Chapter Text
Two nights later, Willow was still glowing from the decadent evening Spike had shown her on her "anniversary". She had gone without a kill for several weeks, and although the familiar twinge of regret had clouded her thoughts afterward, she couldn't deny how good it felt.
She paced in the courtyard, lost in thought.
Contrary to Spike's assessment of his sire, Angel had remembered the anniversary of her turning. Although it had been very low-key, what Angel had said had moved her deeply.
"I can't celebrate your death. I will celebrate everything you've accomplished this year, and wish you hope for the future. I didn't really know what to get you. If I could, I'd give you your life back -- any other gift seems insignificant. But, I hope you'll like this..."
Willow smiled to herself at the image of Angel offering her a bonsai tree. He had been so adorably awkward, but the symbolism hadn't been lost on her.
"Thank you, Angel...for this, and for all of your work at 'pruning' me this year..." Willow had laughed shakily, touched by his show of affectionate pride.
...which had led to a far more carnal display of affection...
Willow was still smiling over her memories when the telephone in Angel's office rang. It surprised her, since Angel's co-workers had yet to abandon their other location and return to the Hyperion. Calls usually went to the other office. Moving back inside, she crossed the lobby to the front desk and answered.
"Angel Investigations," Willow announced, dispensing with Cordelia's chirpy catch-phrase.
"Willow...it's Tara."
"Tara, hi!" Willow's voice brightened. "What's up?"
"Can you come to Sunnydale? Tonight, if possible?" Tara asked anxiously.
Willow grew concerned. "Sure...it might take me a little while to find Spike, since he's the one with the car. But, yeah, I can be there. What's wrong?"
"It's the Hellmouth."
*****
Within half an hour, Willow had found Spike at one of his favorite dives. After another ninety minutes, they stood before the magic shop. A light still shone further back in the store, and Willow knew that the gang was all there, gathered around various worn tomes of prophecies and spells.
Willow rapped on the door and waited, her keen hearing picking up the sounds of shuffling and movement. After a few moments, Giles came into view. He went as still as was possible for a mortal when he saw her through the glass. Although he quickly recovered his composure, Willow had spied the brief knitting of his brow and twitch of his mouth that betrayed an inner pain at seeing her.
He was the last of her human friends to confront her new incarnation face-to-face.
The reserved, bespectacled Watcher unlocked the door and held it open for his visitors. "Hello, Willow. It's been a long time... Spike...good evening."
"So, what's the emergency?" Spike demanded as he strode into the magic shop and glanced around in disgust. He was glad to leave the entire chipped, Scooby-helping epoch of his unlife behind him, and was none too keen on returning to a place that reminded him of how low he had sunk.
If it weren't for his redheaded enchantress, he wouldn't have come.
As Giles walked them back to where the others were waiting, he explained their current dilemma.
"About a month ago, there was a minor tremor in Sunnydale. We assumed it was an earthquake, although Tara said something about it felt strange...almost mystically disturbing. I thought nothing of it, until Buffy observed that the number of vampires and demons she encountered on her patrols had plummeted dramatically. Anya suggested that they had sensed a disturbance in the Hellmouth and had fled the area."
Willow frowned with concern. "Has anything else happened since?"
"No, but we've all been digging through the usual volumes to see if there is a prophecy that I overlooked, or any record of something like this occurring elsewhere," Giles sighed wearily.
They neared the research party seated around a table stacked with books, and Willow smiled as Tara looked up at her. The fair-haired Wiccan rose and came over to give her a hug. When Tara stepped back, Spike clenched his jaw and wrapped his arm possessively around Willow's shoulders. He really didn't want to be here.
Well...he wouldn't have minded the visit to Sunnydale if beating the crap out of these humans were on the agenda. But he'd taken a blood oath...
As if reading his thoughts, Buffy glared back from the far side of the table and asked, "What is he doing here?"
"He's with me," Willow explained calmly. "If I stay, he stays. If he goes, I go...Besides, you might need his help."
"Nice to see you, too, Slayer," Spike sneered. "Be even nicer to see you dead."
"Spike...you promised..." Willow pinched his ass in warning. He yelped, but abandoned his hostile stance. Outwardly, at least.
"If we'd only known. Pinch Deadboy Jr. on the ass and he shuts up," Xander quipped.
Anya shoved him and gave him her most displeased look. "Hey! No pinching anybody's ass but mine!"
