Fic: Murphy's Law (7/12)
Title: Murphy's Law
Author: gabrielleabelle
Rating: R
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Just the canon ones for Season 6.
Disclaimer: Not mine. It all belongs to Joss.
Warnings: Character death. Really and seriously, this is not (and will not be) a happy or lighthearted fic. Note that this warning applies for the entire fic.
Summary: What if Giles hadn't killed Ben in The Gift? It is now mid-season 6, and the Scooby gang is falling apart when Ben awakens from his coma, letting loose an angry Glory. Buffy, dealing with post-death depression, bills, an "evil" Trio, and a faltering support system, now has to contend with a vengeful hellgod. Just when things couldn't get worse.
Author's Note: This chapter is shorter than the previous ones have been, but it's pivotal to the plot. Thanks to everybody who's been following along, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Previous Chapter | Chapter List | Next Chapter
Chapter Seven: Rest
It was red. Her blood. She hardly ever saw it. It looked just like a human's blood though. It was disgusting.
Glory wrapped the robe around herself, careful to make sure all the bruises were hidden before emerging from behind the dressing screen. Doc was waiting for her with a mimosa. She collapsed on the chaise lounge, letting her muscles come to rest for a while.
That had been humiliating. Nearly beaten by some scrawny witch. She'd had to retreat! Oh, she'd be laughed out of the dimension if anybody heard about that. She hadn't told Doc, and he hadn't asked.
The Slayer was just a minor inconvenience to her now. It was the redhead who was the threat. That girl had some power in her. It was insane. It might even be a match for her own.
Glory sipped her mimosa. They'd be expecting her to have to rest and recover after that fight. She wouldn't play that game. She wanted to finish this. Now.
"Here's the plan," she said, lowering her glass. "I'm gonna need you to do a summoning spell."
"And who are we summoning, your worshipfulness?"
Glory smiled, finger gently rubbing her temple. "I got a bit of a link to someone. Let's bring them here."
***
Buffy watched the water trickle down Spike's melatonin-deprived skin. Wisps of red blood left a faint scarlet trail down his body. In the time it had taken to walk back to the school, his wounds had stopped bleeding. However, smears of blood remained scored across his skin to be washed off. Buffy wasn't certain as to why she had taken on the task of cleaning Spike up. It had just been assumed.
Xander would take care of Willow. She would take care of Spike.
Willow's attack had left three large gashes across his chest. It was fortunate that Spike had been the target of Willow's power at that moment. Buffy wasn't certain if even she would have survived that attack.
Willow's attack. Willow attacking them. How long had this been going on? Willow and the dark magics. Buffy must have been too involved with herself to even notice her friend faltering like that. She should have picked up on it. How could she not have realized what was going on?
"You've got some wounds of your own, you know." Spike interrupted her thoughts.
She looked up at him. He'd been groggy on the way back to the school, but he seemed to be more aware of his surroundings now. He was looking at her with forced apathy.
"Slayers heal fast," she said. Already, the scrapes and bruises she'd received in her fight with Glory were disappearing. It had been painfully obvious that Glory had not been fighting at her full strength.
"So do vampires." Spike reached for the cloth Buffy was holding. "I can wash myself off. You should rest. See to Dawn."
She blinked, quickly flashing back to Dawn's panicked looked when they had arrived back with a seriously injured Spike. It had taken a few minutes to calm her sister down. Tara had quickly led her away to another room, and Buffy hadn't given her any further thought.
Buffy handed the cloth over to Spike, but she leaned back in her seat, not moving from his side. After a moment, he started to clean the blood from his own skin.
"Willow could have killed you. Well…you know…killed you more," Buffy said. Spike glanced up briefly. "We can't be worrying about hurting each other like that. We have enough to handle with Glory."
He snorted. His skin glistened. Buffy was hypnotized. "Tell me about it," he said, oblivious.
"We have to survive this." It was a thought she'd had while fighting Glory. A desire she hadn't had in a long time. It felt foreign to her. She was a tourist in the land of liveliness.
Spike paused at that and looked at her in that way he has where Buffy thought he was looking right through her soul.
