The Borders of Night Start to Give, Chapter 25/26

[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-Five

Xander
Xander flipped through the introductory magic textbook; he desperately needed something to distract him from Anya, who was running around the shop, tidying the same shelves over and over, and very pointedly ignoring him.

Warren yelled, “Guys, I think this was all a big misunderstanding. You don’t want to be the kind of people who chain someone to the wall forever. Let me go!”

"I wanna go downstairs and jam one of those altar cloths in his mouth," Xander muttered.

Dawn said, "I wanna grab one of those Wiccan swords, go downstairs and make him regret trying to kill Buffy and Willow."

"No!" Anya cried. "Nobody's wasting valuable merchandise on him!"

Xander.

He dropped his book; it hit the ground with a thump. "Gah, Will. For the millionth time, could you knock before you do that.”

Sorry, it's kind of an emergency.

“Did Buffy call and let you know that she couldn’t get through to Giles?”

Yeah. It’s ok. I'm going to help him. But I need someone to drive me there so I can prepare myself on the way. Can you do that?

“Yeah, of course.” Anything beat sitting here. He grabbed his keys and called to Dawn and Anya, “Willow needs some help. Call us if you have any trouble.”

He picked Willow up outside the Madison's house. "Okay, Driver Guy at your service. So what do you need from me?"

"I need you to stay far back while I talk to Giles.” She had a look of grim determination on her face. “And I need things to be quiet for the next few minutes--I need to really concentrate for this."

Be fray-adjacent and shut up, Xander. It really hurt how useless he was for everyone around him.

***
Tara
The coven had gathered at Breaker’s Woods. Everywhere Tara could see, the fields were dotted with small groups preparing for the counterspell. Some of them were mixing herbs and clay, some were making copies of the invocation, and some were marking out the sacred circle.

Tara sat on the grass, leaning back against a large oak tree, as she guided the ball of light slowly from one hand to another. She was still flush with adrenaline from the argument with Willow, and her nerves were shot. She needed to calm herself for the counterspell.

Someone crouched down beside her. "Wow, you have really great control. I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Amy Madison.”

Tara felt ridiculously pleased for a moment. It had been a long time since anyone had complimented her magic skills. "Thanks. I’m Tara," she said.
There was an awkward pause as she tried to think of something to say to Amy. She didn't know much except that Amy didn't get along well with her mom.

"How did you get involved with the coven?" she asked.

Amy ducked her head; her bangs covered her eyes. "A guidance counselor at school is a member. She caught me using magic to cheat on homework. She gave me a choice, either the coven or school discipline, and I picked the coven.” Amy lifted her head and smiled wryly. “For the first couple of months, I thought I should have picked the school discipline. It would have been a lot easier to get through. But after a while, the feeling of belonging to something bigger than myself, of finding balance in all things--that was amazing. Learning Wicca traditions saved my life."

Tara smiled back at Amy. It was nice to talk to someone who understood and really respected the Wiccan traditions.

Then she glanced back out at the witches marking the sacred circle. It wouldn't be long before the counterspell started. When it was over she might lose a friend, or maybe two, to dark magic. Her smile faded.

She’d come here because she thought that Willow couldn’t save Giles and the world. She hoped with all her heart that she was wrong.

***
Giles
Giles sent out a wave of magic, the forces of the earth answered his call, rushing through every cell of his body. It seemed fitting. Buffy had protected the world so many times. It was time for the world to protect her for a while.

A flicker of energy, as familiar as the sun. Willow was approaching him. But he didn't sense any plans to stop him or even dissuade him. His heart sang. She was here to help him. She'd had a moment of misplaced compassion for Spike, but in her heart, she wanted to protect Buffy as much as he did.

With her by his side, no one--not the coven or anyone else--could stop them.
***
Willow

They reached the school, and Willow took a deep breath, and walked out towards Giles.

Giles smiled at her. It was a strange sight--his face, his smile, but colder, more calculating somehow. "Are you finally ready to admit what you want?"

"Yes. I want to help you with the spell." There was a part of her that thrilled at the thought of the magics, even as dark as they were.
"It's not just the magic," he said.

She shook her head. She was about three feet away from him, and he closed the distance. His dark eyes bored into her, and the look made her shiver. She looked up at him, letting herself feel how much she yearned for him, even when he was nearly consumed by magic. She gently put her hand on his chest, and before she could think about it, she ripped magic away from him.

Tara was right: Willow had always been good at hiding things, especially from herself. She'd spent the time in the car rearranging thing--pushing the hidden to the forefront, hiding away her plan.

She was also pretty good at doing things without thinking them through beforehand.

***
Giles
He was paralyzed by shock for a moment. He saw how she'd hidden from him, and had a fleeting moment to think, "Clever girl," before he was desperately fighting to hold on to his magic. She'd had the advantage of surprise, and a more natural affinity for the power--it seemed to flow to her of its own accord.

He kept trying to yank it back. She kept tearing it away from him, more with each pull.

Her eyes turned black and her hair darkened. As she pulled harder, he could feel the magic draining away. And all of it was pouring into her, mixing with her own repressed rage and frustration. Dear God, this wasn't what he'd wanted at all.

"Willow--" he tried to grab her arm. She raised a hand and said, "Thicken," and held him still. His limbs felt heavy and slow.

He tried to reach her telepathically, but even his mind seemed caught in a thick fog. But he could still hear her thoughts, and they terrified him.

She’d done this to herself because she loved him.
***
Willow
Willow felt the magic flowing through her, and the huge rush of being connected to every person, every tree, every last speck of dirt on the earth. The exercises she’d done before had been so shallow, barely skimming the surface of the world’s power.

She could do anything now. Giles had risked himself for no reason. Why bother doing an invulnerability spell when she could protect Buffy from anything on her own?

She could start with the person who tried to kill Buffy--Warren. Leaving him chained to the wall was too good for him. And after Warren, she could go to the coven and show them the error of their ways in trying to kill Giles. They hadn't listened to her before, but she’d have no problem making them come around to her way of thinking now that she held this power--

--and then something small and inconsequential ran up and demanded her attention.

He grabbed her shoulder. "Could you guys go five minutes without nearly dying or getting eaten up by magic? Because that would be fantastic right now."

This was an intolerable delay. “Out of my way.” Her voice boomed with the force of the magic, which pleased her. She’d always hated her little girl voice.

He looked scared. But he kept holding on anyway. “Nope, I’m not going anywhere. Even if this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. And you know more than anyone what a competitive field that is.”

She sent a blast of magic to knock him down.

He got back up, a little unsteady on his feet, grabbed her arm. “Willow. You have to remember--”

Another blast with more force behind it. He hit the ground with a shriek.

As she started to walk away, he grabbed her ankle. “Remember--we came here to help Giles, not--whatever this is.”

The pain in his voice pierced through the wall of magic between them. Then she remembered. She'd brought him here to keep her grounded. Because too much dark magic, absorbed too fast, could be dangerous. She needed to return Giles's magic to him, and return the dark magic to the earth. She closed her eyes, and started letting magic go. The earth absorbed some it. Some of it returned to Giles. And some of it seemed to stick to her, despite her attempts to let it go.

After a few moments of frustration, she decided to leave it there for the time being. She ran to Giles, who was hunched over, looking like he’d aged about ten years in the last two minutes. She touched his chest again, this time letting the power return gently to him.

Chapter 26