FIC: Lost & Found 4/?? PG-15
Still working out the issues on the actual pairing. I should know pretty soon, probably in another part or two. I know it's not really shippy right now but my muse wants the plot to be the focus right now of this one.
Part One // Part Two // Part Three
Title: Lost & Found 4/??
Author: Sweetness (aaronlisa@gmail.com)
Pairing: Willow/Angel
Rating: PG-15
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and company.
Notes: An alternate universe following the events in “Lover’s Walk.” This one takes place during “Choices” and was inspired by an essay in “Five Seasons of Angel.”
Angel was watching in disbelief as Buffy and Faith were siding with their new watcher over Willow’s fate. He could tell from the looks on Giles’ and Cordelia’s faces that they couldn’t believe it either. He knew that Willow still wasn’t Buffy’s favourite person, but he had hoped that the fact that they were all working together against a common enemy would have helped to relieve some of the tension between the two.
“Look our options are quite simple: destroy the box and prevent the Ascension from occurring and unfortunately sacrifice Willow, or rescue Willow and sacrifice thousands,” Wesley patiently explained again.
“It’s not that simple,” Giles said angrily.
“What don’t you understand? Sacrifice one to save thousands, or sacrifice thousands to save one. It sounds pretty clear to me,” Buffy said.
“There was a time when you would have refused to sacrifice one and you would have found a way to save the thousands,” Angel said quietly.
“Yeah, well times change.”
”Give us a chance to rescue her,” Angel requested.
“I don’t think so, Fang,” Faith said.
“Look we’re not talking to you, so why don’t you just shut your skanky mouth,” Cordelia said nastily to Faith.
“And what happens if you fail? Are you going to accept the consequences?” Buffy asked as she ignored Cordelia and Faith.
“Yes.”
”Fine, you have one hour to perform your little heroics,” Buffy said as she folded her arms across her chest.
“Miss. Summers, I hardly think that is a wise decision,” Wesley protested.
“And if the Mayor’s goons come here, we’re going to start the ritual no matter what,” Buffy continued.
“Fine. Giles will you come with me?”
“I’ll just hold the fort,” Cordelia said calmly as Giles and Angel walked out of the library.
* * *
Willow shivered as she surveyed her surroundings. She couldn’t believe that she had allowed herself to be kidnapped. She knew that the Mayor would offer the others a chance to do a trade: her for the box. But she knew that Buffy wouldn’t agree, despite what the others said. And Buffy’s decision was all that mattered. Although they had begun working together to defeat the Mayor, the blonde Slayer had remained cold and rude to Willow. Instead of lessening the resentment and animosity that Buffy felt for her, working towards a common goal had only increased those feelings. Probably because that Buffy could plainly see that Giles, Angel and Cordelia preferred Willow over the Slayer. Willow sighed as she thought about how it seemed that Buffy continued to blame her the loss of closeness she had had with Giles and Angel. It didn’t matter to Buffy that she had been the one to originally cut ties with the Watcher and vampire, and that they had only agreed to work with her because the Mayor was an enemy that threatened them all. And because of that, Willow knew that Buffy would refuse to do a trade with the Mayor to save her life. Not that Willow wanted the others to do that, she knew that it was too much to ask that the others sacrifice whatever advantage that they had in their fight against the Mayor, but it would have been nice to know that her friends would have tried to save her. And she really didn’t want to die; she couldn’t help but selfishly think about how she was too young to die.
* * *
Almost as soon as Giles and Angel had left the library, Buffy and the others had started performing the ritual to destroy the Mayor’s box. Cordelia had been sadly outnumbered, although she had attempted to stop them.
“You said an hour,” Cordelia said as she struggled against Faith’s iron hold on her.
“Well, I’m not taking any chances. Waiting an hour so that Angel can play the hero is too much of risk that we can’t afford to take.”
”So you’re willing to have Willow pay the price?”
“She shouldn’t have involved herself if she wasn’t willing to take these risks.”
”Would you listen to yourself?” Cordelia loudly asked.
”Maybe you should listen to yourself. You want me to risk letting the Mayor Ascend in order to save Willow. Just because you are, doesn’t mean that I am.”
”So if it was anyone else, you’d do the same?”
”Yes,” Buffy said as she watched Xander and Oz perform the ritual that Willow had prepared for them.
”So if it was your mother, you would throw her life away too?”
”Faith, can’t you shut her up? I don’t have time to listen to her pathetic whining.”
**TBC**