"I want to survive this," Buffy continued. "And I want to live with Dawn and celebrate birthdays and Christmas. And I don't want to lose anybody else. I didn't die and come back just to lose again."
There was a streak of red across Spike's abdomen, but he seemed to have forgotten all about washing up.
"I just don't know how I'm gonna do it," Buffy said. She looking into his eyes for only a second. "Not when I'm wrong."
Spike crinkled his brow. "You're what?"
"Wrong." The word hung over her, overwhelming her as it had these past several weeks. "Like you said. I came back wrong. That's why you can hit me."
If Spike had a soul, Buffy would have said he looked guilty when she said that. But he didn't have a soul, so he couldn't possibly feel guilty about what he had told her. He had had just been truthful.
He sighed. "You're not - bloody hell - I didn't mean…" He looked away from her, gathering his thoughts. "I don't know why I can hit you now. I was blowing off steam. Sometimes I wish…but you're not. Not wrong at all. You were in heaven, Buffy. How could you possibly be wrong?"
"But bringing me back - "
"Probably put a dark smear on Willow's soul for good, but it doesn't touch you." He got quiet, looking at her wistfully. "Don't think any evil thing could touch you. You wouldn't let it."
She'd let him touch her.
"Evil knows evil," he continued. "You're not anywhere near evil or wrong."
"And how evil are you now? Helping the Slayer? Protecting her sister?" Buffy smiled. "You're more like lukewarm evil now."
He smiled with her, but Buffy felt he was far away. "Lukewarm, then. I'll not ever be good and you know it."
She wasn't wrong. Spike, of all people, would know if she were. She could fight Glory if she wasn't wrong.
Spike's hand lay at his side. She reached for it, taking his hand in hers. She watched their fingers intertwine , moisture from the cloth transferring to her hand. She squeezed lightly.
"Thank you." She looked up. "For trying anyway. It helps."
Buffy released his hand, standing up then. Her legs were sore from the fight, but she needed to check on Dawn and see to her own wounds. She smiled at Spike before leaving the room.
***
Willow's head hurt. Her nose was bleeding. She wanted nothing more than to go to bed and sleep for a few days. Instead, she was sitting down, listening to Xander lecture her. She'd stopped listening a few minutes ago. She didn't feel blood coming out of her nose anymore, so she hesitantly put down the paper towel. Blood waterfall? All stopped.
"Are you even listening to me?" Xander's hands were out in his questioning pose, and he was standing right in front of her. He had been pacing. Now he was stationary. He must have said something he thought was important.
Willow sniffed, regretting it instantly as drying blood blocked her airway. She wiped her nose with the towel. "No, I'm not." She met Xander's eyes. "What do you want me to do, Xander? I have all this power that we can use to, oh I don't know, save our lives! Why not use it?"
"Okay, let's see, cause it's evil?" Xander waved his arms. "You're messing with the dark forces Willow. It's not good. Tara can't even be in the same room with you. She said your aura was 'malevolent'."
He might as well have just punched her in the gut. Tara had said just that when she'd arrive back at the school with Spike and Buffy. She couldn't forget it, not matter how hard she tried. Tara had been terrified, almost pained, to be in the same room. She'd quickly led Dawn away, not even looking back at her former lover.
It was not the welcome that Willow had been expecting.
"You should all be thanking me," Willow said, trying to make Xander understand. "I did some serious damage to Glory! And if I get some extra power from the Hellmouth, I can attack her again while she's weakened - "
"You are not doing that again!"
"Xander, it's the only chance we have of winning!"
"But look what it's doing to you! You attacked Spike. And…okay, it's Spike. I can live with that. But what if it had been Buffy? Or Dawn? You weren't in control - "
"I was in complete control." Willow realized she was standing up, face very close to Xander's as she spoke through tight lips. He didn't understand at all. Her oldest friend. He didn't get it. "It's worth the risk. To defeat Glory. Whatever it takes."
Xander shook his head. "Not you. I lost the woman I loved in this. I lost the man who's been like a British dad to me for years. I don't want to lose my best friend, too."
