FIC: Magic and Mayhem at the Rift (3/?)

[bassair]

Name: Magic and Mayhem at the Rift
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Buffy/Spike, Xander/Anya, Willow/Tosh
Warning: Crossover insanity, the presence of vampires and demons on the rift (or are they aliens?) and  some mature content.  And minor Spike-stabbing..
Summary: The gang from Buffy come through the rift.  Set after Torchwood episode Meat (2.04) and immediately after Buffy episode Older and Far Away (6.14) (just before the end, in fact), spoilers for all six seasons of Buffy and the first season of Torchwood.
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, if I did there would be a helluva lot more of Jack and Ianto kissing in the hot house (and Gwen wouldn't walk in and ruin it!). I also don't own Buffy ... if I did Buffy and Spike would ... wait, they already did!  But, still I don't own Buffy, which is a fact that saddens me deeply.
CHAPTER Summary: Buffy goes out on patrol and Willow and Tosh get to know each other a little better.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I dunno if anyone's noticed, but the warning changes slightly every chapter and each chapter has a different rating, so you should read both.  Also, this is where the story starts to take a slightly darker turn.  Enjoy!

~Chapter one~  ~Chapter two~



Tuesday, 20th February
21:23

Buffy let out a little moan as she examined the neck of the young girl lying on the autopsy bay. It had taken Gwen hours to persuade PC Andy to allow her to take the body back to the hub. Then she turned to Jack. “I thought you didn’t have vampires in your world?”

Jack looked as confused as she. “So did I.”

Buffy sighed and leant against the wall.  “You now have vampires, congratulations. Problem is you don’t have a Slayer to go with them.”

“We have you,” Owen suggested.

“I’m not planning to stick around,” Buffy replied, coldly.

“We still don’t know if we can send you back,” Tosh said, quietly.

Buffy shrugged. “I still don’t plan on sticking around Cardiff. No offence but I’m happier back in the good old U.S. of A.”

“You’ll have to stick around for a while, though,” Tosh muttered, “we don’t know how to deal with vampires and we’re still trying to find a way to send you back.”

Buffy nodded distractedly. “I’m going to go patrol,” she announced.

“Patrol?” Jack asked.

“Walk around, bait vamps and stake ‘em,” Willow explained quickly. “She does it every night where we come from.”

“Alone?” Owen asked.

Buffy shrugged. “I take people with me sometimes.”

Buffy’s back was turned to the autopsy table and so, when the girl reached up to grab her, the others were shocked when, instantly, the Slayer spun and hit the girl, sending her flying over the railing of the stairs and into the middle of the hub.  She scrabbled to her feet, her face demonic, and lunged at Buffy, who had just vaulted over the railing and was running towards the girl, meeting her face with her fists.

“She’s good,” Owen muttered, smitten.

The girl kicked out but Buffy jumped over her foot. “You caught me at a really bad time, love,” Buffy said, grabbing the girl by the arm and back of the neck, slamming her face into a wall repeatedly. “I’m not in a very good mood.” She pushed the girl, who slipped on the floor and careered into Ianto, who was coming over with a tray full of coffee. Somehow he managed to keep the tray flat and stay on his feet as the girl grabbed him from behind, baring her fangs and aiming for his neck.

“Ianto!” Jack yelled, running up the stairs. He was about to approach when Buffy held up her hand to stop him, running forward and kicking the girl square in the chest, sending her backwards across the room. She hadn’t even taken a stake out yet, the fight making her feel at home again.  The girl fell backwards into Tosh’s desk and grabbed a metal pencil, throwing it at Buffy.  It flipped through the air, aimed straight at Buffy’s head and, as it was mere inches from her head, she ducked. It continued its journey, instead embedding itself in Jack’s chest, straight through the heart. He fell to the ground, dead.

“For a moment there I didn’t think she was going to dodge,” Owen said, calmly, as Willow, Xander and Anya rushed to Jack’s side, pulling out the pen and checking for a pulse.
“He’s dead!” Willow exclaimed.

Shocked, Buffy pulled Mister Pointy from her sleeve and ran at the girl, launching herself at her and pushing her to the ground, stabbing her with the stake.

