The Borders of Night Start to Give, Chapter 17/26

[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 Seventeen

Gone

Jonathan

It had been four hours, and Jonathan couldn't stop replaying the fight with the invisibility ray in his mind. Warren had tried to kill Buffy. Buffy, who'd saved Jonathan's life more than once. It felt awful to even think that his friend was capable of murder. But if Willow hadn’t been there, that’s what Warren would have done. There was something seriously wrong with Warren.

Should Jonathan say something? Maybe he was just an eternal wuss, destined to be pushed around by other people, but he didn't think he was brave enough to confront Warren.

He needed to leave now, before Warren figured out something was wrong, and did something terrible. He grabbed his wallet, and said to Andrew, “I’m going to the 7-11 to get some soda.”

He wanted to sound normal, but instead his voice sounded shaky and high-pitched and weird. Luckily, Andrew looked completely absorbed in Grand Theft Auto and didn’t seem to notice.

Jonathan walked a few blocks down the street, and conjured up the keys to a gray SUV parked nearby.

Now he had transportation. Should he go visit his cousins in New Jersey? He was pretty sure he’d never talked about them to Warren, but Warren could probably find them if he put his mind to it.

Too many ifs to deal with. Jonathan started the car. He could always decide on his final destination later. For now, he needed to put as much distance between himself and Sunnydale as possible.

***

Willow

Willow couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so defenseless. It was so frustrating to have to rely on science and her wits against a bunch of idiotic geeks from high school, when she could have stopped them with one incantation. She was safe at home now, but she couldn't sleep. She kept wondering if there was something different she could have done to make the interdimensional spell work without overextending herself.

She pulled the covers down and got out of bed. If she was going to be awake, she might as well do something useful. She picked up her copy of Practical Implementation of Magic, hoping that this book would finally explain exactly how she could change her magic back to the way it was.

But this was just the same old stuff the last five books had said. That magic left its marks, and those marks could not be undone. Or like Giles said, that it had opened a door that she couldn’t close. Doubts were starting to creep in on the whole getting-back-together-with-Tara plan.

She scanned through her Amazon recommendations. Nothing new on magic, but there was a suggestion for Bisexual Women in the 21st Century. Which was not really surprising, given some of the books Willow had bought since meeting Tara.

Willow-Blue’s words came to mind: But I finally decided that I could be bi without being attracted equally to men and women, as long as there were some men that I was attracted to.

So yeah, bisexuality was a thing that existed. And a Willow from a different dimension was bisexual. But what did that mean for her?

***

Tara

Buffy was waiting outside Tara's dorm room. That was a surprise. She'd thought she'd lost all of the other Scoobies in the "divorce" from Willow, but maybe not.

Buffy said, "I need your help. I'd ask Willow, but she's all magicked out for now."

Buffy only came to visit because she needed something. And because Willow wasn't available. But was that really a fair reaction? Buffy probably didn't mean it to sound like Tara was just the backup witch to Willow.

Tara swallowed her hurt feelings, and the implication of Buffy's words finally sank in. The spells that would tax Willow's power were immense and unpredictable. She didn't want to be anywhere near those kinds of spells.

Buffy was staring at her. She'd left Buffy's question hanging for far too long.

Tara said, "I'm sorry, I was just a million miles away for a second. I can help. What do you need?"

Buffy said, "I need you to do a locator spell to find some nerds."

After a flurry of preparation, Tara checked that her energies were balanced, and closed her eyes, chanting the invocation.

Tiny bits of magic swarmed around her like insects, blocking her vision. Tara dropped the book and covered her eyes.

Buffy asked, "What's wrong?"

Tara was still trying to figure that out herself. "It feels like there's some magical interference. It's making it hard for my magic to work. Like, I can see you, but not your aura."

Buffy frowned. "Do you think it's hurting anyone?"

Tara concentrated on the offending magic particles themselves. "No, it's just annoying. I think maybe they're magic from somewhere else, something that doesn't belong here. We'll have to do research and figure it out."

Buffy looked like there was something she wanted to say, but instead she just nodded, and said, "Ok, thanks for trying."

***

Ethan

There were two kids waiting outside Ethan's hotel room door. As he drew closer, he recognized them. They were the boys who had been trying to harass the Slayer a few weeks ago.

"I'm Warren. He's Andrew. We're looking for a sorcerer to help us, and we heard you were the real deal."

"And what exactly do you do?"

Warren and Andrew each stared at the other, stammering a bit. Apparently these two were so enamored of themselves that they hadn't expected any questions. Finally Andrew said, "He builds robots. I summon demons. It's wicked cool."

"We have plans," Warren said. "We’re robbing an armored car. And taking down The Slayer."

Well, that meshed rather nicely with Ethan’s agenda. He hadn’t harassed Rupert or his Slayer in ages. Magic danced under his skin at the thought. The prospect of cash certainly sweetened the deal. Even chaos sorcerers needed to eat.

Andrew said, "I think she may be looking for us. Can you do a cloaking device for us and our house?"

Warren punched him on the arm. "That's Star Trek!"

"Oh, so, what, an Invisibility Cloak?"

Ethan shrugged. "I'll see what I can do."

He could tell already that he going to have to ignore a lot of idiocy with these two.

***

Giles

He'd barely returned from handling Evans when Buffy cornered him to tell him everything that had happened since he'd been gone.

"--so then Willow tracked them down on foot, and then Warren tried to kill me with his invisibility ray, and then we got distracted by a security guy and they got away. Tara tried to do a locator spell, but there was too much magical interference."

Giles frowned. "Magical interference?” Had Ethan been up to something while Giles was away?

Willow looked nervous. “I brought some notes back from the other dimension I visited, and they kinda brought a teensy bit of residual magic with them. So I copied the notes by hand, and then sent them back to the other dimension. I can try again tomorrow.”

He said, in as gentle a tone as he could manage, “I think it would be wise for you to rest a bit. Tara and I can give the locator spell another try.”

***

The invoice for the frog eyes was barely legible. Giles slid his glasses up and down, trying to find the right distance from his eyes to make out the writing. He was still fumbling with them when Tara arrived.

“Hi. Buffy said you wanted me to try the locator spell again?”

“Yes. Would you like me to assist?”

Tara looked a bit dubious. But she placed a book of maps on the counter and took his hands in hers.

He could feel the energy transferring to the maps, and let go of Tara's hand.

Tara flipped through the atlas. "It looks like they're in New York City," Then she frowned. "But that's as specific as it gets. It looks like they're everywhere in New York City."

He took the atlas from Tara and confirmed it. "So we've narrowed it down to a city of eight million people."

Tara said, "I'm sorry. Do you think something went wrong with the spell?"

"No, I think it went as well as it could have. Someone in New York must be helping them with the magic." Right. Just track down every witch, sorcerer, and demon in New York--that would be only slightly less daunting a task.

Tara straightened up, rested her hands on the counter. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

She bit her lip. “It's Willow. You’re pushing her too hard with the magic. You’re going to break her if you keep asking so much of her.”

Oh, that. “I can assure you, we won’t be repeating the trans-dimensional spells any time soon.”

“But what about the next big spell you ask her to do?” Tara asked. “She can’t seem to say no to you. About anything.”

Giles heard a hint of bitterness in Tara’s voice, which baffled him. Willow had made it obvious that she wanted to reconcile with Tara. All Tara had to do was say the word, and they’d be back together.

“Believe me, I won’t let any harm to come to Willow. Anything else you’d like to talk about?”

She shook her head. “That’s all. Please be careful with her. She's more fragile than you think.”

Chapter 18