Nocturnal Survivor: BtVS: Episode II--Part I
by slayerfest
STILL NIGHT THREE
Tara was smiling as she and the others of her tribe wandered into camp. She’d received a loud round of applause, both for her singing and her co-songwriting abilities. Almost all of them had pitched in on some aspects of the song, but it was agreed that Tara’s singing had simply made it. First waking up with Willow, and now going to sleep with a whole lot of confidence…
Waking up with Willow. This brought back the issue of what Willow had seen, and why she had seen anything at all. Willow was never a reader. She still isn’t, and to the best of Tara’s knowledge of the future, she wouldn’t ever be. This led Tara to the conclusion that Willow had reverse-remembered; she knew why Tara was no longer in Willow’s life after a while. And judging by the awkwardness of Willow after the fact, it was probably not a pleasant experience.
Oz had gone off and become all wolfy again, but Kennedy was around. She wasn’t looking very happy, but then no one really was; they’d won immunity, sure, but none of them wanted to be there. The million dollars was a plus, but was staying there for another month a good thing or a setback? Tara wanted to say something to Kennedy and Oz, just to let them know that nothing had happened and that they could rest assured that Willow was fair game here.
…Um. Maybe she didn’t want to let them know that.
Buffy and Spike were deep in conversation, standing by the beach. They were spending a significant amount of time together. It was understandable that they would get along, now that Spike had a soul; they had quite a bit in common. They were both superstrong, both very intelligent, and both endlessly attracted to one another for some reason. They had hung back from the rest of the pack as they had wandered back from the challenge arena. Xander had been fighting with the idea the entire time, and turned back more than once only to open his mouth, close it again, and storm off, disgusted with himself for caring and for lacking the courage to care properly.
Now they were discussing the future/past. They both knew what was going to happen, but it hadn’t happened yet in their timeline.
“I don’t know, Spike,” Buffy sighed exasperatedly.
“I’m not trying to push you into an answer, love, but it’s been on my mind.”
“I know. Mine too.”
“No it hasn’t, but thanks for saying.”
“Well, there you go again. You’re putting words in my mouth. That’s what you did. Or… are going to do. That’s what you’ll say. And I’ll have to run away and not argue with you because you’re busy saving me. …Uh, the world.”
“I’m not putting words in your mouth. I can read you. I watch, remember?”
“If you can read me so well, then why are you asking me if I meant it?”
“Because I see the way you look at Angel all the time. You do love him, Buffy. It’s in your eyes and in your heart and all over your sodding face, even when he’s not around. But I only see a look of lust on you. When I’m around, your heart beats faster, but that’s all I notice.” Spike smirked. “Well, almost all I notice.”
“See? Angel doesn’t make crude comments like that.”
“Admit it, Slayer, you enjoy the comments. You enjoy the stares. That much is clear even without your admission of it.”
“Did I miss a page? When did this conversation stop being about us and become about… us?”
The fire in Spike’s eyes receded and became the gentle spark that Buffy found she truly enjoyed. “Right. Sorry.”
Buffy sighed. “Angel was my first love. Part of me will always love him. Every time I see him I instantly remember the time we spent together in each others’ arms. That doesn’t mean I’ll always want him. He and I have this relationship that we’ll never forfeit as long as we’re alive. And maybe someday, if there’s a way, we’ll rekindle that relationship. That doesn’t mean I’m incapable of falling in love with other people in the meantime.”
“So you’re saying that even if we did fall into a relationship, you’ll likely leave me for him eventually anyway.”
“Oh my God. What did I just say about putting words in my mouth? I said someday, Spike. And maybe. Did you not catch those variable words in there?”
“So it’s possible that your current love isn’t for him.”
“Yes! Exactly. Thank God.”
“So you do have love right now.”
“Spike. Stop. Putting. Words. In. My. M—” Her words were abruptly cut off by a gentle kiss from the vampire. Buffy’s breath caught in her throat and she simply stood, unsure of how to respond. After a second, Spike pulled away and waited patiently for Buffy to recover.
“You have to admit that there’s something here beyond lust, Buffy.”
“There is. There’s something. I’ve never denied that. I just don’t know if I love you.”
Spike nodded slowly. “Then it’s clear to me that you don’t. If you did, you’d know.” He glanced at the sky. “I’d better head out before I get all crispy-like. I’ll check on the wolf before I turn in. See you later?”
Buffy nodded slowly and watched as Spike smiled at her and walked into the woods without a second glance. Knowing the future was complicated. Knowing the past was complicated. Buffy decided to call it even and say that the present was complicated enough. She trudged slowly up to the fire pit, around which everyone was sitting and pretending not to have been watching the best entertainment they had on the island: their very own soap program.
“Where’s Wes?” Buffy asked as she sat down.
“We sent him and Xander off to get more firewood. They were both restless, and neither of them seemed very comfortable with watching… um…” Dawn stopped and tried to think up a cover story too late. “…the sky! For airplanes. To come rescue us,” she finished lamely.
“Oh,” Buffy said, not noticing Dawn’s response. She looked around and saw that only she, Dawn, Tara and Kennedy were still here. The men were all off in the woods somewhere. As what Dawn had said sunk in, she realized that everyone had been watching her and Spike down by the ocean. This was partial annoyance and partial relief for Buffy, as she now felt free to ask for their opinion. “Um, guys… what do you think I should do?”
“About what?” Dawn asked innocently. Buffy rolled her eyes at her sister to let her know she wasn’t quite that stupid. Slow, maybe, but not stupid.
“Hey, you’re asking the wrong crowd here,” Kennedy pointed out. “Two lesbians and a seventeen year old who’s never had a boyfriend.”
