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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 Thirteen
Giles
There was a woman--dark haired, in her mid-forties, with an air of quiet authority about her--waiting outside the shop when Giles arrived in the morning.
"Mr. Giles? Melissa Trujillo. I'm with the Coven of the Sacred Oak in Sacramento. I need to talk to you. It's a matter of some--delicacy. Is there someplace we can talk where we won't be overheard?"
Giles' curiosity was piqued. Coven of the Sacred Oak was fairly well-regarded, at least by American standards. "Shall we talk in my shop? It doesn't open until 8, and my employee won't arrive until at least 7:30."
He let her in, and she immediately stared at the loft. Sharp eyes, or a keen sense of magic? Probably both.
“My black arts books,” he explained. “They’re off-limits except for customers that I’ve vetted beforehand.”
“You might want to consider concealing them,” she said. “Right now they’re a huge temptation for anyone who walks in the store.”
He nodded, hiding his irritation. What did this woman know about the realities of running a business?
They sat down at a table. She said, "Mr. Giles, a few days ago, a man approached one of the younger witches in our coven. He wanted her assistance to cast a spell to kill a Slayer named Faith Lehane."
It was hard to tell how much this woman knew about him; best not to give too much away up front. "And you approached me because--"
She looked straight at him. "I have reason to believe that the man was associated with the Watcher's Council. I know that you've protected Faith from the Council in the past. As a precaution, my coven has cast a temporary protection spell over Faith, but we can’t continue the spell indefinitely. We need to reserve some of our magic for more global threats.”
For a moment, he wanted to yell, “Now you’ve decided to concern yourself with protecting Slayers and saving the world? Where were you last year when we desperately needed your help on both fronts?”
But it made no sense to antagonize a potential ally, not when they were facing the imminent end of the world. “I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. Do you think that you could talk to this fellow, pretend to go along with him while I break Faith out of prison?"
***
Giles had just seen the Trujillo woman out the door when Ethan materialized next to a stack of introductory magic texts. After the incident with Tara's family, Giles, Tara, and Willow had put up wards so that no invisibility spells would work inside the Magic Box. But perhaps there just weren’t any wards strong enough to hold off Ethan Rayne.
“I thought you left town after the resurrection,” Giles said.
“I had a few pre-existing obligations to take care of.” Giles didn’t want to think about what those obligations were. He’d seen enough of Ethan’s handiwork over the years. Ethan grinned. "So what's on the agenda today for a couple of sorcerers? Are we rushing to break a rogue Slayer out of prison? Or fighting the Council goons who are trying to kill her?"
"Nothing for you." He needed to get rid of Ethan soon. Anya's shift started in a half hour and there was no telling who else might wander in.
Ethan leaned against the counter, a picture of nonchalance. "You wound me, Ripper. Look me in the eye and tell me you don't need help from anywhere you can find it."
"I need help from someone I can trust. Not someone who serves only himself and chaos."
“So you trust William the Bloody, but not me? D’Hoffryn’s favorite vengeance demon works at your sodding magic shop for gods’ sake! It’s not me that you don’t trust. You don’t trust yourself around me.”
Ethan stalked out of the shop, no doubt immensely satisfied with this parting shot.
***
Willow
Willow stifled a yawn and cursed her decision to cover Anya’s shift. The shop had been dead all day.
The door opened and she looked up to greet her first customer.
It was Ethan Rayne. Oh, crap. Should she be doing a general counter-spell now, on the theory that he’d probably cast one already?
He gave her a chilly smile. "Hello, Willow. Need any help with spells?"
"You--you're supposed to be in a detention center!"
He leaned against the counter. "That's what those Army fellows said, too. I disagreed."
"Also, once Giles finds out you're here--"
"He knows exactly where I am. And since I helped him resurrect Buffy, I must not be quite so dreadful after all. I'd say we're all friends now."
"I don't believe you," she said.
"Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think." He stalked out of the store.