Willow sat down. He hadn't really been close to losing her.
Had he?
"Everything I've done," she said, staring down at her shoes. They were green. "I've done to help us."
"I know." Xander knelt in front of her, trying to look her in the eye. "But I'm not willing to lose you to defeat Glory. There'd be no point to defeating her if you weren't around."
He had. This evening, she'd almost been overtaken by the magics. Consumed by the power. It had very nearly destroyed everything around her. It would have destroyed her, given time.
She suddenly felt very far away from herself. Like the Willow she had been was on the shore and she was stuck on an island and she couldn't find a way back to where she once had been. No wonder Tara had left her. Willow wasn't even herself anymore.
"I just wanted to fix things." Her voice squeaked. It did that when she was crying. She felt the tears, but they were Willow's tears, and she still wasn't Willow.
Xander hugged her, holding onto her as if she might float away. "We'll find some other way," he said.
She nodded. He was right. What was the point of using any means necessary if it meant losing sight of what you were actually fighting for? Taking in the Hellmouth's power…the thought terrified her. She thought she could control it. But if she couldn't? Was it worth it?
No. She couldn't put herself at risk. She couldn't risk the lives of Xander or Tara or anyone else. Glory was weakened. They'd find another way to kill her.
***
"Should we check on Spike?" Dawn asked…again.
Tara didn't even look up from the granola bar she was unwrapping. "No, sweetie. Buffy will take care of him."
"Actually, he's taken care of."
Tara looked up at Buffy's entrance. Buffy was smiling, which was a rare sight. It seemed especially out of place to see it tonight. Tara was relieved that Buffy had come, though. She wasn't up to handling Dawn. Not after having seen Willow.
"How is he?" Dawn asked.
Buffy shrugged. "He's fine. Bleeding's already stopped. He'll be back to his annoying self in no time. Hey, granola bars!"
Tara sat back, chewing thoughtfully as she watched the two sisters chat. Buffy seemed lighter. She'd been so haunted since coming back. Especially since Glory had reappeared. There was definitely something different about her now. Whatever it was, Tara was happy for it. They needed Buffy to be a strong leader. Somebody who could take charge besides Willow.
The thought made her pause. Willow had scared her. Just seeing her when she'd come back tonight. Whatever power Willow had been using was overwhelmingly dark. Tara still felt it on her, like poison. Tara could scarcely believe that Willow had that type of darkness inside her.
Part of her wanted so much to be with Willow now. Comfort her and make sure she was okay. Tara didn't just miss Willow. She lived with the constant reminder that she didn't have her anymore. Every day, she saw her and knew that she had let her go. Every day, she was tempted to just give in and take her back. It was the worst form of torture.
And yet, another part of her was repelled by Willow. Disgusted by the dark magic that she was using. She recoiled at the thought of being that close to powers of such evil. She was scared of it. It was the part of her that was sickened when she thought about the memory spells Willow had cast on her, violating her mind.
Tara had to think about herself. She couldn't possibly be with Willow. Not while the specter of black magic followed her. And not while Willow was willing to manipulate her mind without a second thought.
It was the hardest decision she had to make, staying apart from Willow. And it was a decision she continued having to make on a daily basis, whenever she felt her resolve weaken and her desire for the redhead grow.
Thank the Goddess for Dawn. She'd made taking care of Dawn her mission now. She would worry about Dawn so she wouldn't have time to worry about Willow. It's not like anybody else was paying attention to Dawn.
Until now. Dawn laughed at something Buffy said, and Tara smiled along with them. Buffy was coming back to them.
***
They'd all had a late night, what with the fight and the subsequent nursing of wounds. It was afternoon when Tara woke up. Everybody else was still sleeping.
There was something buzzing in her head. It was calling her. Without any awareness of what she was doing, Tara rose from her sleeping bag and began walking out of the school.
There was a room waiting for her. She'd been there before. A tiny room. Dark and noisy. She had escaped from it once. But something now was calling her back to it. She had to go back to it.
Tara's bare feet moved softly across the grass of the lawn in front of the school as she walked away.
tbc...