“I have so!” Dawn said defensively.
“Who was alive?” Buffy asked.
“Well… no.”
“And I find it appalling you call Justin a boyfriend. You made out with him before you killed him.”
“That counts!”
“It does not.”
“It pretty much sums up your relationship with Angel.”
“It does not! …And it wasn’t all in one day! Besides, Angel and I were much more epic than that. I loved Angel. And I stabbed him with a sword instead of letting him fall on a pencil I was holding.”
“Are you dissing my dusting?”
“You’re dissing my relationships!”
“You asked!”
And so on, and so on.
DAY THREE
“Got the mail,” Faith’s husky voice announced as the sun rose. The tribe had only just gotten back from council a half hour before; a quick meal seemed in order before they turned in for a few hours of sleep. Faith, restless from not being allowed to slay, decided to go for a run instead. She wanted so bad just to find Billy Idol and shove a stake through his chest, but instead she went for a run. It disgusted her, and yet she was somehow proud of herself.
“Good,” came Angel’s muffled voice. “What’s it say?”
“Apparently the moron moved the reward challenge up to tonight because of scheduling problems.” She gave a slight burst of laughter. “It actually says ‘the moron’ on here. Either old Jeff got a reality check, or the producers are getting as cheesed off as we are.”
Angel grumbled something that Faith couldn’t hear through the leaf. “What was that?”
“It’s just… challenges take a lot of energy, and… there’s nothing… really… to eat.”
“The other tribe has boars,” Willow added helpfully from the fire pit.
“What! That’s pig! I can eat pig. Why don’t we have pig?”
“We do,” came Giles’ soft voice from the woods. A boar was draped around his shoulders. His white muscle shirt was tattered in a lot of places, and his hair was pretty wild, but he was Giles. He looked around the beach and tried to place the vampire’s voice. Giles smiled dimly, took the pointed silence for what it was, and dropped the boar in front of the leaf. He stood so that his shadow fell across most of Angel’s hunched form. Angel’s hand creeped out from under the leaf and brought the boar under his shelter. Rather unfortunate slurping noises promptly ensued. Willow and Faith made faces, while Giles simply pretended not to notice. “Where are the others?” he asked, still very quiet.
“Riley’s swimming,” Cordelia said immediately as she came out of the woods. She seemed very happy about the idea of Riley swimming. Or maybe it was the idea of Riley shirtless.
“And Anya went storming into the woods, rattling on about something. I didn’t listen,” Faith provided.
“Believe me, you didn’t want to know,” Willow muttered. Giles didn’t react.
“Might I speak with Angel alone for a spell?” he asked, still in that strangely quiet monotone voice. The three girls exchanged looks and decided to wander down to the beach. Giles stared at the makeshift vampire shelter and looked pretty angry.
“You should have voted me off.”
“It was discussed.”
“Then why wasn’t it done?”
“Because you’re an asset, Giles. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re our only source of food right now. You catch fish. You even brought me food.”
“I don’t care. You’re all in danger at night, you especially.”
“I’ll risk it.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Listen. Rupert and Ripper are not the same people anymore. You may have been at one time, but as it is now, one is always dormant while the other is dominant. I know exactly what that’s like. No one here blames you for Ripper. When you walked in here, no one looked at you twice. We all knew you were Giles, and we all immediately respected you for it. I’m doing my best at keeping Ripper in check. As soon as he’s struck, you get knocked unconscious. He does too. And then you’re both out until morning. If I have to do that every night after challenges, I will. But right now, you’re our most important asset. Ripper is, too. And Drusilla was exactly the opposite of that. She wanted to go. She had to go.”
Giles didn’t say anything. He simply stood and fumed for a minute. He opened and closed his mouth once or twice. “This island is going to have some effect on you eventually. You won’t always be able to keep me in check. And in the unlikely event that you get voted off before I, something terrible may happen. I don’t want to risk that.”
“Neither do I. But everyone on this tribe understands that if I go before you, we wouldn’t be in a good place.”
“And if you get dusted?”
“Unlikely.”
“Oh, come, now. Aren’t we being a bit blasé about this?”
Anya emerged from the woods just as Giles finished saying that. She looked from the ragged man to the empty space in front of him to which he seemed to be talking, and back to Giles. There only seemed to be a great green lump on the ground and little else. Anya tried to compute this for a few moments before walking down the beach toward the others and proclaiming, “I think Giles forgot to not be crazy again.”
“I’m not being blasé,” Angel continued without a beat. “This game is rigged so that it’s impossible for me to be dusted. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a fair competition. Three vampires equals three drops in ratings if they get dead. Even on the Creatures of the Night channel, no one wants to see vamps get dusted. If you’re that worried, go ahead and try to quit. But think: do you really want to forfeit a chance at one million dollars?”
“If it means that the people I care about are in no danger, then yes.”
“This island is beyond evil. You may end up being a protector. You’re as good as team leader during the day when I can’t be. We exchange. These people trust you way more than they trust me. They’re more likely to listen to you in a tight spot. I want you on this tribe, Giles. Whether or not you stay is up to you.”
Giles stood again. He had no reasonable argument to that. Eventually he forfeit trying to come up with one and sat down on the sand beside the gigantic leaf. Angel could sense the relief from the younger man.
“You put out a theory earlier about this island being in a time flux. What led you to that conclusion?” Angel asked delicately as the carcass of the boar slowly slid back out from under the leaf.
Giles frowned at the question. “We’re all in different time frames, but we each remember bits of future time frames. Time also doesn’t seem to pass at a reasonably constant speed. It all seems to add up to time flux.”
