FIC: She's Gone (17C17C)

Faith groaned as consciousness returned. Raising her thumping head, she forced her eyes open and saw her Watcher stood in the doorway. "Yo G."

G's eyes didn't shift from glaring at Willow, his face scarily grim. "Uh oh. " Willow rose, wiping away blood leaking from her nose. Faith tried to follow suit, but found her legs refusing to work. "Daddy's home. I'm in trouble now."

"You have no idea. You have to stop what you're doing," the Englishman said.

"Uhh, sorry. Can't do that. I'm not finished yet." Willow started forward.

"And neither am I," G gestured at the Wicca. "Stay down."

Faith's eyes widened as the witch's legs buckled under her, knocking her to the floor. "Fuck me G, how did you that?"

Red laughed. "That's borrowed power. No way is it gonna be strong enough-."

"I'm here to help you," Giles interrupted.

"Help me?" Red snorted. "A weakling like you? But, hey, if you'd like to watch ... I mean, that's what you Watchers are good at, right? Watching? Butting in on things that don't concern you?"

"You concern me, Willow. Stay on this path and you'll wind up dead."

"Red, listen to him." Faith pleaded. "He's talking sense."

She felt an invisible hand constrict her throat, cutting her words off. "Be quiet!" As she gasped for air, Willow turned back to G, a sneer firmly in place. Willow rose to her feet.

G cast her a concerned look before directing his attention back to the Wicca. "Stay down." G gestured but Red blocked him.

"No." Red laughed. "You think you're in control here? That you're the teacher? Buckle up English!" Suddenly a magic light illuminated the Wicca's body, and her eyes blackened again as a humming noise begins to rise in pitch and volume. "Asmodea, bring forth—"

"Vincire!"

Green energy shot from the Englishman's hand, forming a band around Willow's torso, pinning her arms against her body "What? No! Get off!" Willow struggled. "Solvo, libero... " Giles continued holding out his hand toward her. Suddenly Willow threw back her head and closed her eyes, apparently unconscious. Her body floated up into the air and hovered about a foot off the ground.

Faith gasped as air returned to her lungs. "What. Did. You. Do?" she wheezed.

"Contained her and her powers within a binding field. It puts her in a kind of ... stasis for the time- " Faith lunged to the Watcher engulfing him a hug, her body shaking with fear. Giles patted her on the shoulder. "It's okay, it's alright."

"This... " They both turned to see Willow glaring at them both. "won't hold me ... forever."

"Oooh," Faith leapt away from G when she realised Clem and Dawn were in the room with them, not wanting her image to be tarnished by weakness. Clem groaned as he climbed to his feet. "What happened?"

After picking up a still stunned Dawn, Giles led his charge through to the training room, leaving an insistent Clem to start cleaning up, although in his opinion it wouldn't hurt to have 'The Changing Rooms' team at hand to get to work on the bloody place. "I came as soon as I heard."

"The Council?" Faith queried.

Giles snorted, remembering his meeting with the pillocks. "The Council haven't a clue." He lent on the gym horse. "No, there's an extremely powerful coven in Devon. They sensed the rise of a dangerous magical force here in Sunnydale. A dark force, fuelled by grief."

"Willow."

Giles nodded. "That's when the coven ... imbued me with their powers."

"And sent you here to bring Red down."

After a second he nodded. "If all else failed yes."

Xander looked at his dashboard. "Faster!" he implored, the car screeching around a corner, narrowly tailgating a parked van, visions of both Willow and Faith flashing before him. They had to be alright, they had to be.
Clem shook his head as he cleaned up some of the debris on the floor. "It's a mess and no mistake," he wiped at his eye. Sweet Tara killed. "Not right," he muttered. Willow had problems, but this wasn't her fault. And he'd been so scared that Faith was going to get hurt. Sighing slightly, he put some derbies into a small basket and carried it toward the counter, past the still floating Willow.

"Clem."

He swallowed at the voice in his head before turning to face Willow. "Hi Willow," he raised a hand to wave at the Wicca only to drop it to his side and shuffle nervously.

"I need you, Clem. I need you to do something for me," Willow said inside his head.

"I'm angry at you missy, wrecking Mr. Giles' business, hurting Faith like this." He shook his head stubbornly. "I know what you're trying to do. And I hate to burst your bubble, but that mind control mojo doesn't work on Valusians, so why don't you just-."

"Stop talking and listen."

Clem gulped. "Okay."

"You need to free me."