Willow giggled. "Hi Xander, Anya."
Xander smiled back. "Hey, Wills."
"How is vampdom? It looks like it's done your wardrobe some good," Anya inquired blithely.
"Anya!" Xander chided her softly.
"What? She always used to wear those hippie, granola outfits. I think black looks much better on her," Anya insisted.
Willow laughed. "I have a lot of crimson and dark green, too."
"Oh, please! Can we get on with it, luv?" Spike whined impatiently.
Willow squeezed his hand sympathetically, and then asked Giles, "Why did you need us to come to Sunnydale? If you're looking for answers about what's wrong with the Hellmouth, I might have been able to help research in Los Angeles."
"Well...it was Tara's idea, actually," Giles confessed.
"Demons seem to be able to detect something, but they're not exactly willing to help the Slayer. I figured what we needed was...well..." Tara stammered awkwardly.
"A friendly demon?" Willow finished for her, grinning.
"Crikey, this is turning into a bad cartoon," Spike grumbled to himself. Willow ignored him.
"I'll try to help, but I should let you know that so far, I haven't sensed anything specific. There's definitely something wrong...I can feel that much...but I'm afraid that doesn't tell you anything you don't already know," Willow observed.
"We don't think other demons have sensed anything terribly specific, either," Giles acknowledged. "Just enough for their instincts to convince them to leave. But Tara thinks that the two of you might enhance your perception with a spell."
Willow raised her eyebrows and beamed affectionately at Tara. "Wow! Good thinking, sweetie."
"I got everything ready for the spell while we were waiting for you to get here," Tara said, blushing. "We could get started now, if it's okay with you."
"Sure, could you do Spike, too?" Willow suggested, thinking that they might as well avail themselves of his demon perception, too.
Her lover couldn't resist the opportunity to make a lewd remark. "What if I don't want her to do me, luv? I'm holding out for Hannah...almost got her persuaded, too...ow!..."
Willow's sharp elbow in his ribs silenced the blond vampire.
Tara briefly explained the spell and the two witches cast it. Willow and Spike felt their eyes burn as the spell took effect, then looked around the shop.
"Don't see anything different," Spike remarked.
"Let's walk around a little bit," Willow suggested, heading for the front door. The rest of the gang followed.
Holding hands as if they were out for an ordinary evening stroll, Willow and Spike proceeded down the sidewalk. They continued toward the cemetery. Several blocks before they reached it, both vampires stopped and gaped.
"Now we know where the bloody fire is," Spike muttered in awe.
"Yeah," Willow nodded, wide-eyed. "Big fire...very big fire..."
Snaking through the asphalt in the middle of the street was a jagged vein of energy. It looked like a forked bolt of lightning embedded in the ground. The rift meandered down the street as far as they could see.
"What is it? What do you see?" Buffy asked.
To the best of her ability, Willow described the disquieting scene before her. As an afterthought she added, "If I didn't know that Sunnydale isn't on a volcano, I'd say it looks a lot like an eruption."
"Can a Hellmouth erupt? Never mind, stupid question," Xander noted.
"You said there was something like an earthquake about a month ago. Could that have affected the Hellmouth?" Willow asked.
"Not to my knowledge," Giles replied. "Considering where it's located, there have been numerous occasions on which California's plate tectonics have disrupted normal activity in Sunnydale without provoking a reaction from the Hellmouth."
"Something else then...some other major disturbance of the Hellmouthy kind..." Buffy declared.
Willow frowned and racked her brains. A half-formed theory remained frustratingly beyond her grasp. At last, in a sudden flash of inspiration, it became clear. "Glory!"
The others jumped slightly, startled by Willow's outburst. The redheaded vampire continued. "Remember how she succeeded in opening the portal briefly before you killed her?"
Buffy nodded grimly. It wasn't a memory she cared to revisit. To close the portal, they'd had to kill Dawn.
True, they had revived her almost immediately afterward with CPR. But that temporary death, so necessary to stop the collapse of all walls between dimensions, had nonetheless been devastating for Buffy. She hadn't been prepared to look upon the lifeless body of her sister so soon after seeing her mother in the same position.
"Well, what if that portal put a strain on the Hellmouth? After all, the Hellmouth is a portal between dimensions, too. So, what if two portals aren't meant to be near each other? What if it's like plate tectonics...two portals collide and, boom, a fault line?"
