she knew how the Hellmouth had been weakened enough to let the Construct out, and how she could get through now.
She cast her mind back to a night when everything in her world had seemed bleak and dark. Willow's betrayal was still fresh and hurt with a raw intensity she had thought she would never survive. And then in the night, a voice had called to her.
She had thought it was Willow's voice.
But it wasn't. It was Dawn's.
It was the Key.
That spell had gone wrong, she knew. And she had siphoned off the energy, releasing it in a safe manner.
Or so she had thought.
Had the Trickster been responsible for Dawn casting the spell in the first place? It didn't matter, not really. Either way, he had taken advantage of the situation, using a combination of Dawn's energy and the piece of Willow Dawn had needed to perform the spell to weaken the Hellmouth and send his Construct to earth.
Willow's hair, she remembered, had been used in that spell.
All magick left a residue of energy - a lingering bit of essence that became a part of the caster until it faded away, and that night had been no exception.
Tara searched within herself for that energy now, gathering it together, then sending it forth, confidently stepping through the barrier in a brilliant flash of light.
) so i cant beg to write one with you, but maybe we could um be study buddies? cause y'know i think i love you too. possibly in a prison way... 