Once she was dust, Buffy ran over to Jack. She looked up at Ianto, who was watching Jack pensively. “I’m so sorry ...” she said.

“It’s okay,” Ianto said, just as calmly as Owen.

“What’s wrong with you people?” Willow said, noticing for the first time that no one was rushing to Jack’s side or crying or even cheering.

“You’ll see in a moment,” Ianto said.

With a gasp, Jack came back to life, eyes popping open. Willow, Xander and Anya screamed and jumped back, but Buffy just gazed blankly at Jack, who was moaning about dying ‘again’.

“You died,” she said, quietly. He nodded.  “You came back.” He nodded again. “How?”

“I can’t die,” he explained as she stood up and offered him a hand up, pulling him to his feet without any real effort.

Buffy nodded, solemnly. “They won’t let me die,” she said, just as quietly. Jack raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing in response to such a puzzling comment.

“H-how?” Xander was stammering, pointing at Jack. “What are you?”

“I don’t know,” Jack replied. “I really don’t know.”

Buffy nodded understandingly and walked across the room to perch on the edge of Tosh’s desk just as Ianto extended the tray to her and said, “Coffee?”

“Thank you,” she replied, taking a mug from the tray and lifting it to her lips. It was perfect. She glanced at her watch (now programmed to Cardiff- and Torchwood’s universe-time). “I guess I better go patrol.” She turned to Ianto, the person closest to her. “Any cemeteries nearby?”

22:45

The nearest cemetery was too far away for Buffy’s liking. Ianto drove her, Spike and Owen (who had insisted on coming along, much to Spike and Buffy’s displeasure) to the cemetery and dropped them off. He offered to come back in a set length of time to which Buffy said, “If we’re not back by daybreak bring a dustpan and brush.” Spike merely glared at her.

Once they were in the cemetery, Buffy and Spike, well practiced at what they were doing, walked ten feet apart, watching each other’s backs, whilst Owen wandered behind them, cross around his neck and stake in hand, asking a whole lot of pointless questions.

“So, you, a vampire,” he said to Spike, ten minutes after they’d arrived, “go out with the vampire slayer and hunt your own kind?”

“Do you ever shut up?” Buffy demanded.

Owen shrugged and stopped talking when Buffy held up her hand for silence.

“Alright,” Buffy said. “Whoever you are, whatever you are, just come out ‘cause I know you’re there.” Her voice was emotionless.

A bush moved and a dark figure emerged; a blonde man with the worst fashion sense in history. “Don't hurt me!” he begged.

Buffy rolled her eyes and walked up to him, not too close, but close enough to examine his face. With a sigh she punched him. He spun with the punch, landing on the ground on all fours.

“What was that for?” Owen demanded from nearby.  His eyes widened when the man turned around, vamped-out.  “Oh,” he said, understanding dawning.

“I didn’t know this world had a slayer!” the vampire whined.

Buffy sighed. “You lot,” she said, the fight commencing with a blow to his ribcage, “need a union” - a kick to the back of the knees sent him to the ground - “you know, where you can talk” - a punch to Buffy’s jaw enraged her and she punched out, sending the vampire flying into a tree - “and discuss how when the vampires came through to this world” - walking over to him, she pulled a stake from her sleeve - “the Slayer came, too. So there’s no confusion” - she smirked at him - “or I could just stick this pointy wooden stake through your heart” - she staked him - “and send out a memo.”

“Does she always talk to her victims?” Owen asked before she staked the vampire. Spike nodded. “Can’t we do something? Like ... make them human again?” he asked.

Spike shook his head. “No.”

“This is so cool.” Spike turned his head to see a group of vampires walking nearby, talking within themselves. There were about seven of them in total, some looking more vicious than others. “A whole world all to ourselves.

“Think we can take them?” Spike asked Buffy, who nodded. “You in?” he asked Owen.

“If you can’t beat ‘em ...” Owen quoted, and the three of them ran for the vampires together.

23:10

“Not going with them?”

Tosh’s voice travelled across the room to Willow, who was surfing the net on Tosh’s computer. Quickly she turned off the screen and, with a guilty look on her face, turned to Tosh. “No, no, no, not going on patrol, I just get in the way now I’m magic-free. Yessiree - I’m a magic-free zone!”