"Willow...you may have something..." Giles breathed, his mind racing as he considered the ramifications of her theory. "Let's get back to the shop. If what you're suggesting is true, we need to find a way to repair the damage."
A tremor shook the ground, and Willow and Spike saw another thin crack snake off from the main rift of energy.
"Best be quick about it," Spike noted dryly.
*****
With a better idea of what to look for, Giles soon found a similar incident on the small Aegean island of Thera in 1450 B.C.
"Great, so how did they stop it?" Buffy asked.
"They didn't," Giles advised her soberly. "The strain caused a volcanic eruption, and over half of the island was obliterated."
"I'm thinkin' that's not what we want to happen here." True to form, Xander stated the obvious.
"Wait...I think I've found something..." Willow announced excitedly, looking up from her book. "We could channel the natural magic around the Hellmouth to reinforce it. Sort of a realignment of the supernatural balance..."
"That would be a pretty big job," Tara cautioned. "We'd need help."
"We'll call Hannah and Cyrene. With the four of us, I think we could handle it," Willow suggested.
"It's nearly dawn, luv. Won't be able to do this until tomorrow night," Spike reminded her.
"Oh...okay...well, we can call them and then find a place to stay," Willow conceded.
Xander, Anya and Buffy looked at each other at the awkward reminder of their friend's status. They had all been about to propose that Willow stay with them, until the realization that they would be inviting a vampire into their homes hit with full force. That made it painfully clear to each of them how far they had to go in adjusting to Willow's new persona.
Tara, however, had already made her peace with Willow's vampire nature, as the numerous bites on her neck attested. "You can stay with me. Both you and Spike."
"No funny stuff," Spike warned. "Hands off my girl...unless you're up for a threesome."
"Eww, mental image!" Xander protested.
"You don't like threesomes?" Anya frowned in disappointment.
Buffy looked profoundly uncomfortable.
Willow giggled. "He means thank you, Tara."
Willow made a quick call to Hannah and Cyrene, who sleepily agreed to drive up from Los Angeles later that day. Then, she bid farewell to the gang and turned to accompany Tara and Spike to Tara's apartment. Before she could go, Giles' hand on her shoulder made her pause.
"Willow...it's good to have you back..." came his quiet, heartfelt admission. More than once that evening, Giles had been struck by her dedication and her likeness to the old "research girl". He blinked back the tell-tale moisture in his eyes.
When Willow pulled him in for an affectionate hug, his resolve faltered and a solitary, salty drop slid down his cheek.
*****
The following evening, Hannah and Cyrene met the entire gang at the magic shop. The four witches made their preparations for channeling the natural magic of the surrounding environs. Cyrene told Willow that she had consulted her Druid friend in Brittany, Loïc, and he had suggested that they work in proximity to the oldest tree they could find.
"What is it with Druids and trees, anyway?" Spike wondered aloud.
The group made their way to City Hall, where a stately, ancient maple spread its branches far out over the street. Buffy, Giles, Xander and Anya were on hand to deal with any unexpected problems, so that the coven could concentrate its efforts on healing the rift.
Joining hands, Willow, Tara, Hannah and Cyrene invoked the Goddess and then focused on their link to the natural magic around them. The agitated vibrations signaled how greatly the fissure in the Hellmouth had disrupted the mystical balance. The four Wiccans let the magic flow through them, re-directing it, until they could feel the natural harmony restoring itself. They continued like that until, satisfied that they were successful, they released each other's hands and looked around.
"It's working," Spike observed, as he saw the jagged fork of energy slowly begin to knit itself shut. Willow let her eyes wander along the shrinking fissure and nodded in agreement.
"I'm beat," Hannah announced. "That was more intense than yoga."
"Want a neck massage, luv?"
"Stop fixating on my girlfriend's neck," Cyrene chuckled.
"Don't worry, I'll chaperone," Willow promised impishly as the group began walking back to the magic shop.
"Some chaperone..." Hannah giggled as Spike pulled both Willow and Hannah against him.
Xander, Giles, Buffy and Anya followed behind the trio, dumbstruck by their easy familiarity. Buffy slowed to walk beside Cyrene.
"Doesn't that bother you?" Buffy asked her, gesturing toward Spike and Hannah.
"I trust Hannah," Cyrene shrugged amiably. "She's having fun with a little experimentation. But I know her, and she won't let him get any further than a few bites."