Previous Chapter | Chapter List | Next Chapter
Author: gabrielleabelle
Rating: R
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Just the canon ones for Season 6.
Disclaimer: Not mine. It all belongs to Joss.
Warnings: Character death. Really and seriously, this is not (and will not be) a happy or lighthearted fic. Note that this warning applies for the entire fic.
Summary: What if Giles hadn't killed Ben in The Gift? It is now mid-season 6, and the Scooby gang is falling apart when Ben awakens from his coma, letting loose an angry Glory. Buffy, dealing with post-death depression, bills, an "evil" Trio, and a faltering support system, now has to contend with a vengeful hellgod. Just when things couldn't get worse.
Author's Note: This chapter is shorter than the previous ones have been, but it's pivotal to the plot. Thanks to everybody who's been following along, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Previous Chapter | Chapter List | Next Chapter
Chapter Seven: Rest
It was red. Her blood. She hardly ever saw it. It looked just like a human's blood though. It was disgusting.
Glory wrapped the robe around herself, careful to make sure all the bruises were hidden before emerging from behind the dressing screen. Doc was waiting for her with a mimosa. She collapsed on the chaise lounge, letting her muscles come to rest for a while.
That had been humiliating. Nearly beaten by some scrawny witch. She'd had to retreat! Oh, she'd be laughed out of the dimension if anybody heard about that. She hadn't told Doc, and he hadn't asked.
The Slayer was just a minor inconvenience to her now. It was the redhead who was the threat. That girl had some power in her. It was insane. It might even be a match for her own.
Glory sipped her mimosa. They'd be expecting her to have to rest and recover after that fight. She wouldn't play that game. She wanted to finish this. Now.
"Here's the plan," she said, lowering her glass. "I'm gonna need you to do a summoning spell."
"And who are we summoning, your worshipfulness?"
Glory smiled, finger gently rubbing her temple. "I got a bit of a link to someone. Let's bring them here."
***
Buffy watched the water trickle down Spike's melatonin-deprived skin. Wisps of red blood left a faint scarlet trail down his body. In the time it had taken to walk back to the school, his wounds had stopped bleeding. However, smears of blood remained scored across his skin to be washed off. Buffy wasn't certain as to why she had taken on the task of cleaning Spike up. It had just been assumed.
Xander would take care of Willow. She would take care of Spike.
Willow's attack had left three large gashes across his chest. It was fortunate that Spike had been the target of Willow's power at that moment. Buffy wasn't certain if even she would have survived that attack.
Willow's attack. Willow attacking them. How long had this been going on? Willow and the dark magics. Buffy must have been too involved with herself to even notice her friend faltering like that. She should have picked up on it. How could she not have realized what was going on?
"You've got some wounds of your own, you know." Spike interrupted her thoughts.
She looked up at him. He'd been groggy on the way back to the school, but he seemed to be more aware of his surroundings now. He was looking at her with forced apathy.
"Slayers heal fast," she said. Already, the scrapes and bruises she'd received in her fight with Glory were disappearing. It had been painfully obvious that Glory had not been fighting at her full strength.
"So do vampires." Spike reached for the cloth Buffy was holding. "I can wash myself off. You should rest. See to Dawn."
She blinked, quickly flashing back to Dawn's panicked looked when they had arrived back with a seriously injured Spike. It had taken a few minutes to calm her sister down. Tara had quickly led her away to another room, and Buffy hadn't given her any further thought.
Buffy handed the cloth over to Spike, but she leaned back in her seat, not moving from his side. After a moment, he started to clean the blood from his own skin.
"Willow could have killed you. Well…you know…killed you more," Buffy said. Spike glanced up briefly. "We can't be worrying about hurting each other like that. We have enough to handle with Glory."
He snorted. His skin glistened. Buffy was hypnotized. "Tell me about it," he said, oblivious.
"We have to survive this." It was a thought she'd had while fighting Glory. A desire she hadn't had in a long time. It felt foreign to her. She was a tourist in the land of liveliness.
Spike paused at that and looked at her in that way he has where Buffy thought he was looking right through her soul.