“What if I suggested that we were in a dimensional flux instead?”
Giles frowned. “Essentially, that’s what a time flux is.”
“No. Not entirely. A time flux means we’ve been sent to another dimension and are experiencing it differently. A dimensional flux provides a temporary dimension that’s identical to one already being in use, but has our subconsciousnesses from the dimension we’re supposed to be in.”
“You’re suggesting that this dimension was created simply for our presence, and as we leave one by one, we take away from the energy of the dimension until it disappears completely.”
“More or less.”
“Now, now. There’s a concept. How did you come up with that?”
“Something Jeff said.”
Giles exhaled sharply. “That burke.”
Angel grinned under the leaf. The two older men continued to talk in a much more friendly fashion than either of them thought possible; their hidden murderers brought them closer together as people, they supposed. Riley in particular was surprised that they got along, and he raised an eyebrow as he walked out of the water.
“Are they… like, getting along? Because that’s just weird to me.”
“It’s okay. Giles lost his uncrazy, which gives him and Angel lots in common,” Anya informed him.
Willow clucked her tongue. “Giles isn’t crazy.”
“Sure he is. Have we not noticed the homicidal tendencies?”
“You killed people for a living. Does that make you crazy?” Riley asked.
“Depends on your point of view,” Faith interjected. “I might not be the poster child for stability, but I’m not crazy with the torture and the mass murder.” She frowned as she remembered her future. “Yet.”
“Everyone has an inner murderer,” Willow said quietly. She frowned. “I… didn’t mean to say that.”
“Hey, that’s right. Red’s got a future in the world of homicide, doesn’t she?” Faith said, with a tone of impression in her voice.
“Well! It’s not like I’ll be sane or anything.”
“And it’s not like I wasn’t evil,” Anya interjected.
“And it’s not like mine wasn’t an accident,” Faith admitted. “Though maybe the ones in the future might be.”
“Wow, this is a fun conversation,” Cordelia said sarcastically.
Faith smiled slowly. “Not so fast, Cordy. You’ve got some contribution here, too.”
Cordelia tried not to blush as she glanced at Riley. “I’ll be possessed by a god, okay?”
“Am I seriously the only one in this tribe who hasn’t killed anyone?”
“It would seem that way,” Anya said happily.
“Unless there’s something you ain’t telling us, soldier boy, you’re the only one with a clean slate.”
Riley’s eyes shifted. “Wow. This makes me… more than slightly uncomfortable.”
“Don’t worry. Ripper’s the only one currently evil. Well, Faith is a little, but we’re not worrying about that,” Anya said, still chipper. She seemed to be quite enjoying this conversation.
But Willow was frowning. She seemed to be making a connection. “Okay, okay. Wait. So let’s assume for a second that Riley will kill someone—sorry, Riley, it’s just for the sake of argument. That would make everyone on this tribe a murderer, including… and especially… Drusilla. But what about the other tribe? Maybe this is a competition for people who kill people.”
They all thought for a second, making a silent poll.
“Actually,” Faith said slowly. “With the exception of Spike, they’re all pretty… innocent in comparison. I mean, the Wesley keeping a chick in a cage thing is pretty kinky, and Oz killing another werewolf is something, but other than that they look like angels while we look like devils.”
“They designed it that way,” Willow said, understanding. “There’s one huge exception on both sides. Riley’s the good guy here, and Spike’s the bad guy there, but other than that… we’re pretty much split.”
A pause. Finally, Faith decided to voice what they’re all thinking: “Dude, that’s fucked up.”
**MEANWHILE…**
“Well, this is exciting! I don’t think I’ve ever been in this part of the woods before.”
“Really.”
“Yes! I must say, for a tropical island, it seems terribly strange that there are coniferous trees everywhere.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Though I suppose it’s better for us. More dead logs. Less prickly to carry about. Though perhaps coconut trees would be lighter than fir trees. And perhaps a tad drier as well… likely burn far better than the samples we’ve collected.”
“Far better.”
Wesley peered around nervously as the trees thickened. There was suddenly significantly less light shining through. “This is an intriguing bit of woods. I wonder why the trees grow so much thicker here.” He paused. “It’s nothing a… a rogue demon hunter can’t handle, but I do wonder… sometimes…” An owl seemed to hoot from above and Wesley jumped and clung to Xander’s shoulder, who promptly dropped all his firewood.
“Here. Take this and go back to the others. I’ll keep searching and see what I can see,” Xander told him, giving him the firewood. Wesley dipped slightly under the weight of the pile but found his footing.
“Good plan!” Wesley said, turning and walking back the way he came. He stood for a second and considered which way they’d come. He promptly turned left, walked for a bit and realized it was the wrong way, grinning back at Xander as he passed. Xander raised his eyebrows at the extreme dorkishness of Wesley and continued forward.
The further Xander went into woods, the darker they became. He looked up and noticed that there was a total roof of branches above his head. If Spike hadn’t already found a cave, Xander would probably have informed him of this area. Oh God. Did I just consider being kind to Spike? This island must really be weird. First I’m jealous of him for being close to Buffy, which is a change from being disgusted beyond all measure about Spike, and from being over Buffy for a few years now. Now I’m potentially being consider—
Xander looked up and stopped dead in his tracks. He remained perfectly still and perfectly silent. A wave of light had just shone over the trees. He had seen each of them in detail for a moment, and then the darkness had been restored. He waited. Another shimmer passed. It was like a wave of light was coming from somewhere within the dark and was washing over the rest of the island from a central point. Xander started walking again, carefully, slowly, ignoring the voice at the back of his mind telling him to run in the other direction. More light passed. He was getting closer. He took another step—
And disappeared completely from view as another wave passed over him.
