Creative Works   

The Return (Page 6)
By Little Slayer
little_slayer(at)hotmail.com

Disclaimer: I don’t own him! Uh, her. Or Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, Joyce, and everyone else. They’re all in here. I don’t own Angel’s nickname of Peaches. The only thing I own is Mya. She’s mine. I created her. And so I can easily destroy the skanky little…uh, oops. All the Buffyverse people belong to Joss Whedon and anyone else who legally owns them. Anybody who has been either A) mentioned on BtVS, or B) seen on BtVS, I don’t own. I do own a few people but am too tired to name them.

. . .

Chapter Six, The Pact

Angel walked into the library and looked around. Willow and Oz were at the computer, Cordelia and Xander were on the stairs near the stacks, Giles was in his office; you could barely tell that it was Saturday, Buffy and his evil twin had returned to earth the night before, or that they had found out that Mya lied to them all. Angel shook his head; it seemed as if the density of the townspeople of Sunnydale were rubbing off on the Slayerettes.

“Hey guys,” Angel said quietly. He received his usual greetings: a ‘hey’ from Xander and Oz, a ‘hello’ from Willow, a ‘hi Angel’ from Cordelia, and a ‘please do not sneak up like that!’ from Giles. He suppressed a smirk for his smirk was far to close to Angelus’s. “What’s up?”

“We’re researching,” Xander replied as if it were obvious. And if Angel had taken the time to look around more, he would’ve realized that was right. There were soda cans, empty and full, everywhere along with stack after stack of books and a few boxes of Twinkies and ho-hoes for Xander.

“Researching what, exactly?” Angel pressed.

“You were there last night,” Cordelia said. “We’re looking for a way to see when and where the gateway to hell’s gonna open up and swallow us whole.” Angel frowned.

“Thanks for the visual. You’re almost as good as Buffy,” he muttered. He jumped slightly at the sound of the phone ringing, and from Giles’s cursing about his nerves, Angel knew it had startled Giles too. The British man leaned over and picked up the receiver in his office.

“Hello?” Giles answered. “Sunnydale High School Library, Rupert Giles speaking.” Giles was quiet for a moment. “What?” His voice was so shaken that all the heads in the library turned to look at Giles as one. “Are you sure?” A frown then a ‘hmmm’. “Yes, yes, I suppose you’re right. They would ask too many questions. I’m still not clear on how it happened.” *Three, two, one,* Angel counted in his head. As if on cue, Giles pulled of his glasses and wiped them with his handkerchief. “He what?” Not even the obvious concern Giles had for the person the phone call was about, he couldn’t hide the amusement in his voice. “Yes, I know this is serious. I shall be right over…yes, with supplies.” He grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen. “Can you give me some directions from the school?” Giles scribbled down whatever the person on the other line said then gave a grim nod. “I shall be there shortly.” Giles hung up the receiver and then slid his glasses back on, looking around at all the faces in the room. “What?”

“Who was that?” Angel asked.

“It was Drusilla,” Giles answered. “It seems that when Buffy awoke this morning, she was having a terrible nightmare. It scared Angelus so much that he woke her up. But I guess, because he was so groggy, he didn’t notice that she was bleeding.”

“That does tend to happen,” Cordelia said. “Especially to females.” Giles blinked then raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not what I mean. What I mean is, when she got into the bathroom and saw her reflection, she saw that she was bleeding around her neck,” Giles explained.

“She was sleeping in a room with Angelus,” Xander said. “Why was she so surprised?”

“Because,” Giles said, his voice stern. “It seemed as if her flesh itself had been pulled so hard from each side until it began to split.” Nobody said anything. “Buffy passed out and Angelus caught her before she fell to the ground. The next details I were told are a bit fuzzy. Angelus put Buffy back in bed, panicked, then called for Drusilla. Just as she got in there and he explained what he knew, he fainted also.”

“Angelus isn’t easily shaken,” Angel murmured. “It must have been bad.” Giles nodded.

“Drusilla said she called for me as soon she stopped the bleeding,” Giles said and looked up at the clock above the cage. “Buffy woke around noon, and it’s now almost 1:30. There must have been a lot of blood.”

“We need to get her to a hospital,” Willow said.

“But how are we going to explain that Buffy woke up with her flesh ripped in half?” Giles asked. Nobody answered. “I promised I’d be there as soon as I could and I fear I’ve wasted too much time already.”

“I’m going with,” Angel said.

“Me too,” Willow said.

“So am I,” Xander announced.

“And I go where Willow goes,” Oz told the room quietly.

“I’ll go just ‘cause I’m worried about Buffy,” Cordelia said. Everyone looked at her. “What? I’m not aloud to be human once and a while?” Not saying another word, Giles began to pack his supplies and then they left.

. . .

“Where is he?” Drusilla demanded. “He said he’d be here. What are we going to do? What if she’s not okay?” Dru stopped in her tracks in the living room and looked at the covered window. Spike and Angelus sat on the couch watching her.

“Ducks,” Spike started. “The Slayer’s lost more blood that this before. Whistler’s in there making her more comfortable. I’m sure the watcher’s going to be here any minute.” He gave a glance to Angelus from the corner of his eye. “Any more pacing and *I’m* going to go stark raving mad,” he whispered.

“I know the feeling,” Angelus said. “Dru, why don’t you sit down for a moment. That much momentum can’t be good for you.”

“I don’t want to sit down,” Drusilla protested. “I want –” A loud knock at the door stopped her in the middle of her sentence and Dru raced for the door.