Tosh walked over and grabbed Owen’s chair, pulling it across the room to beside Willow and sitting down. “Okay, what’s going on?” she asked.

Willow blushed. “You can’t tell Buffy,” she said, firmly.

“I have no reason to tell Buffy anything,” Tosh replied.

“I’ve been ... researching ... magic in this realm ... dimension ... universe.  It’s the same here as it is back home ... I think I can cast a spell to send us home ... problem is that means I have to climb off the wagon and ... and ...” she stammered. “It’s like drinking or drugs ... one taste ...”

“... and you want more and more,” Tosh finished for her.  “How bad could it get?”

Willow shrugged, nervously. “It depends ... last time I got involved in this ... this ... powerful magic ... I had to go to this place ... and I kept getting a fix and I crashed the car and almost killed Dawn ... poor Dawnie ... and the thing is if I fall off the wagon ... I ... I could get everyone killed. But I could control it before!” Willow added. “It just ... started to control me.”

Tosh nodded understandingly. “I see,” she said, quietly. “Is there a way you could limit yourself?”

Willow shook her head. “No,” she said. “But ...” She paused and smiled slightly. “The thing is ... I was fine before I found the special branch of magic. I used my magic for good and everything ... though Tara didn’t agree ... she left me over it.”

“Tara?” Tosh questioned.

“My girlfriend ... ex-girlfriend,” she corrected. “We had an argument and I stepped over a line ... I wiped her memory of the argument without thinking.”

Tosh nodded. “I see.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her, really I didn’t.  I just wanted us to be okay again.”

Tosh smiled slightly. “I’ve made my share of mistakes,” she said. “I was shagging an alien woman for a while.  She gave me a pendant that allowed me to hear thoughts.”

“Oh! That’s a bad thing - bad, bad, bad!” Willow squealed. “It makes you go all loopy. That happened to Buffy once and Angel had to make her drink the heart of this demon ... it was all blue and gooey and gross.”

“Angel?” Tosh asked.

“Her ex-boyfriend ... he’s a vampire. But he has a soul, which is the only reason she was with him, of course. She wouldn’t go with a soulless vampire!” Willow said, quickly.

“So that Spike guy ... he has a soul?” Tosh asked.

“No,” Willow said. “He has a chip. Why did you think he had a soul?”

Tosh’s eyes widened. “I found them in bed together.”

Willow’s jaw dropped. “You what?”

“Maybe I misunderstood ...” Tosh said.

“I’m sure you did,” Willow said, wishful thinking winning out.

“So, this spell ...” Tosh said, after a pause. “How ... difficult is it?”

“Quite,” Willow said, turning on the screen. “I could perform it easy ... if ...”

“If,” Tosh repeated. She sat up straight in her chair as, over time, she’d leant forward until her elbows rested on her knees and her chin on her fists, and moulded her expression to be impassive. “I’m still not sure I believe any of this,” she said, firmly.

“You saw that vampire,” Willow accused, “yet you still don’t believe?”

Tosh shook her head. “A vampire is one thing ... that could be an alien, after all, but magic? I don’t believe in it.”

Willow glanced at Tosh’s desk. There, lying atop some papers, was a pencil. The urge to just flick her wrist and float it across to the young Japanese woman was almost overwhelming.  “I wish I could prove it to you ...” she muttered.

“But you can’t because of your addiction ...” Tosh said, closing her eyes in exasperation.  She wanted nothing more than to encourage Willow to show off some magic but she couldn’t help reasoning it would be like saying ‘go on, just have this one glass of whiskey with me ...’ to an alcoholic.

Willow groaned. “You won’t tell Buffy?”

Tosh blinked. “Tell her what?”

“About this,” Willow replied.

Tosh shook her head and before she could ask what, exactly, Willow was afraid of her friend knowing, she gasped when Willow’s eyes turned black.

“Dissolvo!” Willow said, pointing her hand away from Tosh.   A ball of light shot out and hit the walls, bouncing a few times before dissipating. “Enemies fly and fall, circling arms, raise a wall!”

Tosh was shocked when she saw a bubble appear around the desk and, reaching out, she noted it was solid. “Wow,” she breathed.

Eyes reverting back to normal, Willow smiled proudly at Tosh. “Believe me now?”