**MEANWHILE…**
Oz jumped down from a tree with a boar in hand. Buffy scrunched her nose as Oz threw the meat by the fire and sat down beside her. “Sorry. I’ll deal with it in a minute.”
“Tired?” Buffy asked.
“Starting to be.” He shook his head. “Look, I’m sorry I frightened you a couple nights ago.”
“Don’t be. I’m getting used to wolfy Oz.”
“It’s getting more intense because the full moon is four nights away. After it’s over I think I’ll settle down a bit.”
“No worries. Did Spike find you?”
“No. Was he looking?”
“He said he was. Did you sense him in the woods at all?”
Oz thought for a moment. “It’s hard to sense a vampire, but if I had I would have gone to him.”
Buffy frowned. “Hm.”
“Where are the others?” Oz asked.
“Down by the beach. Dawn went swimming.”
Oz raised his eyebrows. “On this island?”
“Yeah. Tara and Kennedy are watching over her to make sure she doesn’t get abducted by a giant squid or something.”
“Good…” Oz was interrupted by Xander as he appeared right in front of them. “…plan.”
Xander peered around, looking as though he was intensely concentrating on something. “Oh… kaaaay…”
“Hey Xand,” Buffy said lightly, looking at him with raised eyebrows. “What’s going on?”
“I… couldn’t tell you.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“I… have to go back there now.”
“Back where?”
“Again with the I couldn’t tell you. I was looking for the source of the funny light, and I took a step and then I was here.”
“Funny light?”
“Yeah. Like a wave or something, coming from the middle of the island and… whooshing across the rest of it. Look, I can’t explain… you really have to see it to believe it.”
Buffy glanced at Oz. “I guess we’d better go, then. Where’s Wesley?”
Xander frowned. “What do you mean?”
“He was with you.”
“No… I sent him back with the firewood at least a half hour before I was poofed.”
Buffy looked worried. “He should have been back by now.”
Oz glanced around. “I’ll go get the others.”
“Thanks,” Buffy said distractedly. She realized that she didn’t know where Spike was, either; if he hadn’t been in the woods looking for Oz, there was no other real explanation for where he could be. That’s two tribe members missing. Not a good sign.
Dawn, Tara and Kennedy joined the small circle. Dawn was soaking but looked a lot cooler than the rest of them. Buffy was jealous. “Okay, guys. We have two missing tribe members and a strange light occurrence to investigate. Dawn and Tara, stay here in case Wesley does eventually find his way back to camp. Kennedy, you and Oz go with Xander to figure this light thing out. I’m going to go actively look for Spike and Wesley in the woods. It’s still morning; let’s all meet back here in what feels like a few hours to regroup.”
**MEANWHILE…**
“I’m bored,” Cordelia whined.
“Then go find something to do,” Faith answered annoyedly.
“There’s nothing to do!”
“Sure there is,” Anya provided. “Go get firewood. Go find food, since Angel sucked all the blood out of what we had.”
“That sounds hard and stuff.”
Faith blinked hard and set her jaw. “Excuse me while I go pitch the idea of voting Cordelia off to Angel.”
“Okay, okay. Fine, I’ll go. Geez.” Cordelia got up off the sand and started walking towards the woods. “The least anyone could do was help me. Why should I have to go get food? It’s not like I’m the least slackerish person on the island. Last time I went into the woods, killer bees chased me out and then almost made me drown. I think that would make anyone phobic…” Cordelia continued muttering to herself, but fortunately, no one else was within earshot.
**MEANWHILE…**
Buffy ascended the slope up to Spike’s cave. He was stretched out along the far edge of the cave, shirt serving as a pillow.
“Oz didn’t sense you in the woods,” Buffy stated quietly as she entered.
“I didn’t sense you either until you were two feet away,” Spike responded without opening his eyes. “I looked. He was wolfing about someplace. The sun was coming up, so I came here.” He turned his head and opened one eye to regard Buffy sleepily. “He’s not a threat, really. Not yet. In a few days it might be another story.”
“I know. I want to keep an eye on him anyway, though, and he wants me to keep an eye on him.”
“Then why aren’t you the one keeping an eye on him?”
“You know why.”
“If you want something done right, you do it yourself, right?”
“I trust you.” She said it without thinking. Spike sat up and looked directly at her. They remained in silence for a few minutes.
“That’s a start, then,” he said quietly, and lay back down.
“You sound tired.”
“I am. Haven’t slept well in a few days. I don’t usually need sleep, but the challenges are draining.”
“Sorry I woke you.”
“I’m not.”
Buffy cracked a dim smile. “Anyway. I’ve still got to go and find Wesley. He’s missing. You haven’t seen him or anything, have you?”
“No. Under normal circumstances I’d be able to tell you the general idea of where he is from here, but I can’t sense a sodding thing.”
“Oh well. Thanks anyway.” She turned and started to walk from the cave.
“I can take care of myself, pet,” he said quietly. She stopped in her tracks.
“I know.”
“Then why did you come here before you went to look for Watcher Junior?”
Buffy didn’t have an answer to that. Spike felt a change in the air around her and he realized that it was compassion. Usually that feeling, especially from her, was a lot stronger. He hated this island. “You’ve got to make a decision, pet. This island can’t be for real; if we know the future, we’ll get back home and try to change it. So make a decision. Either be with me or don’t, but stop sending me mixed signals. I’m not sure I can take much more of it.”
Buffy stood for a moment longer, and then continued down the hill. Spike smiled ever so slightly and rolled over. He fell asleep almost instantly.
