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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 12
Once More with Feeling:
Giles
Giles glared at his book. The idiot who translated Diallo's history of music spells should be shot. It was far less coherent than the computer-translated gibberish Willow had shown him a few years ago.
Outside, a girl warbled through a song about bicycle locks. Giles tried to block her out. They'd scanned a copy of Diallo's text in the original Swahili last year. He could ask Willow if the translation programs had gotten any better in the meantime.
As if by his thoughts, Willow came barreling through the door.
"Giles, Catherine and I found the singing demon and there's a spell to banish him, but I need another caster and Tara's on a field trip in Monterey for her marine biology class and we have to hurry, because the demon will make people do a dance with death and he might be doing that right now."
She set a couple of books in front of him, and he glanced through them. It looked like she was right. He pushed aside his trepidation about magic with Willow--lives were at stake, and the possibility of another embarrassing incident was nothing compared to that.
They drew a circle, and Willow mixed lavender, twice-blessed sage, and yarrow in an urn and set the mixture on fire. He took her hands in his. They chanted the banishment invocation.
She gasped as their energies converged, perhaps surprised how much his had changed. It was one thing to know that he’d acquired enough power to bring Buffy back. It was another thing to actually feel it.
They sent a wave of magic to the demon, trying to push him back into his own dimension. The demon sang back at them with hundreds of voices, deafening songs that pushed the air from Giles’ lungs and knocked Willow down to the ground. He yanked her back up, pulling her close to him, holding her up. Willow shouted the words of banishment again, and their energies intertwined again, forcing the songs back. The demon managed a few more ear-splitting choruses, and then winked out.
He glanced at Willow, suddenly aware of how closely he was holding her.
Willow seemed to come to the same awkward realization, and took a few quick steps back. “I guess that took care of him. I should, um, probably finish my term paper for poli sci. Which is due soon.”
It occurred to Giles that Willow had been avoiding being alone with him until now. He’d seen her at the Magic Box, but she always came in with Buffy or Dawn or Xander.
He had no one but himself to blame for it.
***
Willow
After the spell, Willow was full of weird nervous energy. She tried revising her term paper for the third time, but couldn’t focus on it. Maybe doing something tangible and less thought-intensive might help. She was on her third batch of cookies when she heard someone come in. It was Tara.
“Hi. How was Monterey?” Willow called out across the hall.
Tara hung her jacket on the coat rack. “The aquarium was amazing. They had an exhibit with a giant tank of gorgeous jellyfish--I mean, moon jellies and sea jellies.”
Tara came into the kitchen and looked at the cookies. “Is something wrong?”
“No! I mean, I’m a little hyper because I had to do a spell with Giles--to get rid of the singing and dancing demon. Because the demon was dangerous and needed to be stopped right away. I would have waited for you otherwise.”
Tara asked, “Where’d you find the spell?”
“The Nyssan Codex.”
Tara gave Willow a long, searching glance. “Ok, I understand.”
Willow asked, “Want a cookie?”
“No, thanks. I just came by to see if Dawnie needed any help with her history assignment.”
***
Tara
She wasn't sure what to think. On the surface, it seemed straightforward: there was an emergency, she hadn't been available to help, so Willow had gone to Giles to help her cast the spell.
Willow had good intentions about the spell. But the dark magic part of it worried Tara.
There was also the cookie-baking, and the over-explaining, classic signs that Willow was feeling guilty about something.
Was the “something” Giles?
Back in the early days, when Tara had been really insecure, she'd imagine scenarios where Willow would leave her for someone else. There was Oz, of course. Or Buffy. It was obvious how much Willow cared about Buffy. And Buffy was slender and stylish and confident in a way that Tara never could be. Then there was Xander, Willow's high school crush. Though not her only high school crush. There was that time Giles had sung at the Espresso Pump: Now I remember why I used to have such a crush on him . . . Oh, come on, he is kinda sexy.
Back, then, Tara hadn't thought much about Willow's crush on Giles. Tara hadn’t thought it meant anything more than her own high school crush on Julia Roberts. Ok, maybe that gave her a thing about cute redheads with brilliant smiles. But Tara was beginning to wonder whether Willow's crush meant a lot more. What if Willow had real feelings for Giles?
Then there was the question of Giles. Tara was rethinking every interaction she’d seen between Willow and Giles. Every hug, every time they’d held hands, every look. He’d always been a little more tender with Willow than with anyone else. (But maybe that was because Willow was tiny, and sweet, and vulnerable, and that would bring out the tenderness in anyone.)
She’d always thought Giles and Willow had some sort of kindred spirit rapport. But lately she’d seen something--fascination, or yearning, maybe--in his eyes when he looked at Willow.
The thought that Willow might move on so soon kind of hurt. But it was unfair to expect Willow’s fidelity when they were broken up.
She waited until Willow took yet another batch of cookies from the oven. “Hey, I know this is an awkward question, coming from me, but are you--interested in Giles? In like a romantic way?”
Willow said, “What? No. The crush was a long time ago, before I figured out I liked girls. I’m not interested in running back to Boystown.”
“It’s ok if you do.” And that sounded kind of bossy, like Willow needed Tara’s permission or something. Sometimes she wondered if she’d ever get the feelings in heart to come out in perfect, eloquent words. Or maybe she was more bossy than she realized.
“You want me to date other--people?” Willow said, with a sad little catch in her voice.
“I want you to be happy. You don’t have to be alone just because we can’t be together.”
The wounded look Willow gave her made Tara’s heart ache, but it was better to dispel any illusions about getting back together.
Chapter 13