“Yes,” Tosh said, awe shining in her eyes. “Can ... can you teach me to do that?”

Willow smiled at her new friend. “I might just be able to.”

Tosh smiled happily as Willow brought the computer up and started searching on Google.

“What did you do with my translation program?” Tosh asked, noticing it wasn’t up on the desktop.

“Oh, I just minimized it,” Willow replied, gesturing at the task bar. She blushed. “I ... I, um, closed your gay porn site down, though.”

Tosh’s eyes widened. “I don’t have a ...” She stopped, realisation dawning and making her cheeks glow red along with Willow’s. “Oh ... that’s not gay porn.” Willow looked at her, curiously. “That’s the hub’s CCTV camera system.”

23:33

Buffy gratefully accepted Owen’s hand to pull her to her feet but, as her hand grasped his, she saw a vampire about to bite him from behind.  Pulling him down to lie flat on top of her she stuck her leg between his and kicked up, slamming her foot into the vampire then, reaching around Owen, she grabbed the stumbling vampire and flipped him over their heads.

Quickly, she rolled them over to avoid the vampire dropping from a tree above and jumped off Owen. Once stood, she produced a crossbow (where she got that, Owen would never know) and fired it off at a nearby vamp, which dodged. It hit Spike instead - right in the shoulder.

Spike yelled out a string of obscenities and Buffy shouted back an apology.  Spike glowered darkly at her. She smiled sweetly at him and he rolled his eyes, fighting even though he shoulder hurt. He couldn’t help being reminded of how he’d been turned into a pincushion that time they were being attacked by Native Americans.

Staking the vamp he was fighting, Spike turned around and ran towards Owen, who was, yet again, in the line of fire.  He couldn’t believe he was, yet again, defending a human. Once the group of vampires were defeated, they stood together in a group as Buffy, much to Owen’s annoyance, pulled the stake out of Spike’s shoulder, causing him to wince.

“What was that about?” Owen demanded.

“What?” Buffy replied.

“Pulling me on top of you and sticking your leg between mine!” Owen snapped.

“I was trying to save your life,” Buffy retorted. “Next time I won’t bother.”

“But why like that?” Owen demanded. “Do you live for physical contact or something?” He’d seen how Buffy fought - all hands.

Buffy rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you didn’t take a perverse pleasure in it!” she snarled, causing Spike to wince noticeably when the stake shook.

“Careful!” Spike snapped.

“What are you on about?” Owen growled.

“I could feel you beneath me, Owen,” Buffy retorted, pulling the stake free of Spike’s shoulder. “And just so you know” - she walked towards him menacingly, brandishing her bloody stake - “it’s not gonna happen. Ever.”

“I’m not interested,” Owen replied, angrily. “I just get excited by a woman’s body against mine. I’m a man; don’t tell me you’re surprised.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving Spike to look almost sympathetically at Owen before following in her wake.  “Let’s work our way back to Torchwood,” she said. “I can’t believe how many there are tonight.”

Wednesday, 21th February

01:13

“You got it!” Willow squealed as Tosh’s pencil floated harmlessly a millimetre above the desk then fell back down with a plop.  “You’re a natural like Tara!” Willow told her. “It took me months to float a pencil and you got it in two hours!” She grinned manically. “Now, see if you can float the pencil between here” - she pointed at the pencil - “and there” - she pointed at a spot on the other side of the desk - “then we’ll start on manipulating it in the air.”

Tosh nodded distractedly and leant forward in her chair.  As Willow watched she floated the pencil a little off the desk. It hovered and wavered as she fought for control. Once it was six inches in the air it balanced itself and just sat there, hovering, as Tosh regained her focus and told it, firmly, to go to the other end of the desk.

It flipped around so that the tip was pointing the way it was heading and zoomed down the desk stopping, promptly at the other end then doing a twirl in midair and falling to the desk with a little ‘plink’ noise.

“That was brilliant!” Willow exclaimed, in shock. “It took me weeks to do that.” Willow turned her gaze on Tosh’s empty coffee mug and Tosh watched as it floated up in the air and started twisting around.

“Coffee?”

Ianto’s voice broke Willow’s concentration and the mug fell with a clatter to the desk. They’d thought they were alone (thanks to the CCTV of Ianto and Jack doing ... things ... down in the achieves).