**MEANWHILE…**
“Okay,” Xander muttered. “It was about here that it started getting super dark. Are either of you sensing anything?”
“I can’t sense two feet in front of me on this island, Xand. We’ve only got our strength going for us here,” Kennedy responded.
“I’m not getting anything,” Oz replied. He could still smell. Not well, but it was something. The three of them crept forward into the increasing darkness. The further they went, the tenser Kennedy got.
“There’s something seriously supernatural here,” she whispered.
“Stop,” Xander said, holding out an arm to stop them. They all stood stalk still and waited for a second. Then they noticed that the strange light in front of them was coming toward them. It washed over all of them without any effect, and continued to spread.
“This happens every few seconds?” Oz asked Xander.
“Maybe once every couple of minutes, tops.”
“It didn’t have any corporeal properties. It was just… light,” Oz said.
“It wasn’t just light. There is no way that was ‘just light’,” Kennedy countered. There was obvious nervousness in her voice. Even though she couldn’t sense anything, a siren in the back of her mind was going off.
“Should we keep going?” Oz asked. His voice showed that he really didn’t want to. None of them wanted to.
“We know what happens when we do,” Kennedy said. “Let’s take off.”
“No,” Xander said. “Maybe it’ll be different with more of us.”
“Xander, you’re not a Slayer. You have a different perception of this situation than I do. Let me tell you that whatever is making that light is pure evil.”
“We’ll meet pure evil. We’ll beat it. This can be beaten too.” Xander kept going forward, more confidently than he had the first time. Oz glanced at Kennedy and followed Xander. Kennedy, against her will, followed them both, keeping herself in a fighter’s stance out of instinct.
Another wave of light passed. Kennedy was convinced she saw something in the trees and gasped, picking up a stick and tossing it abruptly into the trees. It hit a tree and fell to the ground. There was nothing. Starting to think that either she was paranoid or Xander and Oz were insane, she stayed where she was and decided to let them deal with it unless she was clearly needed.
She blinked and they were gone. Another wave of light washed over her. The same illusion presented itself; someone or something was standing in the shadows. With no one to back her up and the sheer number of alarms going off in her head telling her to get the hell out, she decided they were probably right and backed up for a few moments before turning and running back to camp.
**MEANWHILE…**
Buffy walked back to the beach. She’d searched as much of the forest as she could, but she was getting really hungry. She hoped Oz was back; he’d be able to stomach dealing with the boar way better than she could.
“Any luck?” Dawn asked her sister.
“I found Spike. Turns out Oz’s senses were just on the fritz. Didn’t see Wesley, though. No sign of him here?”
“Nope. No sign of anyone, actually. You’d think they’d be hungry by now. I know I am,” she said, glancing at the pig and being unable to decide if she was disgusted or not. “Anyway, I got the mail. We’ve got a reward challenge tonight.”
“What! That’s three challenges in a row!”
“I know. I guess we could make some rice or something.”
Buffy took the hint. “Tara, would you mind putting some on? I’ll deal with the boar and cook it up after lunch. We’ll have a big meal at dinner. I think we could all use some sleep in the interim anyway.”
Kennedy ran from the forest, completely out of breath. She stopped at the sight of Buffy and explained wide-eyed. “That light is so wrong. So many internal alarms went off, and neither of the guys seemed to get any. I had to take off. I’ve gotta… go apologize…” she looked around. “Where are they?”
“What do you mean?”
“They disappeared. I assumed they’d reappear here. It’s been, like, half an hour. They’re not back yet?” She looked close to panic.
Dawn had been listening. She walked up to the Slayers. “It’s just been Tara and me for the past few hours. You two have been the only ones to come back.” She glanced at Buffy automatically. “Xander reappeared almost instantly the first time, didn’t he?”
“The time frame fits. I thought it was instantly.”
“Why are they taking so long this time?”
Buffy frowned. “I dunno. Maybe I should go check it out.”
“Don’t.” Kennedy said, shaking her head fervently. “You don’t want to. I think it’s just a Slayer thing that we can sense something that evil, but it’s not right. You don’t want to go anywhere near it.”
Buffy believed her. She’d never seen Kennedy freaked out at all before. Not with the Turok-Han even when she wasn’t a Slayer, not in the battle with the First. If this was freaking her out, there was something extra-bad about this light thing. She slowly nodded.
“Okay. We’ll give them another half an hour, but if they don’t show up by then, I have to go look for them.”
Kennedy sighed shakily. “Okay. Okay. But I’m not going back. Take a civilian with you to keep you grounded, because believe me, no amount of worry for your friends is going to keep you standing there. You’ll want to take off.”
Buffy nodded again and instructed Kennedy to sit down. As she turned around, she saw Xander and Oz appear out of thin air.
Both of them were screaming. Just as she’d never seen Kennedy freaked out, she’d never seen Oz obviously scared. Here, he was terrified.
They both stopped at once, looking pale and startled. Oz swayed on the spot and crouched down, supporting himself with one arm. Xander wheezed a couple of times and then ran over to a nearby bush and hurled up the few contents of his stomach.
Tara ran over to Xander as Buffy crouched by Oz with concern. He was still pale. “What happened?” she asked.
“Remember the feeling from the machine from the first challenge?” Buffy nodded. “Multiply that feeling by about a thousand.” He shook his head. “We were being torn apart, piece by piece, for what felt like a very long time. We ended up back here totally unharmed, but… it’s a humbling experience.”
Buffy heard Xander’s shaky voice in the background telling Tara he’d be okay. “Do you want to lie down for a while?” Buffy asked.