Buffy's eyes widened in shock, and she managed to squeak out, "Oh..."
They walked together in silence for a few minutes before Buffy spoke again.
"Can I ask you a...kind of personal question?"
"Sure."
"Don't Wiccans have a code that involves doing no harm?"
"It's the center of our beliefs," Cyrene confirmed.
"Then how...why...?" Buffy stammered, having difficulty finding the right words.
"Why do we accept Willow as she is? Why do we welcome her into our circle?" Cyrene prompted with a smile.
"Something like that," Buffy confessed.
"There's more to Willow than just killing. To reduce her to no more than that would, in a way, be doing harm," Cyrene explained.
"Well...but...killing is a lot more serious than stereotyping someone," Buffy argued, frustrated.
"Yes...so, are you going to destroy every lion and wolf and rattlesnake on the planet?" Cyrene challenged with a bemused smile.
"That's different. Animals just kill to survive," Buffy protested.
"So does Willow. As vampires go, she's pretty restrained," Cyrene countered.
"But she kills humans..." Buffy persisted.
"I see...human life is sacred, whereas other forms of life aren't?" Cyrene observed calmly. "It's that kind of thinking, the belief that human beings are somehow above the rest of nature, that has gotten the world in such a mess. Life and death belong to the order of things. Willow is a part of that. We don't necessarily approve of what she has to do, but we welcome her in communion to remind her of the world she's connected to. If we didn't, what would prevent her from losing all sense of connection to humans, and amusing herself with cruelty like any other vampire?"
They had reached the magic shop, where the others were already inside relaxing. Buffy looked in and saw Willow laughing with Xander, Giles chatting with Tara and Spike, and the blond vampire massaging Hannah's neck. The Slayer felt confused and overwhelmed.
"Coming in?" Cyrene asked her gently.
"I...I need to think..." Buffy murmured, a pained expression on her face. As she backed away, Cyrene watched her go with a sympathetic smile and then entered the shop. She crossed to join Willow, Xander and Anya.
After a few minutes, Xander and Anya fell into playful bickering. While they were preoccupied with each other, Willow leaned over to Cyrene and murmured, "Thanks for everything you said to Buffy."
When Cyrene arched an eyebrow at her, Willow explained with a grin, "Vampiric hearing. I kind of listened in..."
Cyrene smiled back and squeezed her hand.
"Willow...I've been talking with Loïc about our coven...about you. He's told me some interesting things. Among the Druids, there are legends about the old times...way, way back. Loïc says there was a time when witches and vampires interacted with each other more freely. This rigid divide between an imagined, absolute Good and Evil came later, when the established Church drove out pagan practices. Loïc and I have wondered whether this created an enmity that hadn't existed before. Regardless of that, I believe that at one time, witches, vampires, and other mystical beings found a way to co-exist. I want to see if we can't re-capture the earlier ways...I know it sounds awful, like I had ulterior motives for forming a coven with you--"
"It's okay," Willow interrupted. "You don't need to apologize to a vampire for having motives that aren't a hundred percent pure. Mine certainly aren't. I've learned that nothing is that pure."
"Yeah...some of us haven't, though," Cyrene sighed, looking out the store windows in the direction that Buffy had wandered off.
Willow looked out as well, and then back at Cyrene. Giving her hand one, final squeeze, she said to the dark-haired Wiccan, "Thanks, Cyrene. For everything."
*****
Willow found Buffy in the cemetery, standing before her mother's grave. She approached and waited silently beside her former friend.
"Things change so fast," Buffy murmured at last.
"Yeah...they do," Willow agreed.
"I want to capture every moment and make it last, but I can't..." Buffy continued, her eyes glimmering. "I want to be able to believe that everything is as simple as it seemed when I was fifteen, but I can't. I want to keep everyone I love exactly the way they are, but I can't..."
Buffy sniffled, and a fat teardrop spilled over her eyelashes.
"But I can learn to accept good friends when they come along... because they don't come along that often...especially not friends like you..." Buffy finished with a shaky, tearful smile.
Willow didn't try to hold back her own tears. Even if Buffy's confession hadn't moved her, her ability to sense the Slayer's physical condition would have been her undoing.
They stood together, vampire and Slayer, in a cleansing embrace.
"Buffy, my dear," Willow chuckled, "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
