The Return, Chapter Seven ~ The
Preparations
From: "Little Slayer" <little_slayer@hotmail.com>
Author: Little Slayer
Email: little_slayer@hotmail.com or little_slayer@buffymail.com
Title: The Return
Distribution: Anyone can have it. Just ask.
Rating: PG.
Author’s Note: Sequel to The End.
Feedback: If you don’t send feedback, I’ll sick
Faith on you like a
dog on a bone. Or in her case a dog on a…okay, I’m
not going to
finish that, but you all get the point. Actually, no, I
can't sick
her on you because of one really important reason…
Disclaimer: I don’t own him! Uh, her. Or
Buffy, Angel, Giles,
Willow, Joyce, and everyone else. They’re all in here.
I don’t own
Angel’s nickname of Peaches. The only thing I own is
Mya. She’s
mine. I created her. And so I can easily destroy the
skanky little…
uh, oops. All the Buffyverse people belong to Joss Whedon
and anyone
else who legally owns them. Anybody who has been either A)
mentioned
on BtVS, or B) seen on BtVS, I don’t own. I do own a
few people but
am too tired to name them.
Dedication: Vanessa, Lady Raven. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!
Chapter Seven, The Preparations
“Buffy?”
Drusilla asked. Buffy’s eyes glazed over as a side
effect of the spell that had been done on her and she looked
almost
through Drusilla. “Buffy, you need to stay awake.”
“I’m awake,”
she mumbled. Angel walked in the room and sat
down on the edge of her bed. “Hi Angel,” Buffy
greeted.
“How did you know
it was me?” Angel asked. Buffy smiled.
“Spend three
hundred years with someone, and you’ll know
every detail of them,” she muttered. “Besides, it’s
in the eyes.”
Angel moved closer to Buffy then motioned for Drusilla to leave
the
room.
“Buffy,” he
started and took her hand. “They’ve figured out
a way to take away the spell. But, it means…they’re
going to…what
I’m trying to say is…”
“Angel, spit it
out,” Buffy said with a raised eyebrow. The
sweatshirt that Dru gave her to wear covered her chest and hid
the
split skin. With a lot of patience, Buffy was able to keep
herself
awake and help stop the bleeding. She still felt a bit
woozy though.
“The ritual is
going to bind Angelus to you for as long as he
lives,” Angel murmured. At Buffy’s questioning
look, he continued.
“If you die, which you won’t, he dies. If he
dies, you go on with
your life.”
“We’ve
already made a pact like that, in hell,” Buffy told
him quietly. Angel suppressed the urge to question how
close Buffy
was with his alter ego. Something told him he didn’t
want to know.
It wasn’t like Buffy to sleep with someone else after
proclaiming her
love to him, but it was like Angelus. “Angel?”
“I know,”
Angel said, withdrawing from his thoughts. “But
this will just help to keep your mind free of these types of
spells…
in the future.”
“I know it will,
but I’m so tired,” Buffy said. “We need to
get this done now, because we don’t know when Kelvin will
strike. I
don’t want to be in bed when that happens.” Her
eyes met his and all
he could do was nod. “Angel, I’m scared.
What if I’m not better by
then? What if…they should’ve left me there in
hell.”
“No, don’t
say that,” Angel protested. “You’ll be
better by
then. I know it. And we’ll win, we always do.
I mean, look at our
team. Three vampires, a human with the strength of a
vampire, the
strongest Slayer in history, a Watcher, a witch, a werewolf, and
two
humans who are good with crossbows. Of all of us, six know
magic.
And two are psychic. We are going to win.”
“And on the other
hand, Mya’s betrayed me before, what if she
does it again?” Buffy asked. “What if we’re
not enough?”
“Then we’ll
know we did everything we could do,” Angel said.
“I can’t
accept that. I cannot loose. If I do, we die.
If
I do, we instantly loose two members of the team, two of the
strongest. No matter how skilled everyone else is, we need
everyone
at full strength.”
“Buffy, try to be
positive. You aren’t going to –”
“My dreams were
prophetic.”
“What?”
“What happened in
them, I know it’s a prophecy,” Buffy said.
“So you’re
saying that me and someone else are going to pull
you apart, literally?” Angel asked. She sighed and
looked away from
him.
“No, what I mean,
is, someone I know is going to betray me.
Again.” They were silent for a moment and Angelus
walked into the
bedroom.
“Hey, how’s
my favorite Slayer?” he asked.
“I’m the
only Slayer who you haven’t killed, dumbass,” Buffy
retorted. Angel frowned as he saw her attitude change as
soon as
Angelus entered.
“Details,
details,” Angelus muttered with a dismissive wave
of his hand. He held up a bowl like a priest would a
sacrifice. “I
bring you…” He sniffed and frowned. “Chicken
noodle soup.
Although, I’m not sure if is really chicken. Dru made
it.” Buffy
raised an eyebrow as their eyes met. Angelus looked out the
door.
“Uh, Dru?”
“What?” the
female vampire called out.
“Are you sure
this is…chicken?” Angelus asked.
“Yes!”
“Okay then, I
guess we take her word on it,” Angelus said
with a smirk and then set the bowl down on the nightstand.
