Buffy walked slowly in the direction of Giles' house. Her date with Riley had gone...well, just say that she hadn't felt the sparks she had expected to feel on their first, real, no-demon-hunting date. She chuckled to herself. Heh, imagine, someone who has seen what he's seen, and doesn't believe in magic? She could imagine Willow's incredulous expression when Buffy would tell her. Willow... The thought of her friend waiting for her at Giles' house made her pick up the pace a bit. She found herself leaving Willow's side more reluctantly, and returning more quickly all the time. We've been through a lot together, Willow and me... Buffy thought, with a smile. Nobody understands me like my Will. Especially Riley.
The Slayer turned down Giles' block, and immediately froze. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't even blink her eyes. Panic gripped her. Out of nowhere came a voice, gravelly and disembodied:
"You should not meddle in affairs which do not concern you, Slayer."
A figure stepped into view, dark as a shadow. Heavily cloaked, it strongly reminded Buffy of the Emperor from Star Wars. Only bearded, and so much more threatening.
"I will warn you only this once. If you value your existence, and that of your friends, stay away."
"BUFFY!"
The cry made the figure whirl around in place. Buffy strained to hear...People were calling her name, and they were getting closer. Her blood began to pound in her ears, her inability to breathe starting to catch up with her. She could only watch as the hooded figure shimmered before her eyes. A crow stood where the figure once was, and took off into the sky. The spell released almost instantly, and Buffy was on her knees, gasping for breath when her friends found her.
Willow ran up to Buffy, panic in her voice. "Buffy? Are you ok, what happened?" She put her arms around her friend.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Buffy gasped out, still catching her breath. "But I think we must've hit a nerve."
Giles wiped sweat from his brow, and said, "Ok, let's go back to my house. Buffy needs to rest, and I think we should all discuss this."
Willow saw Buffy's fear, and placed a hand on her arm. "Hey," she whispered to her friend, "whatever he is, we can handle it. We can do it, ok?" Buffy smiled at Willow; she had such faith in her Slayer, Buffy would die before she'd ever let her down. "I know I can count on you, Will, for anything," she said softly. After a moment, Buffy asked louder, "So, what happened? How did you know I was in trouble?"
Giles cleared his throat, and said, "Willow knew. She bolted up out of her chair, said that you were in danger, and ran out."
Xander nodded, "Yeah, she just kinda took off, yelling that you were in trouble. What I wanna know is, how the heck did you know?" All eyes in the room turned to look at Willow, with the notable exception of Spike's. He was busy crumbling up crackers into his mug of blood.
Willow shifted under the stares of her friends. "Uh, well, I dunno, I just felt like something was wrong, probably some kind of Wicca thing."
Giles took off his glasses, and started polishing them on a handkerchief. "Well, yes, I'm sure that was it. At any rate, between the symbol that Willow found and the encounter Buffy just experienced, I believe I know a fair bit about what's going on now."
He walked over to his writing desk and held up the writing tablet with the symbol Willow had drawn. "This," Giles began, "is a triskele. It's a very common Celtic symbol, usually associated with protection."
"Protection, huh? It doesn't look like it worked, at least for the dead guy," Xander said.
"Yes, well," Giles continued, "it's usually found around grave mounds and Druidic sacred sites."
"So, what we've got here is an evil, human sacrificing Druid?" Buffy asked.
"Well, actually a warlock, I daresay, would be a better term for him," Giles corrected. "Druids were the protectors of their people, their judges and spiritual leaders. That doesn't seem to be what this person wants."
"What does he want, Giles?" Willow asked.
"Well, I've done a bit of research; it seems that tonight begins a very sacred day to most Western religions, the Celtic in particular."
Buffy thought for a moment. "Groundhog day?"
Giles sighed, exasperatedly. "No, not that. At sundown tonight traditionally begins the festival of Candlemas, also known as St. Brigit's Day, also known to the Celts as Imbolc."
"Oh!" Willow piped up, "I've heard of that! It's a Wiccan holiday now, too. A holiday dedicated to a Celtic goddess named Brigid."
Giles nodded, "Quite right, Willow. There was a very powerful but little-used ritual which would confer the, um," the Watcher flipped pages in a book, "the 'gifts of Brigid' to the Druid performing the rite. Apparently it would confer such great power that it was only used in the direst of emergencies. Once it was used to stop a Roman invasion of Ireland."
"But," Willow protested, "I thought the Romans never invaded Ireland."
Giles nodded. "Quite right. The Druid who had the power used it to rain down fire on two dozen Roman warships, halting the invasion."
"That's a lot of power," Buffy said, somberly. "So, how do we stop him?"
"Well, it won't be easy," Giles replied.