Clem shook his head. "No, I'm wise to your tricks. I know all about jedis, I've watched Star Wars three times with Faith." He turned away and started towards the training room.

"You don't want to call out to them." Clem was compelled to stop. "You want to take away this binding spell."

Clem smiled as he turned away, relieved. "I can't. I don't know how."

"I do. Let me tell you."

"What's gonna happen to Red?" Faith queried. She was honest enough to admit she didn't care much, but it would hurt X like hell.

Giles grimaced. "Well, the coven is working on a ... way to extract her powers without killing her. And should she survive, you ought to know Faith, that there's no guarantee she'll be as she was. Willow has killed a human being." Faith nodded. In her case she was a better person, she'd learnt to trust thanks to Angel, but Red might be different. "How will she be able to live with herself?"

"I wouldn't worry about that."

Faith looked at G, then started forward to attack the witch stood in the gym doorway. The wicca lifted her hand and sent a bolt of magic at Faith. Faith grunted as the bolt hit her, flinging her into the far wall.

"Vincire! " Heart racing, Giles held out a hand toward Willow, sending another binding spell toward her.

Willow waved her hand casually. "Solutum."

The binding field dissolved. Giles lowered his hand. Willow took a few steps into the room. "Fool me once... " The knives hung on the wall behind Willow flew off the wall.

"No, Willow..."

Willow shook her head. "Shame on you. "

The knives started to fly towards him. Waving a hand, he sent a practice dummy flying over between him and the knives. Willow glared at him even as he sent a ball of magic back at her. "Excudo!"

The ball smashed into Willow and threw her through the brick wall behind her and into the main Magic Box area, slamming into a pillar that supporting the upper loft, burying her in a shower of debris. After a second the debris was flung up, and Willow rose to her feet, her clothes dirty but uninjured. "That all you got, Jeeves?"

Giles gasped, her power was terrifying. "'Cause, I could stand to go another ten rounds. Whereas ... you can barely stand. "

"Your powers ... may be undeniably greater. But I can still hurt you if I have to."

The Wicca shook her head. "Boy, you just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me now."

Giles nodded sadly. "I see. If you lose someone you love ... the other people in your life who care about you become meaningless. I wonder what Tara would say about that."

Willow laughed. "Ask her yourself."

Willow lifted her hand and sent a bolt of magic toward the Englishman. Faith threw herself at Giles, knocking him out of the way. The magical blast destroyed the loft's stability, sending the whole thing came tumbling down on top of them, Faith shielding the Watcher with her body.

"Well look at the jailbird, so desperate to make up she has to save everyone. Not that she cares." Willow shook her head. "No, she wants to prove she's as good as Buffy. Newflash, you'll always be in her shadow." Faith flipped the red-head off. "That's naughty." Faith screamed as Willow sent a bolt of energy through the busty brunette's body. Willow cackled.

"Willow, what you're doing is wrong," Giles pleaded.

Willow shook her head. "You're such a hypocrite. Waltzing in here with your borrowed magicks. So you can tell me what? Magic's bad? Behave? Be a good girl?" Willow chuckled. " I don't think you're in any position to be telling me what to do, Ripper." Suddenly she had Giles pinned against the ceiling, groaning in pain. "Do you?" Willow gestured with one finger and Giles fell to the floor. He hit the floor with a thud and just laid there, unable to move, blood pouring from his face. "I remember thinking you had all the answers, that you were so wise. That I had so much to learn from you."

"Willow... " Giles groaned.

"But I was wrong." She gestured again. Giles flew up to the ceiling, hitting it with bone-crunching impact. "You were jealous. Just couldn't bear that I was the one with power. That's why you were always telling me to slow down, because you hated the idea of me-."

"Bitch!"

Willow gestured at Faith as the Slayer lunged at her, propelling the Bostonian into the far wall. "I see that the little slut needs obedience training," she smiled at the groaning Slayer lying crumpled on the floor. "Something for me to look forward to."

"Incurso!"

Green magic flew from Giles, hitting her in the chest and knocking her back a step. At the same moment, Faith leapt at her, but she swayed away from the Slayer and flung her face-first into the counter. The brunette's limp body hit the floor with a thud and stayed there. "That ... was rude! Now I forgot what I was saying."

"Perhaps you're not as strong ... as you think you are." Giles gasped. "You're expending way too much of your mystical energy to maintain your powers. At this rate you're going to ... burn out. And up."

"Blah blah blah." Willow dropped Giles back to the floor.

Moving like a much older man, Giles crawled up to his knees. "You ... you need to stop."