“Ducks! Wait!” Spike yelled. She stopped. “The sun.” Blinking once, then nodding, Drusilla carefully opened the door and stood out of the way of the sun. Giles walked in, followed by Angel, Willow, Oz, Xander, and Cordelia. The group stood and looked at the three vampires.

“Okay, this is too weird,” Xander said. “Three vampires sitting around, worried about the Slayer.” Angel nodded in agreement then looked at Angelus.

“Although I hear sitting is good when you faint,” Angel said with a smirk.

“I’m just really tired,” Angelus explained with a sly grin. “With how late Buffy kept me up and all.” All eyes in the room but Angelus’s went wide and he just sat there, smirking. Mission accomplished for him. Whistler walked into the room carrying a towel soaked with water and blood.

“Is that all from Buffy?” Angel asked.

“Yeah,” Whistler said.

“I thought you said you stopped the bleeding!” Giles accused Drusilla.

“She did,” Whistler explained. “While I was in there looking at the wounds, she started calling out in her sleep. I sat there and right before my eyes her skin ripped more. It’s like because of her dreams, her body’s being pulled in half.”

“Yeah, but by what?” Willow asked quietly. Whistler shrugged.

“I don’t know, kid, I don’t know. All I know is we need to get her up and keep her up if we’re going to save her. She’s loosing more blood than she can afford to.” Whistler looked sadly at the room then went to the kitchen to throw away the once white towel.

“No!” a loud voice yelled. All heads turned towards Buffy’s room as her voice rang out again. “Stop it! You’re hurting me! Let go you two! Angel! Let me GO!” Everyone’s gaze turned from the room and to Angel who was as wide eyed as the rest. Giles shook his head to clear his thoughts and pulled something out of his bag.

“This should wake her up,” he said and held up a small vile of liquid. Giles went towards Buffy’s room, followed by Angel and Angelus. He froze when he saw the petite figure on the bed with blood oozing from her chest.

“My god,” Angel whispered.

“I thought you would’ve learned by now,” Angelus muttered absently. “Even if there is a god, he doesn’t care about her. Everything terrible that could happen to her has and as far as I can see, it’s gonna take nothing short of a miracle to get it to stop.” The two looked at each other and Giles walked over to Buffy.

“What is that stuff?” Angel asked as he finally stopped looking at his live reflection.

“A potion, not too difficult to put together. It’ll help keep her up,” Giles told them then opened Buffy’s mouth, emptying the contents of the vile down her throat. “C’mon, work, damnit,” Giles prayed. Buffy opened one eye then the other.

“Giles? What are you doing here?” Buffy asked weakly. Her eyes settled on the two twin figures standing in the door. “Tell them to stop pulling on me.”

“What?” Giles asked. Then his lightning quick brain put two and two together. “Buffy, do they pull on you in your dreams? One on each arm?”

“Yes,” Buffy said. “But it’s just a dream. Although, in some, it’s my mom and my dad or Willow and Xander, or you and Whistler. Always, someone pulling. It hurts.”

“Buffy, I don’t want to scare you, but for some reason your body thinks it’s real,” Giles said softly.

“Huh?” Buffy asked. Giles gestured her chest and she looked down with wide eyes.

“Your skin is indeed ripping, Buffy. Just like in your dreams,” Giles explained. “I’m not sure why. It could be your need to choose one over the other.”

“Or it could be magic,” Buffy said. “Do you think Kelvin is doing this to me so I can’t fight him?” Buffy asked. Giles could only nod. “What am I going to do? Not sleep?”

“We might be able to do a protection spell, one that seals her mind from anyone else,” Angelus suggested. Giles looked up at him then nodded.

“That might work, but we would need a lot of magic power,” Giles said.

“Well, we’ve got Whistler, Drusilla, Willow, you, me, Angel, Buffy…” Angelus said. “Okay, not Buffy. She’s too weak.”

“What do you mean ‘too weak’?” Buffy demanded.

“Sorry Slayer, but you couldn’t go three rounds with a fruit fly,” Angelus said. “Guess you’ll have to sit this one out.”

“Fine,” Buffy muttered defeatedly.

“Good,” Giles said. He picked up another clean towel from the floor and pressed against the bleeding wounds to Buffy’s chest. “This might work.”

. . .

Giles knocked again on the door to where Buffy was staying. It had taken two hours to do it, but Giles finally found the book that he was looking for. After hearing many shouts warning about the sun, Giles smiled as Willow opened the door. He walked in and held up the book.

“Found it,” he said.

“Took you long enough,” Spike snapped. “It took us everything we had to keep her awake!”

“Yes, well, I needed to make sure to get the correct supplies,” Giles said and then handed the book to Whistler. “There’s just one glitch in the spell.”

“What’s that?” the little demon asked.

“We need someone to bind their life to Buffy,” Giles said. Before Angel could say anything, Angelus was already volunteering.

“I’ll do it,” Angelus said.

“There’s more to it than that,” Giles said.

“Like what?” he asked. Giles blinked.

“Well…there’s…and there’s…” Giles sighed. “The one bound to her must be someone she agrees to have bound. Also, if she dies, the one bound to her dies, but not the other way around.” Angelus shrugged.

“I’ve already made a pact with her,” he said. “She dies I die, I die she goes on with her life. At least this will be to save her life.” With a defeated sigh similar to the one Buffy made earlier, Giles nodded.

“Fine,” Giles agreed. “We’ll set up then do the ritual.”

“Oh, fun,” Angelus muttered beneath his breath. “Another ritual.”

. . .

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