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punch_kicker15Author: punch_kicker15
Rating: R
Characters/Relationships: Willow/Giles
Summary: A prophecy leads Giles to practice dark magic once again. This sets him down a dark path, and Willow may be the only one who can help. AU in which Willow’s magic training started earlier than in canon.
Word count: 47,533
Notes: Thanks to
scratchingpost1 for generously offering a plot bunny that ate my brain, gilescandy and dragonyphoenix for looking over a very rough first draft and offering helpful suggestions and encouragement. Thanks also to the mods (red_b_rackham and traycer_ and other participants at 
het_bigbang for all of the help and hand-holding throughout. And special thanks to 
Chapter Eight
Spike
Spike wandered the streets of Sunnydale. It was early morning, but it was raining and the clouds were thick enough that no sunlight came through.
Sometimes he wondered why he even cared about staying out of the sunlight at this point. Buffy was gone forever, and was past caring about whatever happened to her friends. Why was he continuing to fight with them as if any of it meant anything?
He spotted Willow across the street.
“Oh, hi, Spike,” she said. She started breathing faster as soon as she saw him, which piqued his interest. She hadn't been afraid of him in a long time. He crossed the street, and then caught her scent--well, that was interesting!
So Little Miss “Gay Now” had decided that she did like men again, and the holier-than-thou Watcher had jumped at the chance to shag a former student half his age. It was hilarious. He couldn’t wait until the rest of the group found out. Harris would come up with some highly entertaining invective to liven things up.
Then Spike made the mistake of looking at Willow, and it stopped being funny. Poor girl looked guilty and scared. Maybe shagging Giles was punishment enough on its own.
Willow had never insulted him, never hurt him on purpose, even though he’d kidnapped her, threatened her, tried to kill her before. He’d chalked that up to manipulation, a tiny girl using sweetness and vulnerability as the only weapons she had against a demon like him. But Willow was powerful enough to dust him ten different ways with her magic by now, and she still treated him the same way that she always did. Tara had always been decent to him, too. They didn’t need public humiliation on top of everything else.
He said, “It’s all right. I won’t tell. Nobody else’s business anyway.”
“Thanks, I owe you one,” she said, and walked away.
He was beginning to think that the chip, and everything that had happened since, had robbed him of every joy he used to have: killing humans, drinking their blood, reveling in their pain. What was left for him now that Buffy was gone?
***
Willow
Catherine scowled at Willow. "This better be important. You couldn't at least get me a cup of coffee before showing up this early?" She motioned Willow inside.
Willow sat down at the kitchen table while Catherine started making coffee.
Willow said, "It's about my magic. Is there a way to change it back to the way it was before I fought Glory?"
Catherine rubbed her eyes, fiddled with the belt of her bathrobe, and said, "No."
"What? Just no? Everything else about magic is complicated and requires a million explanations and caveats, but this is the one simple answer?"
Catherine said, "You've taken philosophy at college, right?"
Willow nodded.
"There was a Greek philosopher who said that you can't step into the same river twice. Do you remember why that is?”
“It’s because the river itself is constantly in flux, with water moving in and out.”
Catherine said, “Exactly. Your magic is like that. It changes with each action you take, and you can't undo what's already been done."
Willow frowned. She didn’t like that answer at all. But maybe there was some way that Catherine didn’t know about.
Catherine sipped her coffee. “Was there something else?”
Asking Catherine for advice about her personal life was a crapshoot, but there was no one else to talk to. Giles was part of the problem. Buffy was gone. Tara might be hurt that Willow had jumped into bed with a guy so soon after the breakup. Xander would be totally wigged that it was Giles.
“It’s um. After I had my second vision, things got a little out of hand with Giles, and we kinda--slept together.”
Catherine said, “And? How did it affect your magic?”
Wow, Willow hadn’t wanted a freak-out, but Catherine being totally un-freaked was weird, too. “There wasn’t any effect on my magic. I just--don't know what to say to Tara."
"I don't know why you have to say anything. She left you. You weren't unfaithful to her. But if you want to punish her, it’s a very effective way to hurt someone."
“I don’t want to hurt Tara!” Sure, she was still smarting from the breakup, but the thought of Tara being hurt made Willow want to cry.
“Then my advice is to keep your mouth shut.”
Willow nodded. Oh, goddess, had she slept with Giles because she subconsciously wanted to hurt Tara, to punish her for the breakup? That would be an awful thing to do to both Giles and Tara.
The damage was already done with Giles, but she could at least shield Tara from any pain.
***
Giles
Giles paged through the Watcher's Council’s latest report. The Council's sorcerers had finally confirmed that no new Slayer had been called. He'd held out hope that one was in a remote area, and couldn't be found due to the magical interference in the wake of Glory's portal. But the interference was long gone, and the most powerful locator spells had not found one. Faith was now the only Slayer in the world.