Willow smiled. "What I need," she grabbed hold of Giles' shoulders. "Is a little pick-me-up." She began to glow with a grey aura. Giles moaned. Satisfied she let her victim go, allowing him to fall on his back. "Whoa. Head rush." She stumbled to the floor and began panting in pleasure. "Wow. Whoa. Who's your supplier? This is ... wow. " She giggled. "It's incredible. I am so juiced . It's like I, I'm connected to everything ." Her smile faded. "Oh. Oh my God. All the emotion. All the pain. No, it, it's too much. It's just too much." She rolled into a shaking foetal ball.

"Willow," Giles took a long, rattling breath. "It doesn't have to be ... like that. You ... you can stop it. "

Willow slowly rose. "Yeah. I, I can. I have to stop this. I'll make it go away."

The Watcher's swollen eyes widened. "Willow..."

"Your suffering has to end." A cloud of magic like a tornado gathered around her. "Goodbye."

"Noooo!"

"Ooh, that hurts…" Dawn groaned as she awoke, her head thumbing. Ignoring the pain coursing through her body, she staggered to her feet and stumbled through into the main room. Her eyes widened at the carnage she found there. "Giles!" In a half-second, she was knelt beside the Englishman. "Giles!" She shook his arm slightly.

"Don't shout," the Watcher reproved. The middle-aged man looked around. "Faith?"

"Oh no," Dawn hurried over to the Slayer. "She's got a pulse."

"Thank god," Giles coughed up blood. "She'll be alright." Giles' face contorted with fear. "If we live. Willow took the magic I had and ... now ... I know where she is. I can feel what ... Oh, God."

"Giles," Dawn hurried back over to the Watcher, "you have to rest."

"Dawn," Giles squeezed her arm, his grip so weak, "I'm dying."

"No you're not," Dawn shook her head, tears blurring her vision. "I won't let you."

"Dear child," her guardian smiled weakly. "It was the only way. I thought we there'd be a chance. I'm linked to her, I know where Willow is. She's going to finish the world."

Dawn laughed and shook her head. Giles must have banged his head bad. "You're wrong, Willow's not that strong."

"She is," Giles insisted, his face growing greyer. "And only one person can stop her."

"Faith's out cold Giles," Dawn was starting to get scared.

"No," Giles shook his head then groaned. "Not her. Him."

Dawn gasped as she looked up to see a figure stood in the doorway. "Xander?"

"Derax, Acklan, Arsan, Daran."

As she chanted a huge steeple began rising out of the dusty ground some thirty yards away, pushing through the earth and rising up at an angle. Willow held out her hands toward it, dragging it out of the ground by sheer force of will.

As the steeple continued to rise, stone carvings of various monsters became visible on its surface. At the very top of the steeple there was a pentacle topped by a trident .

Finally the last of the steeple escaped the ground and righted, standing proudly upright.

"Got a hell of a set of spring-cleaners-," Xander's voice trailed off when he noticed the crumpled bodies. "Faith!"

He hurried towards his girl-friend. "Xander, no." He looked up at Giles' groan, his mouth opening in protest. "Listen to me!" the Englishman's voice trailed away in spluttering coughs. "If you don't leave Faith to us, she'll die anyway. We all will."

Xander swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"Oh god!" Giles' eyes widened in horror as if seeing something that none of them could see. "Willow's at the satanic temple on Kingman's Bluff."

Xander laughed and shook his head, relieved. "You're wrong G-Man," he glanced at Faith, longing to hold her in his arms. "There's no temple on Kingman's Bluff. "

Giles grimaced. "There was once. Proserpexa. A being way up there in the demonic hierarchy. Her followers intended to use her effigy to destroy the world. They all died when the temple got swallowed up in the big earthquake of '32. Willow intends to drain the planet's life force, and funnel its energy through Proserpexa's effigy and, and burn the Earth to a cinder."

"She can't," Xander shook his head. "My Willow wouldn't…"

"She's not your Willow anymore son," Giles coughed. "But you can stop her."

"Kill Willow?" Xander shook his head. "I haven't-."

"No of course not," Giles spasmed.

"Giles," Dawn broke in, her voice soft and trembling.

"I'll rest in a moment dear," Giles' eyes stayed fixed on him. "You have to show her the way back."

"But Faith," he looked at his unconscious girl-friend.

"We'll take care of her. GO!"

Shocked by the note of command in the Watcher's voice, he was in the car and driving before he realised.

