The Borders of Night Start to Give, Chapter 15/26

[punch_kicker15]

Title: The Borders of Night Start to Give
Author: 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 angelus2hot for some amazing art she created for this story.




Chapter Fifteen

Giles

Giles rushed down the hall to Faith's cell. The coven would only be able to hold off Evans for so long before he realized that they were stalling; Giles needed to get Faith out as soon as possible.

She was lying on her cot, staring at the ceiling, seemingly oblivious to the world. But when he opened the cell door, she jumped up immediately.

Giles let the glamour fade for a moment. "Faith, it's me. This place isn't safe for you. I'm getting you out."

Faith crossed over and grabbed him by his shirt. "How do I know it's you, and not some demon pretending to be you?"

Giles thought for a minute. "The first time we met, you said that you didn't know there were Watchers who were as 'young and cute' as I was."

Faith let go of his shirt and grinned. "Aww, you remembered that. So what’s the sitch? Is B ok? Cause I’ve had some weird dreams about her the last couple of months."

He grabbed her by the arm. "She’s all right. We need to leave now; I'll explain later."

***

Xander

When Faith followed Giles into the Magic Box, Xander's throat tightened. He suddenly felt like he was still pinned down on the bed, Faith’s hands squeezing his throat, choking the life out of him. If Deadboy hadn’t been there at just the right time to stop her--

After a minute or two, he could finally focus on what Giles was saying about some Council freak trying to kill Faith, and Faith needing a place where she could be protected.

Had someone replaced Giles with a pod person? First there was the whole Ethan Rayne deal, and now, Giles broken Faith out of prison. Faith. Who tried to murder Will. Who stole Buffy’s body. Who tried to kill them all by helping the Mayor. None of this made any sense.

Will was looking kind of scowly, so it was fair to say that she was not super-thrilled about this either.

Buffy rubbed the back of her neck. “Giles, I’m really not sure this is a good idea right now. I need to feel like everyone around me has my back. And I’m not there with Faith.”

When Faith finally spoke, she was quieter, more subdued than Xander remembered her. “I get that. I think Angel will let me crash with him.”

Buffy winced. There was a moment where Xander thought that she’d cave rather than let Faith stay with Angel. What was so great about Angel, anyway, that had Buffy so hung up on him, even years later?

But then Buffy said, "Ok."

Giles made a face like he’d bitten into a lemon, but said, “Very well. I’ll let the coven know, and perhaps they can send someone to help with magic.”

Anya said, “Glad that’s settled." She crossed the room to stand near Faith, and gave her a friendly smile. "Can you come to the wedding? One of our tables is going to be mixed humans and demons. I’m looking for humans that aren’t easily spooked.”

Xander groaned. “Ahn, no. Just. No.”

“Why not?” Anya asked. Why the hell couldn’t she ever learn to figure out stuff on her own? Why did she always have to have everything spelled out for her?

Xander said, “She tried to kill Willow. And you were here when she stole Buffy’s body.”

Anya said, “So what? Spike tried to kill Willow, and we still like him. I tried to kill Willow, and you’re marrying me. I thought we were letting people’s pasts stay in the past.”

That was a disturbing thought; he was going to marry someone who once tried to kill his best friend, and who had killed more people than Faith. Though Anya’s “killing people” phase was over, because she wasn’t a demon anymore.

Willow asked, “Why don't you invite Cordelia to be your extra human? She knows about demons and Xander’s family, so she’d be double-prepared.”

This was just gonna be one of those pod-person days.

“Fine. Let’s invite Cordy.” He didn’t really want either of them in Sunnydale, but if this became a serious discussion, he’d have to tell Anya about what Faith had tried to do to him. He just couldn’t. And what did that say about their relationship if he couldn’t tell her the truth about something important that had happened to him?

***

Giles

It felt like a terrible mistake to drop Faith off at Angel’s; Giles almost thought she’d be better off on her own. But the only thing harder than arguing with a Slayer that had made up her mind was arguing with two Slayers who had both made up their minds. And Faith seemed to truly have made a bond with Angel, however ill-advised Giles might think that was. Like so many of the choices Giles was making lately, it seemed like the least terrible option.

Giles drove from Los Angeles to the coven’s safe house. The witches had Evans bound with a thick layer of magic from head to toe. Evans didn’t speak, but there was a silent plea to Giles in his eyes. Giles nodded at the High Priestess, and said, “Thank you for your assistance. I’ll handle this from here.”

He tossed Evans into the passenger seat of his car and drove to a secluded part of the highway about one hundred miles away. He dragged Evans from the car and released him from the magic bonds. He didn’t want to risk the bonds interfering with the magic he was about to do.

Evans spoke, his voice thick from lack of use. “Rupert, you don’t want to do this. I did this because I had to. Everyone knows that your Slayer came back a zombie, and the rogue Slayer’s irredeemable. The world needs a real Slayer--”

Evans was on his knees. Giles grabbed him by his hair, forcing him to look up. “Buffy’s the finest Slayer who ever lived. And despite what Faith has done, she is still a Slayer. Our job is to support and to help them. We should serve them, not the other way around.”

Evans said, “So you’re going to kill me to help them?”

Giles focused, and hit Evans with a blast of magic; Evans howled in agony. “No, I’m not. It’s much more effective if you survive and feel pain like this every time you think of this plot, or think of Faith. You’re a bungler, Evans. If you died trying to kill Faith, others would think it was due to your incompetence, and would try again. But this lets everyone know that Faith is protected by powerful magic.”

He got back in his car. His hands shook; he gripped the steering wheel tightly as he drove away. The nearest town, Silvestre, was twenty miles away from here; Evans could make it there, but it would be a long and painful walk. That thought left Giles with a feeling of grim satisfaction.

Chapter 16