Giles started a list of resources currently available in Sunnydale:
- One Watcher, forty-six years old, prone to head injuries.
- One extraordinarily powerful witch and computer hacker, twenty-one years old.
- One less powerful witch, twenty-two years old.
- One normal man, twenty-one year-old, with no particular fighting skills, strategy, or abilities.
- One former vengeance demon, nearly 1200 years old. Tends to remember previous vengeance activities far more vividly and enthusiastically than more useful demon intelligence.
- One vampire with an experimental chip implant. Long-term efficacy of chip unknown. Has shown talent for manipulation of emotions of others. Inventors of chip unavailable for consultation/advice. Joined the team for personal/emotional reasons, continued loyalty uncertain in light of Slayer's death.
- One robot with Slayer fighting abilities. Prototype designed by an amateur with no governmental or corporate assistance. Inventor is unavailable for consultation/advice about any malfunctions or maintenance issues.
Right. Everything will be fine as long as the sex robot built by a disturbed young man continues to function perfectly, forever. There's a stable foundation for defending the Hellmouth.
He wished he could count on the Council to step in and assist, but the Council was bickering over the next steps to be taken. Roger Wyndam-Pryce was leading the charge to kill Faith and start over with a more tractable new Slayer. Probably to erase all reminders of Wesley's failure. But David Bingham's daughter was next in line to become Faith's Watcher, if and when Faith was released from prison, and Bingham was extraordinarily influential as well. Travers appeared to be stalling indefinitely in order to avoid having to alienate either man. Typical, really. Travers would rather let the Hellmouth fall to demons rather than make a decision that threatened his own power.
Giles could break Faith out of prison himself. But Faith had tried to kill Willow and Xander, stolen Buffy's body. These would not be easy trespasses to forgive, even if Faith were truly reformed. And the Council might try to kidnap Faith again if she left prison. Was she strong enough to handle all of the other challenges in addition to normal Slayer duties?
Then there were Willow's visions. Willow had never received prophetic visions before; what she’d seen could have been a manifestation of stress. It was completely understandable for her to be pushed to the limit. She was taking over some of Buffy's responsibilities (taking care of Dawn, leading the group on patrols) and keeping all of her own (repairing the Buffybot, the big gun for magic).
But it wasn't just Willow. Seers around the world were starting to report prophecies that something terrible, an adversary like no other, was planning something soon. That could very well be The First Evil.
The Council was bloody useless, as usual. Buffy had been the only one to make them fall in line--
--and he realized with a sick certainty that there was a possible solution to these problems.
But first he needed to confirm that The First was truly planning something.
***
Spike
Spike sliced open his hand, tossed a few drops in the air, and muttered the words to open the portal to Beljoxa’s Eye.
Giles said, "It might be dangerous. Wait here."
Spike had never backed down from a fight in his unlife, and wasn't about to start now. "No way. Red'll have my guts for garters if anything happens to you. She’s quite fond of you." He smirked at Giles. He'd promised Willow that he wouldn’t tell anybody else about her indiscretion, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t needle the Watcher a bit.
He heard Giles’ heart speed up at the mention of Willow, but Giles made no outward sign of distress. "Very well, come along then," Giles said, his voice just oozing with condescension.
Spike kept telling himself that he was doing this for Buffy. That she'd told them all to take care of each other, and that meant everyone, including the ones he couldn’t stand. That was the reason he endured the alternating insults and demands for help from the likes of Giles. It wasn’t because Spike had nowhere else to go so long as he was chipped. That would be pathetic.
For a supposedly fearsome entity from another dimension, Beljoxa's Eye was rather unimpressive. Spike doubted that anyone other than particularly sensitive children would be frightened by the sheer number of eyes. Restraint could go a long way in instilling terror, and Beljoxa's Eye never got the memo. The cage didn't help, either.
Giles jumped right into the interrogation. "Is it true that The First Evil has an army of Turok-Han vampires below The Hellmouth?"
Beljoxa's Eye said, "Yes."
Giles said, "When will they unleash this army?"
"The eye sees not the future, only the truth of the now and before."
Giles considered this for a moment, and then pressed on. "What can we do to defeat it?"
"It cannot be fought, it cannot be killed. The First Evil has been and always will be. Since before the universe was born, long after there is nothing else, it will go on."
Giles huffed, "I refuse to believe that. There must be some way to destroy it."
Beljoxa's Eye replied, "What, am I talking to myself here? There's no way."
Giles demanded, “Where is Buffy Summers’ soul?”
“It is everywhere and nowhere.”
Giles frowned. “Do you have any more specific information than that?”
Beljoxa’s Eye said, “No. But feel free to ask the same question as many ways as you want. It’s fun to see mortals waste their finite time.”
Spike decided that he liked Beljoxa’s Eye after all.
Chapter 9