"Proserpexa ... let the cleansing fires from the depths burn away the suffering souls and bring sweet death." Willow smiled as lightning crackled between her and the statue of Proserpexa. Eyes widening with the power coursing through her, lightning sizzling around her, she stepped towards the steeple, unmindful of the shaking ground and the tornado whirling around her.

"Hey, black-eyed girl. Whatcha doin'?"

Willow stopped, surprised by the figure stood between her and the temple. "Get out of here Xander."

It was an effort, but Xander managed to keep his voice under control. "Can't do that Willow. You know what you're doing is wrong."

"WRONG!" He screamed as a bolt of energy hit his body, causing him to spasm uncontrollably. He was sure he felt a rib crack. "THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG! ONLY POWER!"

"You might want to lower the tone girl," he quipped even as he spat up blood. Great, internal bleeding. "Giving me a headache. You're not the only one with powers, you know. You may be a hopped-up uber-witch, but ... this carpenter can dry-wall you into the next century."

"Always with the jokes!" Willow raised a dismissive hand, flinging Xander to the base of the temple. He groaned as the back of his head hit the ground.

Faith cursed as she awoke, her head thumping and her body throbbing. She looked around the wrecked shop and grinned. "Where's the bitch gone?" she queried. "I was hoping for the next round?"

"Somehow I doubt that," Giles smiled at her before turning serious. "You can't stop her. Only Xander can."

"What!" Faith began to rise, hating her body's rubbery weakness. "No fucking way."

"Faith!" Dawn flinched at Giles' roar and she had to admit she was a little intimidated. "You trust me?"

After a second she nodded reluctantly. "More than anyone 'cept Fang and X."

"Exalted company indeed." Giles smiled wearily. "Thank you my dear. Then trust me it has to be this way. Your interference would only jeopardise matters."

Xander sat up at the base of the temple, his ribs aching. Taking a rattling breath, he staggered to his feet. "You can't stop this," Willow screamed.

"You really hurt Faith you know."

"I know!" Willow screeched. "I wanted to!"

"Kinda figured that," he winced, bent over, and spat out some more blood. "Thing is, I forgive you." He slowly straightened, pain shooting through his body. "I love you. And if this is going down. You've been my best friend my whole life. World gonna end ... where else would I want to be?"

"Is this the master plan?" Willow sneered. "You're going to stop me by telling me you love me?"

"Well, I was going to walk you off a cliff and hand you an anvil, but ... it seemed kinda cartoony."

"Still making jokes," Willow scowled.

"Not joking. I know you're in pain. I can't imagine the pain you're in." Xander guessed that some day soon he would, what with Faith being the Slayer. Pushing that fear aside he continued. "And I know you're about to do something apocalyptically evil and stupid, and hey." He spread his arms to his sides. "I still want to hang. You're Willow."

"You're an idiot!"

Xander bit back the scream that bubbled to his lips as the Wicca sent another bolt through him. "First day of kindergarten. You cried because you broke the yellow crayon, and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far, ending the world, not a terrific notion. But the thing is? Yeah. I love you. I loved crayon-breaky Willow and I love ... scary veiny Willow. So if I'm going out, it's here. If you wanna kill the world? Well, then start with me."

"You think I won't?"

Xander swallowed. "I doesn't matter. I'll still love you."

"Shut up!"

Willow gestured at him. Xander moaned as an invisible claw slashed his face. He lifted his hand to his face, it came away bloody. He raised his head to Willow. "I love you." Willow gestured again. He doubled up and fell to his knees, slashed across the chest. After a few seconds he rose. "I ... love y-."

"Shut up!" Willow raised her hand. The blast that hit him, staggered him but didn't have the force of the earlier ones. Willow looked at her hand, a puzzled expression on her face.

Taking his chance, he staggered forward. "I love you, Willow."

"Stop!" Willow hit him with another blast but this one he barely felt. Tears began to roll down his best friend's face.

"I love you."

"Stop." Willow began to cry. As Xander reached her, she began hitting him with her fists. Xander winced as the blows hit, but took them. After a while Willow fell into his arms.

"I love you."

As Willow continued to cry in Xander's arms, the veins faded from her face and her hair returned to its usual red. "I," the Witch sobbed into his chest. "Love. You. Too."

Faith looked up in amazement when a suddenly revitalised Giles rose. "What's the sitch?" she queried.

"He did it," the Englishman replied gleefully.

"You mean Xander stopped her?" Dawn asked. "That's amazing isn't Faith? Faith?"

Faith couldn't answer, tears of pride rolling down her face. Her baby had saved them.

The End