“Here you
are, my lady,” he said with a fake English accent.
“Thanks,”
Buffy said. She sniffed the soup and then ate a
bite of it. “Not bad.”
“And it’s
really chicken?” Angelus asked.
“What is your
obsession with it being chicken or not?” Angel
asked. Angelus looked at him with a smirk.
“Why do you want
to know?” Angelus asked.
“Hey, stop doing
whatever you two are doing,” Buffy said.
“They’re
competing,” Willow said from the door. The trio
looked up at her.
“For what?”
Buffy asked.
“You,”
Willow told her. She blinked and then chewed on
another piece of chicken. “Here, put some of this in
it.” Willow
walked over and held out a glass container of a clear liquid.
“What is it?”
Buffy asked.
“Something that
Giles and I put together. We’re hoping it’ll
tell us exactly what kind of spell was put on you,” Willow
explained.
“And how’s
it supposed to do that?” Angelus asked.
“Yeah, it’s
not going to turn my skin colors or anything will
it?” Buffy asked.
“I’m not
sure. All I know is Giles said for you to somehow
consume it. So, drink up,” Willow said. Buffy
frowned and sniffed
the liquid.
“Smells minty,”
she said.
“Peppermint
extract,” Willow told her. Buffy took a deep
breath, opened her mouth, and drank all of the liquid.
After she
swallowed it, she shuddered and made a face.
“Ick. That’s
nasty,” Buffy muttered. Then something
occurred to her. Angel and Angelus were competing for her.
*Just
like in my dream,* she thought. “Oh my god.”
“What?” the
others in the room asked.
“Part of my
dream, it just came true.” Her eyes met Willow’s
and then she sipped at the chicken broth distractedly.
“Oh boy,”
Willow said. “What was it?”
“It was…”
Buffy stopped and looked between Angel and Angelus.
“Just, go get Giles. He should know.”
Willow nodded.
“Is there
anything in can get you?” Angel asked.
“No, that’s
okay. Can you two go in the living room please?”
Buffy asked.
“You can’t
be left alone. If you loose any more blood…you
might not live,” Angelus told her. “We’ll
leave as soon as Giles
gets in here.” They sat in silence and Buffy slurped
up her soup.
Giles walked in.
“Willow said part
of your dream came true,” Giles said.
Buffy nodded and the ‘twins’ left the room.
“Giles, in my
dream, Angel is on one side and Angelus on the
other. They’re both competing with each other to see
who can pull me
over,” Buffy said.
“I don’t see
the connection,” Giles stated.
“They were just
doing that in here before Willow came in
here,” Buffy told him. “There’s more.
In my dreams, someone warns
me that I can’t trust someone I know.”
“Well, it could
simply be that the person who put the spell
on you knows that you love Angel but have some sort of…relationship
with Angelus, so they did that. Also, maybe in warning you
about
being betrayed, it might be that they are playing with your mind.”
“Well how can we
tell who did the spell? I mean, Willow said
that when I drank that minty stuff that you’d be able to
tell.”
“No, that was
only to see what type of spell. I needed to
know so I did the right spell.” Buffy nodded then
sighed.
“Well, I drank it.
Get on with the spell.” Giles nodded and
stood up, walking to the door.
“Uh, Drusilla?”
he called out into the living room. “Could
you bring that paste? She’s drunken the potion and I
want to do this
as soon as possible.” Drusilla nodded, stood, and
walked over to
Giles carrying a bowl of blue sandy stuff.
“Oooh, smelly
sand,” Buffy commented with a raised eyebrow.
“What does it do? You put in on my skin and it says
what kind of
spell has been put on me?”
“Well, basically,
yes,” Giles said. Buffy chuckled and
pulled up her sleeve. He took a finger full of the paste
and rubbed
it on Buffy’s arm. Slowly, as they watched, it turned
green then
black. “Hmmm, looks like two spells were put on you.”
“It says here
that if it’s green then it’s a tracking spell.
If it’s black then it’s a dream spell,” Drusilla
said. “If it turns
two or more colors, then both have been put on.”
“Well, then, we
counter-act the spells and everything goes on
all happy daisy, right?” Buffy asked.
“I’m not
sure if it’s that simple,” Giles said.
“Nothing’s
every easy,” Buffy complained.
“Well, no, it’s
not that,” Dru started. “Because it’s a
dream spell, both you and the one you choose to bond to will have
to
be asleep. And that could be dangerous for you.”
Drusilla skimmed
the page. “But…”
“I like buts.
Buts are good,” Buffy said.
“It says that if
we do the spell right, the wounds from the
original person are transferred to the person they bond with.”
Drusilla and Buffy both looked at Giles.
“Which means that
my wounds will go POOF to Angelus,” Buffy
said. “And he can heal much faster than I can.”
“That is, if the
sleeping part doesn’t kill you first,” Giles
said.
“Well, I’m
being optimistic and saying I’m gonna live,” Buffy
said. “C’mon, we’ll do this in the living
room.” She pushed back
the blood stained covers and lowered her legs to the floor.
Catching
a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she frowned. “Boy
do I look
horrible. Oh well.” They walked into the living
room and Buffy
situated herself between Oz and Spike. This was going to be
a long
night.