“Yeah, but I’ll be good right here. I’m definitely appreciating the sunlight right now.” Oz shifted his weight with careful movements and was shortly lying on the sand, limbs splayed. He seemed to be relishing the use of them. Buffy shook her head and jogged over to help Tara support a weak-kneed Xander.
“Did this happen the first time?” Buffy asked him quietly.
Xander shook his head. “I was just transported the first time. None of this epic torture thing. It’s like the first time was a warning, and the second time was the punishment. I’m just sorry Oz was involved.” He stopped trying to walk and blinked hard. “Uhhgh. I think it’s time to lie down now.” Buffy and Tara lowered him down and he went all limp on the sand. Buffy noticed the incredible lack of colour in Xander’s face. He looked dead. Angel and Spike may have been pale, but Xander was beyond ashen.
“You need some nutrition. Would you eat some rice?”
Xander winced. “I’m not so sure that’s a good plan right now, Buff.”
“You haven’t eaten in a while, and what you have eaten is obviously no longer in your system. You need something. Just try a little bit, and if you’re not feeling better, you don’t have to eat any more, but I think it’ll help.”
Xander nodded and tried to steady his breathing, closing his eyes. Buffy glanced with concern at Tara, and noticed tears welling in her eyes as she looked at Xander. Buffy took her by the arm away from Xander. “He’ll be okay. He’s tough. Hasn’t died yet.”
“I’m not sure he will,” she whispered. “When h-he was… throwing up…” she swallowed. “There was b-blood, Buffy. More than a l-little bit.”
Buffy looked over at Xander as she heard him cough. It was very wet sounding. Dawn had had bronchitis one year, and she had sounded just like Xander did now. Oz was a werewolf, but Xander was just human. She hugged Tara consolingly as she watched Dawn run over to Xander with some water and help him up to drink it. “We’ll fix him up, Tara. He’s always been amazingly strong. If he had plans for dying, he’d have done it already.” But even Buffy wasn’t so sure anymore. He was in rough shape, but she’d still seen that ambition in his eyes. He wasn’t done with the source of the light yet. He intended to go back. And that’s what worried Buffy most of all.
**MEANWHILE…**
Riley glanced at the woods for what must have been the dozenth time in an hour. Finally he swallowed his pride and strode up to Angel’s leaf. The sun was just starting to set.
“What is it, Finn?” Angel said exasperatedly. He was getting stir crazy.
“I thought you couldn’t sense anything on the island.”
“I felt the vibrations of your combat boots.”
Riley sighed and bit back a retort. “I’d counter that, but there are more important issues at hand. Cordelia disappeared into the woods before noon and she isn’t back yet.”
Angel was completely silent for a second. He was remembering the future. “Did you look for her?”
“Not me personally. Faith did a sweep maybe an hour ago to no avail. I just thought you should know, especially judging by what happened last time she was in the woods alone.”
Angel nodded under his shelter. “Thanks.” As Riley walked away, Angel stuck a hand out into the sunlight. As expected, it promptly overheated and burst into flame. He brought it back beneath the shelter and winced. He’d thought maybe, since this was an alternate dimension, he’d be okay in the sunlight, but apparently it was worse here rather than better. He sighed frusteratedly and maneuvered himself so that he could waddle forward on his feet. He’d gone maybe a yard before he realized that he wouldn’t get anywhere trying to find Cordelia this way. He sat back down and swore under his breath, waiting for the sun to go down.
Faith came up to him a few minutes later. “She ain’t nowhere, Angel. I covered what ground I could, but there’s no evidence of her being there. I followed footprints, but they just stop. I’m not sure there’s much point in looking.”
“There’s always point,” came his angry voice. “I’ll find her.”
“We’ve got a challenge in a couple hours anyway. We need to head out.”
“You’re not getting it.”
“If we want any chance of winning this challenge, we need you on our side. We had a few spoonfuls of rice for lunch, Ange. We need whatever we can get.”
At that moment, the sun set. Angel felt it. He threw the leaf off him and backed the Slayer against a tree. “I don’t care. I’ll hunt for you if I have to. But not before or until I find Cordelia.”
A look of anger crossed Faith’s face as she batted the arm pinning her to the tree away and punched Angel abruptly across the face. “You’ve got prioritizing issues, bud. Cordelia’s gotta be on this island somewhere, right? And we’ll find her. Let’s just beat this challenge first, and then I’m sure all of us will help you.”
Angel backhanded Faith and sent her reeling. “You’re still not getting it, Faith. I have to find her. This island is screwed up. You know it, and I know it. She could be anywhere, being held captive. We don’t know. But I intend to find out. And I don’t need your permission to try and save someone.”
Faith turned back angrily and kicked Angel backwards, promptly grabbing his jacket and sending him toward the forest. Angel stepped up and took another swing at Faith, which she ducked easily and countered by bringing her foot around to make Angel trip. Angel kicked his way back up and delivered a sharp blow to her chin. She took the blow well and backflipped to her feet, throwing another punch Angel’s way.
Willow ran up to the sparring pair holding a piece of bark. “Guys, stop it! Hey! Look, oh…” she trailed off, ducking out of the way as Angel ducked another of Faith’s kicks. “More mail, okay? It’s about the challenge… we have to find someone we lost.”
Angel stopped paying attention to Faith immediately and allowed himself to get punched across the face. He grabbed her fist easily and brought her in, turning her around and holding her in place. “Finding Cordelia is the challenge.”
“That’s… um… what it says. At least, I think. Here,” she said, stepping hesitantly forward. “Um, it says, ‘A member each had gotten lost somewhere within the wood; We found them though, and so shall you, to ensure their livelihood.’ ”
“Let go,” Faith said angrily, wrenching herself away from Angel and panting angrily while glaring at him.
