The Borders of Night Start to Give, Chapter 23/26

[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 Twenty-Three

Willow

Willow caught a glimpse of Buffy and Xander in the parking lot and felt tension fall away. Buffy was ok.

Buffy ran up and hugged Dawn. Then she stared at Willow's shirt. "God, Will, he got you, too?”

"Oh, I kinda got shot in the arm--."

Xander moved in to examine her shirt. "So it's true? Giles said you almost died--"

Willow shot him the "Don't Upset Dawn" look.

Willow carried on, trying to sound chipper, "--but I called Giles for help and he did a really amazing healing spell, so I'm fine now. Where's Giles?"

Buffy said, "He said he was going to take care of Warren. The last time I saw him so angry was after--Ms. Calendar."

Willow felt a cold chill go through her. Warren hadn't killed anyone, but that wasn't for lack of trying. What would Giles do to Warren?

As they made their way out of the hospital, Buffy checked her phone's voicemail, and cursed under her breath. “Anya says that he just kicked her out of the Magic Box. He’s loading up on magic from the black arts books.”

***

Giles

Giles absorbed the magic from another book. This one had layers of flavors like an aged scotch. He knew it wasn't wise to absorb so much magic, especially dark magic, this quickly. But wisdom was overrated. Sometimes knowledge wasn't nearly as important as doing what needed to be done. He needed power, a lot of it, to deal with Warren and protect Buffy, Faith, and the world.

The book yielded the rest of its magic, and Giles placed it back on the shelf.

The first thing he needed to do was find Warren.

He started to get out a map, and then realized that he didn't need a map or ingredients or an incantation anymore. He could find Warren with no more than a thought.

And it seemed Ethan had made it even easier to find Warren. Giles decided he could deal with Ethan later.

Warren was in the woods; Giles hauled him into the Magic Box, ignoring Warren's yelp of surprise and fear.

"Look, I didn't mean--things just got out of hand--"

Giles turned a hard stare on him and Warren fell silent.

"You're not worth my time right now," Giles said. He marched Warren downstairs, with only a little assist from magic. He took out the chains they kept for restraining demons and chained Warren to the wall.

***

Willow

Xander was probably driving eighty miles an hour, and it still felt too slow for Willow. Giles could be hurt or even dying from magic overload by now.

After what seemed an eternity, they arrived at the Magic Box, where Anya was waiting outside. “You’re too late. He left ten minutes ago.”

Someone was yelling downstairs. They found Warren chained up to the wall.

“Well,” Dawn said. “I guess one problem’s solved.”

“So now what?” Xander asked. “Do we take him to jail?”

Willow said, “I dunno. If Jonathan was right about all the gadgets and explosives at Warren’s place, maybe we want to send a bomb squad in to deactivate them first. There’s no point in sending him to jail if he just sends a robot to break him out.”

“What about calling the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms?” Dawn asked. Everyone stared. Dawn said, “We were studying it in Civics. It’s the federal bureau that handles major explosives.”

Buffy said, “Later. Once we figure out where Giles is.”

Willow said, “I’ll call Tara and ask her to come over and do a locator spell.”

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Willow opened it, expecting Tara. Instead it was Amy Madison and an older woman.

Willow said, “Uh, Amy, it’s great to see you, but this isn’t really the time. We have an emergency.”

Amy said, “We know. One of the seers at my coven saw what Mr. Giles is planning."

Willow felt a small stab of envy. She'd always wondered what learning from a coven would be like.

Amy continued, "It's an invulnerability spell for Buffy and Faith. We're here to stop him."

Xander said, "I can see why making Faith invulnerable might lead to badness, but I'm not seeing the downside of an invulnerability spell for Buffy."

The older woman, who must be the high priestess of Amy's coven said, "To accomplish the spell, he'll have to draw upon the life-force of the earth. The energies that would otherwise create new life will be used to protect Buffy and Faith instead. Every year, fewer children and animals will be born, fewer plants will sprout. If the spell is allowed to continue, Buffy and Faith will be the only living creatures on earth within the next three hundred years.”

***

Ethan

Someone was shaking Ethan's shoulder, waking him up from a brilliant dream about prowling the streets of London with Ripper. Ethan rubbed his forehead, trying to make the ache go away. The little witch could inflict a lot of damage through brute force, even with her facile understanding of the nuances of fighting with magic.