"I want to survive this," Buffy continued. "And I want to live with Dawn and celebrate birthdays and Christmas. And I don't want to lose anybody else. I didn't die and come back just to lose again."
There was a streak of red across Spike's abdomen, but he seemed to have forgotten all about washing up.
"I just don't know how I'm gonna do it," Buffy said. She looking into his eyes for only a second. "Not when I'm wrong."
Spike crinkled his brow. "You're what?"
"Wrong." The word hung over her, overwhelming her as it had these past several weeks. "Like you said. I came back wrong. That's why you can hit me."
If Spike had a soul, Buffy would have said he looked guilty when she said that. But he didn't have a soul, so he couldn't possibly feel guilty about what he had told her. He had had just been truthful.
He sighed. "You're not - bloody hell - I didn't mean…" He looked away from her, gathering his thoughts. "I don't know why I can hit you now. I was blowing off steam. Sometimes I wish…but you're not. Not wrong at all. You were in heaven, Buffy. How could you possibly be wrong?"
"But bringing me back - "
"Probably put a dark smear on Willow's soul for good, but it doesn't touch you." He got quiet, looking at her wistfully. "Don't think any evil thing could touch you. You wouldn't let it."
She'd let him touch her.
"Evil knows evil," he continued. "You're not anywhere near evil or wrong."
"And how evil are you now? Helping the Slayer? Protecting her sister?" Buffy smiled. "You're more like lukewarm evil now."
He smiled with her, but Buffy felt he was far away. "Lukewarm, then. I'll not ever be good and you know it."
She wasn't wrong. Spike, of all people, would know if she were. She could fight Glory if she wasn't wrong.
Spike's hand lay at his side. She reached for it, taking his hand in hers. She watched their fingers intertwine , moisture from the cloth transferring to her hand. She squeezed lightly.
"Thank you." She looked up. "For trying anyway. It helps."
Buffy released his hand, standing up then. Her legs were sore from the fight, but she needed to check on Dawn and see to her own wounds. She smiled at Spike before leaving the room.
***
Willow's head hurt. Her nose was bleeding. She wanted nothing more than to go to bed and sleep for a few days. Instead, she was sitting down, listening to Xander lecture her. She'd stopped listening a few minutes ago. She didn't feel blood coming out of her nose anymore, so she hesitantly put down the paper towel. Blood waterfall? All stopped.
"Are you even listening to me?" Xander's hands were out in his questioning pose, and he was standing right in front of her. He had been pacing. Now he was stationary. He must have said something he thought was important.
Willow sniffed, regretting it instantly as drying blood blocked her airway. She wiped her nose with the towel. "No, I'm not." She met Xander's eyes. "What do you want me to do, Xander? I have all this power that we can use to, oh I don't know, save our lives! Why not use it?"
"Okay, let's see, cause it's evil?" Xander waved his arms. "You're messing with the dark forces Willow. It's not good. Tara can't even be in the same room with you. She said your aura was 'malevolent'."
He might as well have just punched her in the gut. Tara had said just that when she'd arrive back at the school with Spike and Buffy. She couldn't forget it, not matter how hard she tried. Tara had been terrified, almost pained, to be in the same room. She'd quickly led Dawn away, not even looking back at her former lover.
It was not the welcome that Willow had been expecting.
"You should all be thanking me," Willow said, trying to make Xander understand. "I did some serious damage to Glory! And if I get some extra power from the Hellmouth, I can attack her again while she's weakened - "
"You are not doing that again!"
"Xander, it's the only chance we have of winning!"
"But look what it's doing to you! You attacked Spike. And…okay, it's Spike. I can live with that. But what if it had been Buffy? Or Dawn? You weren't in control - "
"I was in complete control." Willow realized she was standing up, face very close to Xander's as she spoke through tight lips. He didn't understand at all. Her oldest friend. He didn't get it. "It's worth the risk. To defeat Glory. Whatever it takes."
Xander shook his head. "Not you. I lost the woman I loved in this. I lost the man who's been like a British dad to me for years. I don't want to lose my best friend, too."