Angel looked more broody than usual. “You’re sure about this.”
Willow raised her hands in a surrendering motion. “The bark says it, not me.”
Angel nodded. “Let’s go, then.” He set off into the woods. The rest of the tribe, who had come running when they heard the fight, exchanged significant glances and followed the vampire into the forest. (Ripper only went because he wanted a million dollars.)
NIGHT FOUR
Buffy walked in first, supporting a still weak but no longer quite as ashen Xander. He’d eaten some rice, and that seemed to have helped. Wolfy Oz walked at the same pace as everyone else, but for a semi-werewolf, that was a pretty tame speed. Tara, Kennedy, Dawn and Spike followed hesitantly behind. Buffy took one look at Angel and winced. Obviously, he’d also gotten the message.
“Welcome, tribes,” came the jovial voice from ahead of them. Almost everyone was ready to wring Jeff’s neck. Angel was the only one who took action.
“Where’s Cordelia.”
Jeff scoff-laughed despite the hands around his neck. He forced Angel off him. “That’s for you to find out. Both of your tribe members are hidden in the middle of these brick mazes,” he said, turning and gesturing to the massive structures behind him. “Both mazes are exactly the same. It’s only a matter of the route you choose. The first tribe to get to their teammate wins reward.”
“What’s reward?” Faith asked huskily.
“There are two parts. The first part of reward is a lovely selection of preserved fruits. Twenty-four cans of fruit, two for every day remaining as two separate tribes. The second part is the return of your tribemate in one piece.”
“You wouldn’t,” Buffy said.
Jeff smiled. “This island isn’t about giggles and kittens. I believe your friends Xander and Oz experienced that today. Either Cordelia and Wesley will do likewise.” Jeff’s smile flickered as Xander coughed heavily; he, too, heard the fluid sound of the cough and noticed the red fluid on his hand. “However, under the circumstances, the Jeff Tribe would be under a serious disadvantage if they had to lug an injured person with them, since you’ll all be tied together and must remain so throughout the duration of the challenge. Xander may sit out. This evens the sides, in any case; six to a tribe.”
Jeff grabbed ten pairs of cheap handcuffs and walked over to Buffy and Spike, handcuffing her right wrist to his left. Spike smirked and glanced at Buffy, who caught his eye momentarily and then looked immediately away. Jeff smiled. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I get these back as soon as the challenge is over.” He cuffed Spike’s right wrist to Dawn, Dawn to Tara, Tara to Kennedy and Kennedy to Oz, who brought up the rear. Then he went to the other team and thought for a minute. “Faith, you’re up front.”
“I don’t think so,” Angel protested.
“See that? That’s exactly why you can’t be at the front. You’ll get eager and might end up dragging your team behind you. This is a teamwork drill. Take the backseat. This is too personal for you.” Jeff handcuffed Faith to Angel. “Besides, this will keep the order more or less equal. Slayer, vamp, human, human, third strongest, and half-demon at the back. Consistent. Equal chances. I’m not giving you the advantage just because you’re in love with your teammate. I’m not that evil.”
Buffy’s face snapped over to Angel’s, who had looked at her guiltily at the same time to see if she’d picked up on that. So she never had known that he had loved Cordy. He’d wondered.
“Contestants, on your mark… go!”
Buffy gladly surged forward into the maze, trying not to fume. Momentarily, she realized she was going too fast and slowed up. This pace was more comfortable, and they moved along much more effectively.
Faith walked slowly, figuring that calm was the best way to go about this. She didn’t want to rub Angel the wrong way. Besides, Ripper wasn’t being the most co-operative person ever, and that slowed them down a bit.
Buffy reached a crossroads. She thought for a moment and then turned behind her. “Left or right?” she asked the others quietly.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Spike said. “Either one could hold the advantage. It’s impossible to tell.”
“No one’s picking up anything?”
Spike and Oz both shook their heads.
“We’re in the left-hand maze,” Tara said quietly. “We didn’t see how deep the maze is, but we did see that it extended pretty far left. If Wesley’s in the middle of the maze, our chances would probably better if we went left.”
Buffy nodded. “Left it is.”
Faith stopped. “Left or right?”
“Buffy’s going left,” Angel replied sullenly. He was not loving being not the leader.
Faith turned the same way without consulting the others. “Hey. Shouldn’t we be going in the opposite direction?” Willow asked.
“Nah. Keeps the competition fair. If they screw up, we’ve screwed up, too. If they’re right, we’re right. After a while we’ll start deviating, but it’s early days. A little competition won’t hurt us now.”
They continued onward. Soon they came to another crossroads. “Which way did they go?” Faith asked Angel, who was being surprisingly well-behaved.
“They haven’t reached one. Or if they have they’re being pretty quiet about it.” He was gritting his teeth and wanted the discussion to end so he could get to Cordelia more quickly, but he wasn’t in control.
“Damnit!” Anya said.
“What?” Faith asked.
“We went the wrong way. The mazes are mirrored. Theirs extended left as ours extended right. We essentially did go in the opposite direction.”
“…Oh. Whoops.”
“So do we go back?” asked Riley. “Or do we keep going this way?”
“If we did go back and did that side of the maze and it turned out to be wrong, we’d have to come all the way back here. If they’re going in the wrong direction, they’ll turn around and be back here before we’d have a chance to be,” Anya said. She got confused glances. “Oh, nevermind. Just keep walking. We’ll know soon enough anyway.”