Warren was sitting by his bed. "I need your help."

"Oh, gods, is this about girls again? Because this is really not a good time."

Warren grabbed Ethan by his shirt. "I shot the Slayer, and she didn't die. I need your help to get away from her."

Ethan tuned in, listened to what the chaos magic had to tell him. He sensed Ripper's panic, his anger. He’d done a healing spell on--oh Janus help them, the little shit had nearly killed the Slayer and Willow. Ripper was loading up on power right now.

He was tempted to let Warren know just how badly he'd screwed up, but as usual, his self-preservation instinct was stronger. He said, "I’ll do a camouflage spell to keep her from seeing you."

He gathered chaos magic particles to create the magic equivalent of a sign saying LOOK HERE RIPPER in giant neon letters. After Warren left, he would do a real camouflage spell on himself and get out. He needed to get far, far away before Rupert and Buffy put the pieces together and discovered Ethan's connection to this fucking idiot.

***

Buffy

The real curse of being the Slayer was the bad karma that seemed to radiate out from her to everyone she cared about.

Angel? Turned evil. Her mom? Gone too soon. Dawn? Nearly killed in a ritual sacrifice to save the world. Giles? On some bizarre magical crusade that could only lead to eventual world-endiness.

She asked Coven Lady, “What does your seer think we should do?”

Coven Lady said, “Her vision ended with Giles casting the spell. She didn’t have any recommendations.”

“Fine,” Buffy said. “What do you suggest?”

Coven Lady said, “Persuading him to abandon the spell.”

Buffy thought about how stubborn Giles could be at times. “And if that doesn’t work?”

Coven Lady looked very stern. “The coven is preparing to cast a counter-spell. In the unlikely event that he survives the counterspell--”

“You can’t kill Giles!” For a moment, Buffy wondered if she was going to have to step between Willow and Coven Lady.

Coven Lady said, “I’m hoping we won’t have to.”

Willow looked about three seconds away from turning Coven Lady into a toad, so Buffy said, “I’ll start with persuasion. Will, you and Tara go find Catherine, see if she has any less-lethal ideas to stop this spell. Xander, you, Dawn, and Anya hold down the fort here and make sure Warren doesn’t try any funny stuff.”

***

Giles

There was a new foundation over the site of the old library; Giles recalled Xander saying something about the school being rebuilt.

No matter. Giles would know the site of the old library under a thousand tons of concrete. He stepped there, and started his mental preparations for the spell.

Buffy and the priestess from the coven were approaching. He had time to engage them for a bit. The Hellmouth energies and the earth's natural magic wouldn't align for another hour.

Buffy ran up to him. "Giles, I know what you're trying to do. You need to stop!"

"I can't stop. This spell is necessary." Had to keep track of the time; he couldn't risk her distracting him from starting the spell at the right moment.

The coven priestess had finally caught up to Buffy. "My coven is prepared to cast a counterspell if you don't."

"Do what you wish. It won't change anything."

Buffy caught him by the arm, "Giles, she says that the counterspell could kill you!"

He wrenched his arm free. "You and Faith are far more important to the world than I am. If this is what it takes to keep you safe, it's worth it."

She drew herself up, all indignation. He'd finally managed to draw her out of her apathy. "I can take care of myself!"

"Right. What about Spike? The chip stopped working and you didn't tell anyone? Then you let Willow get rid of the only other thing protecting you?" He caught a thought running through her mind. "Can you honestly tell me that was a decision based on rational strategy? Not just sentiment because you fucked him?"

The priestess was watching them now in disbelief, clearly out of her element.

Buffy stepped back, wounded, "I--just, that's not the point. The point is, it's not worth the cost to the rest of the world. You can't set the rest of the world on fire just to protect me. It's wrong."

This conversation was growing tedious, and it was getting close to time to start the spell. "I'd rather lose part of the world to protect the rest than let it all burn because some dolt with a gun wanted you dead."

He sent out a flare of magic. "A few dozen Lamroch demons just hatched about thirty miles away. I don't think you want them to make it into town."

Buffy took the hint, and took off running. The priestess followed her.

Chapter 24