He was lying, right? He had to be lying. Because the alternative was that Giles had lied to her about getting power from the Watchers Council. Which didn't seem like Giles. But then he'd been secretive about the whole resurrection thing. Maybe this was why.
She needed to talk to him.
***
Giles
He had just finished taking the roast out of the oven when he heard the door swing open. He hurried out, trying to ignore the flutter of anxiety. He'd never escape the fear that Buffy or one of the Scoobies would be barging into his flat to tell him something terrible had happened.
It was Willow, and she looked distressed, but not panicked. The anxiety subsided a bit.
"Giles, I'm sorry for interrupting your dinner--it's just, well. I just ran into Ethan Rayne."
"Ah," he said. He didn't have the energy to feign surprise. "Are you all right?"
"He just talked. He said that you borrowed power from him for the resurrection spell."
There was no point in pretending with her. She knew him too well. "It's true. I needed a lot of dark magic, and I couldn't count on the Council to help me."
"But why Ethan? You could have asked me. I would have helped. I know I haven't always been Miss Consistency with the spells, but I'll always be there to help with the magic stuff, no matter how--complicated--my life is."
He hadn't realized that she'd take the decision so personally, but in hindsight it seemed inevitable. He'd become so accustomed to relying on her magic that he'd nearly forgotten her earlier struggles to control it. It had really only been about a year since her major magic fiascos, and it was understandable that her doubts and insecurities still lingered.
"It wasn't about doubting you. It was a dangerous spell, and I didn't want to risk you. If anything went wrong, you'd be the one I'd count on to protect the others. Ethan and I are expendable. You're not."
"Giles, you're not expendable! I don't know what we'd do without you. We need you."
He felt oddly self-conscious under her intense gaze. She was talking about the group. It didn't mean anything. She was looking at him with her full attention, like he was the most important person in the world, but that didn't mean anything either. She just felt things very deeply, and expressed herself the same way.
"Um, well, it's a moot point anyway, since Ethan and I escaped unscathed. I didn't want to discuss Ethan's involvement, because that would just create distractions that we didn't need."
"Yeah, I get that. One of those group meetings with people yelling instead of using 'I' statements."
"Quite."
There was an awkward pause. He thought about asking her if she wanted dinner, but didn't want to give her the wrong impression.
Willow glanced at the pile of magic books on the kitchen table. "Is there any magic you need help with now?" she asked.
This was the perfect opening; he’d been meaning to ask her this before he left for the Stockton prison. "Actually, yes. Do you remember the dimensional spell you did with Anya back in high school? I think contacting other dimensions might help us find strategies for fighting the First."
Willow's eyes widened. "You think Vampire Me might have some helpful hints for us instead of getting all big with the bloodshed?"
Giles pushed away thoughts of that disturbing night. "Er, probably not. But other versions of you might be facing the same threats we are. You might be able to find out new information that could help. I've been reading Barnett's thesis on interdimensional travel. It sounds like something you could safely tackle now."
"I'll take a look and get started on it right away." Her brow furrowed, and Giles could almost see her focus shift away to some confounding problem. "Giles, why was Ethan talking to me, instead of doing some weird magical prank like before?"
"He's trying to use you to get to me," he said, realizing too late that he'd said too much.
Willow picked up on it, of course. "Were you two, you know?"
"Yes. It was a long time ago, and he won't move on." He fought the urge to polish his glasses. She'd already seen the worst he was capable of. It was nothing more than foolish vanity to try to hide that embarrassing chapter of his life.
Willow considered this. "Well, my first boyfriend was Moloch the Corruptor, so everyone else's exes look pretty good in comparison."
He couldn’t help but smile at that. He missed conversations with just the two of them.
He leaned against the counter. "Willow, I know things are a bit awkward right now. I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize your relationship with Tara. I hope you can still trust me enough to come talk to me when you need to."
Willow looked away from him, blinking back tears. "I don't trust myself."
He wanted to hold her and comfort her, but he didn't have the right. He’d given it up in one selfish moment, and now they both would suffer the consequences for a good long time.
Willow slipped out the door and into the night.
Chapter 14