Both teams carried on. It turned out that Tara had been doing logic puzzles since she was fourteen and had pretty good reasoning for every decision she recommended. Eventually everyone else stopped making suggestions and just followed Tara’s instructions every time they reached a fork in the road. Faith’s team didn’t reach a fork for a long time and they were just considering that they were indeed going the wrong way when they reached a possible five directions other than the one they’d just come from.
“Damnit.”
Anya sighed. “Let’s take the left branch. It worked for us before. If it’s wrong, we’ll come back here and take the next leftmost branch. Easy to remember.”
“Why are you so good at this?” Riley asked incredulously.
“I think of everything in literal terms. It helps.”
Back at the start of the maze, Xander sat and coughed every once in a while. Jeff stood, looking up at the sky and not doing anything in particular. Xander cleared his throat and attempted a casual tone of voice. “So… I found a dark part of the woods today—”
“I can’t tell you what the light’s all about,” Jeff said.
“Why noooot?” Xander whined.
“Not my decision. I’m allowed to know of what’s going on, but I’m not allowed to have any influence on the game. It might change the outcome of the game if I told you.” He shrugged. “Besides, I might not even know anything about it.”
“But… but…”
“Look. It’s obvious you want to go back. But the consequences are not going to get any lighter. I, personally, with no affiliation with anyone else in the game, backstage or otherwise, advise you not to go back. You’re more than a little worse for the wear. I doubt you’ll be able to participate in tomorrow’s game, either. If I was in your position, I’d forget all about it.”
Xander watched Jeff curiously and got for the first time that he was just taking orders. It wasn’t necessarily him that was evil—it might just be the producers.
Buffy was suddenly jerked backward. Both Spike and Oz had stopped and were sniffing the air.
“What?” she asked.
“Fear. Lots and lots of fear,” Spike said. “Even with my lack of senses, it’s impossible to miss this much terror. It smells like… the old days. When the four of us would traipse through Europe.” No one needed clarification that he was referring to Drusilla, Darla and Angelus as his accomplices.
“It’s Wesley,” Oz growled. “He’s just on the other side of this hedge.”
“We’re close,” Kennedy said. Buffy nodded and walked a little faster in the direction they were going.
Faith led the way back through the total six-way crossing and turned left. They were on the second branch.
“So… you don’t know anything?” Xander asked. “Nothing at all?”
Jeff sighed but didn’t answer. He began twiddling his thumbs and hoped someone won soon.
“Is the light evil? Is it a life force? Is it keeping the dimension in tact?”
Nothing. He was pretending he couldn’t hear anything.
Faith’s team started in on their third branch.
Buffy’s team ran into their third dead end in a row. There was only one remaining possibility on this side of the smell of fear. Buffy was resisting the urge to break into a jog.
“How does it send me back to the tribal headquarters? Is it a spell?” Xander kept asking, hoping to annoy Jeff into an answer.
“Look, you’re basically playing twenty questions with yourself here,” Jeff said. “I can’t tell you anything, partially because I don’t know anything, and partially because I’ll be killed if I—” Jeff cut off abruptly. His eyes took on a quality of fear. He blinked hard and looked down. “No more questions, okay?”
Buffy’s team reached the fourth dead end. “Shit,” Buffy said. They stopped, temporarily out of options. Suddenly a noise, like wood breaking, was heard, followed by a distant squeal of delight.
“Probst team,” came Jeff’s distant voice. “Winners of reward!”
The blood drained from Buffy’s face. She swallowed hard and tried to remember to breathe. Suddenly they were all back at the starting clearing, handcuff free. Cordelia was hugging Angel appreciatively. He looked monumentally relieved. Buffy’s team was solemn. Xander didn’t need to ask what happened as he limped over to Buffy and saw her expression.
“Probst Tribe, your canned goods should be at your camp when you arrive. I’ll see both teams back here tomorrow night for the immunity challenge. You’ll need to prepare yourself, so remember to check the mail in the morning to find out what you need to do. Sleep well; you’ll need it.” Jeff left the clearing before either tribe had a chance to. Neither tribe associated with the other as the Probst Tribe filed out.
Xander hugged Buffy, who had begun to cry. “Hey, hey. Listen.” He held her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I was talking to Jeff, and he said some pretty interesting things.” Xander turned away to cough, but he sounded ever so slightly better. “I don’t think Wesley’s dead.”
Buffy looked up. “He said the losing team wouldn’t get their tribemate back in one piece.”
“No, he said the winning team would. That doesn’t mean we won’t. I don’t think Jeff’s as evil as he lets on. He might be… controlled by a demon or something… it’s hard to tell. But I don’t think we should jump to conclusions.” He put an arm around Buffy, mostly for his own physical support. “Let’s get back to camp and we’ll talk.”
Buffy nodded slowly and helped limping Xander out of the circle. The rest of the tribe followed with the exception of Oz, who leaped into the nearest tree to fulfill his wild wolfiness for the night.
Soon Ripper was the only person left in the area. He peered around, chewing on his toothpick again, and referred to the Eyghon tattoo on his arm. He pulled what seemed to be an herbal compound of some kind and started spreading it in a circle on the ground. He sat cross-legged in the middle and began chanting in a language that was clearly not English. Soon the compound lifted and began swirling around Ripper as he chanted. There was a black wind shortly added to the swirl, and soon Ripper had to shout over the noise of the small twister. He stopped chanting abruptly and looked straight up, eyes flaring. The black wind filed into Ripper’s mouth. He flew backwards and ran into a nearby tree. He fell to the ground…
…and soon stood right back up again. He was taller, wider… his eyes had turned the deepest colour purple. His stature was different. The figure that stood was neither Giles nor Ripper.
Eyghon had returned.
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