Willow sat down. He hadn't really been close to losing her.
Had he?
"Everything I've done," she said, staring down at her shoes. They were green. "I've done to help us."
"I know." Xander knelt in front of her, trying to look her in the eye. "But I'm not willing to lose you to defeat Glory. There'd be no point to defeating her if you weren't around."
He had. This evening, she'd almost been overtaken by the magics. Consumed by the power. It had very nearly destroyed everything around her. It would have destroyed her, given time.
She suddenly felt very far away from herself. Like the Willow she had been was on the shore and she was stuck on an island and she couldn't find a way back to where she once had been. No wonder Tara had left her. Willow wasn't even herself anymore.
"I just wanted to fix things." Her voice squeaked. It did that when she was crying. She felt the tears, but they were Willow's tears, and she still wasn't Willow.
Xander hugged her, holding onto her as if she might float away. "We'll find some other way," he said.
She nodded. He was right. What was the point of using any means necessary if it meant losing sight of what you were actually fighting for? Taking in the Hellmouth's power…the thought terrified her. She thought she could control it. But if she couldn't? Was it worth it?
No. She couldn't put herself at risk. She couldn't risk the lives of Xander or Tara or anyone else. Glory was weakened. They'd find another way to kill her.
***
"Should we check on Spike?" Dawn asked…again.
Tara didn't even look up from the granola bar she was unwrapping. "No, sweetie. Buffy will take care of him."
"Actually, he's taken care of."
Tara looked up at Buffy's entrance. Buffy was smiling, which was a rare sight. It seemed especially out of place to see it tonight. Tara was relieved that Buffy had come, though. She wasn't up to handling Dawn. Not after having seen Willow.
"How is he?" Dawn asked.
Buffy shrugged. "He's fine. Bleeding's already stopped. He'll be back to his annoying self in no time. Hey, granola bars!"
Tara sat back, chewing thoughtfully as she watched the two sisters chat. Buffy seemed lighter. She'd been so haunted since coming back. Especially since Glory had reappeared. There was definitely something different about her now. Whatever it was, Tara was happy for it. They needed Buffy to be a strong leader. Somebody who could take charge besides Willow.
The thought made her pause. Willow had scared her. Just seeing her when she'd come back tonight. Whatever power Willow had been using was overwhelmingly dark. Tara still felt it on her, like poison. Tara could scarcely believe that Willow had that type of darkness inside her.
Part of her wanted so much to be with Willow now. Comfort her and make sure she was okay. Tara didn't just miss Willow. She lived with the constant reminder that she didn't have her anymore. Every day, she saw her and knew that she had let her go. Every day, she was tempted to just give in and take her back. It was the worst form of torture.
And yet, another part of her was repelled by Willow. Disgusted by the dark magic that she was using. She recoiled at the thought of being that close to powers of such evil. She was scared of it. It was the part of her that was sickened when she thought about the memory spells Willow had cast on her, violating her mind.
Tara had to think about herself. She couldn't possibly be with Willow. Not while the specter of black magic followed her. And not while Willow was willing to manipulate her mind without a second thought.
It was the hardest decision she had to make, staying apart from Willow. And it was a decision she continued having to make on a daily basis, whenever she felt her resolve weaken and her desire for the redhead grow.
Thank the Goddess for Dawn. She'd made taking care of Dawn her mission now. She would worry about Dawn so she wouldn't have time to worry about Willow. It's not like anybody else was paying attention to Dawn.
Until now. Dawn laughed at something Buffy said, and Tara smiled along with them. Buffy was coming back to them.
***
They'd all had a late night, what with the fight and the subsequent nursing of wounds. It was afternoon when Tara woke up. Everybody else was still sleeping.
There was something buzzing in her head. It was calling her. Without any awareness of what she was doing, Tara rose from her sleeping bag and began walking out of the school.
There was a room waiting for her. She'd been there before. A tiny room. Dark and noisy. She had escaped from it once. But something now was calling her back to it. She had to go back to it.
Tara's bare feet moved softly across the grass of the lawn in front of the school as she walked away.
tbc...
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