“No, thank you!” Willow squeaked to cover up the noise of the mug landing.

Ianto nodded. “Tosh?” She shook her head and Ianto walked away, leaving Willow feeling sick.

“God, we almost got caught,” she complained. “If Buffy found out I was doing magic again ...”

Tosh smiled understandingly. “She won’t.”

Willow nodded back and gazed at her hands, clasped in her lap. Her face broke out in a smile. “How about you try something bigger?” She gestured at the large china pot sitting on Tosh’s desk. “I can fix it if we break it.” Willow stood up.

Tosh smiled widely. “Okay.” Following Willow’s lead, she stood.

Picking up the china pot, Willow gestured that she should go stand by Owen’s desk and Tosh did so.  “Okay,” Willow said, with a smile. “Concentrate on the china pot and float it over to you.”

Tosh nodded and, after a moment, stared at the china pot, willing it to move.  What she was doing was going against all her scientific beliefs.  Mind over matter? Oh, please. But yet, here was the proof, floating towards her out of Willow’s arms. Half way between them, Tosh paused and the china pot did so too. Concentrating hard, she separated the lid from the base and placed the lid, gently, on top of her desk and the pot, equally as gently, on top of Owen’s.

Willow let out an awed breath. “Wow!” she exclaimed. “That was fantastic!”

Tosh grinned. “I know!” she said, running forward and hugging Willow tightly.  Then, without thinking, she kissed on the mouth. Hard.

The kiss was amazing and lit a fire inside Tosh as her fingers entwined in Willow’s red hair and Willow’s hands found her face, holding her in place as they deepened the kiss, tongues tangling, breaths mingling.

Suddenly, as if realising what they were doing, they both pulled back. “I’m sorry!” Willow exclaimed.

“No, I’m sorry!” Tosh yelped.

“No, it was me!” Willow said, panicked.

“You wouldn’t have ... I mean ... you have Tara!”

“And you have Owen!”

Tosh stared at her. “I’m not with Owen.”

“You’re not? But the looks you were giving him at breakfast ...”

“We’re friends. I want ... wanted ... more but he ... he doesn’t ...”

Willow nodded. “Trust me, I know how that goes.  You know Xander?  I pined after him for three years.”

“But you still have Tara,” Tosh said, sitting down heavily at her desk. Willow did the same.

“She left me because of this,” Willow said, clicking her fingers and making all of the pencils in the room start dancing. “And I left her when I came here.”

“We still ... can’t ...”

Willow nodded. “No, we can’t ...”

Their eyes locked.

“We should ... definitely ... not ...” Tosh said.

“Definitely,” Willow replied, standing up.  “It’s ... late ... I should ... sleep ... you know ...” She was babbling, something she always did when she was nervous.

“Yes, you should ... maybe we can continue tomorrow ... the magic! Not the kissing.”

“The magic, yes, yes, the magic ... not the kissing because kissing is bad ... very bad.”

“Absolutely,” Tosh replied as Willow backed away towards the way to the hotel.

“Was it ... bad?” Willow asked, almost in a whisper.

“No,” Tosh replied, breathily. “It was very good ...”

Knowing a black hole when she saw one, Willow took another step back. “Sleep ... sleep is a good thing ...” she said, turning and almost running towards the passage to the hotel.

By the time she got back to, and locked herself in, her room, she was in floods of tears for three reasons.

One was that she felt like she was betraying Tara by kissing Tosh - which was a very, very bad thing.

Two was that how good the kiss felt hurt her heart.

Three was darker, more sinister. She was crying because she knew she’d done wrong by going back to magic and that she should go to Buffy and beg her friend for her forgiveness and help.

But she knew she wouldn’t do that, it felt too good to have that much power at her fingertips once more. She felt more powerful than she ever had in her life, as if the magicks in this universe were stronger, more potent, than in her own. Energy crackled at her fingertips and with one gesture she knew she could destroy most of Cardiff.

She felt invincible.

The tears had stopped by the last revelation and a smile broke out over her face.  She didn’t need to feel guilty about using magic again. After all, she could control it.

Couldn’t she?

Neck ... I mean next chapter here.