"When is it ever?" Xander asked no one in particular.
"We need to find the grove he's using to complete the ritual. Now that he's made the sacrifice, he needs to perform the ritual and summon the goddess. Unfortunately, I haven't the foggiest idea how to find him." Giles removed his glasses again, massaging the bridge of his nose.
"If he needs a place with a lot of power, won't he go to the Hellmouth?" Xander asked.
"The Hellmouth is a powerful gateway to the demon plane, but its energy is not necessarily acceptable for magic use," Giles corrected.
"I know a spell," Willow began, "a divination spell."
Buffy looked at her friend, quizzically. "Once more in English, Will?"
"It's a searching spell. It will give us a trail to the most powerful grove in the area. He'll need a strong one to perform the summoning, and he won't go back to his last one. I can cast the spell, we'll find him, and kick some warlock butt."
Buffy looked over at her friend, her eyes giving a worried look. "Will, I can't ask you to--"
Willow interrupted her friend. "Buffy, I know. But I know what the risks are, and I want to help you with this. You'll need my help."
Buffy smiled at her best friend. "You're great, you know that?"
Giles cleared his throat softly, and said, "Yes, well I think it would be best now if Buffy and Willow rested before this evening. We'll stay in touch in case you need anything. If I find out anything more, I'll let you know immediately."
The girls nodded. Buffy took Willow's hand and the pair left. Giles watched them leave. Sorceress and Slayer... he thought. How much more powerful would they become? He stared at the recently-closed door, lost in thought.
"No...He just seems so...I dunno, naive I guess. Like he thinks he knows everything, like he has an answer for everything, but there's so much he doesn't know." Buffy shrugged.
"Are you...disappointed?" Willow asked. She had gotten familiar with the quiet heartache she experienced whenever Buffy talked about one of her dates.
"I guess so...Well, part of me is. But part of me is kinda relieved." Buffy fell silent.
"Relieved?" Willow asked quietly.
"I guess I'm relieved I don't have to try to make it work with yet another mysterious guy who doesn't really understand me," Buffy replied. "Nobody understands me like my Will anyway," Buffy said, grabbing Willow's hand and smiling at her.
"Yep, that's me, I'm just an understandin' fool, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's understanding, yessir'ee..." Willow replied, blushing. Her heart beat almost painfully in her chest.
Buffy looked over at Willow. The sun had caught her hair, highlighting it deep red and auburn. She is the most breathtakingly beautiful woman on Earth, Buffy thought. She knew that kind of thinking about her best friend should bother her, but she was past caring. She had had thoughts like that for some time now, but she had always done a good job of suppressing them. At first, for the sake of Oz and Willow's relationship; then Oz had left, following some sort of werewolf-ish desire to be alone, and that had devastated Willow. She could have told Willow then, but she was sure that a relationship with the Slayer was NOT in Willow's best interest.
Not that she hadn't slipped, mind you. She had told Willow that she loved her; it had come out so naturally, so easily in response to seeing Willow hurting. But Willow had taken it for another sign of their close friendship, which was probably just as well. Buffy sighed. This was the kind of stuff that happened, when you lived on a Hellmouth.
The two girls walked in silence for awhile. They reached the UCS campus, and started heading toward Stevenson Hall. The whole time, Willow was thinking furiously.
I should tell her. What? That's crazy. NO, I should tell her. This is the perfect time. C'mon, Rosenberg, time to grow up... "Buffy." Willow was the first to break the silence. "I...kinda have a confession to make."
"Oh? And what does that paragon of virtue, Ms. Willow Rosenberg have to confess, hmm?" Buffy teased.
Willow smiled. "Well, it's just that...When you said that things weren't working out with Riley, well, part of me didn't hate that."
Buffy arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Hey, Willow, if you're looking to take a shot at Riley, don't let me stop you. He's free and clear, and you have my blessing. Slayer honor." Buffy smiled, and crossed her heart.
Willow sighed with exasperation. "Why do people always assume that? No, what I wanted to tell you--"
"BUFFY!"
The girls turned and saw Riley jogging up toward them. "Hi Willow. Buffy, can we talk about lunch?"
"Um, sure Riley, I have something I want to talk to you about anyway. I'll meet you back at the room and we can talk more then, ok Will?"
Willow sighed inwardly. "Sure Buffy! No problem." She watched as Buffy walked away, Riley by her side. "I've waited this long, what's a little longer..." she murmured.
Buffy smiled. "I understand. Thanks. I'm actually glad you found me, I wanted to tell you something."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I wanted to tell you today, because something has come up, and I don't know...Well, I wanted to tell you in case I didn't see you again."
"Didn't see me again?" Riley looked at her, concerned. "Buffy, I thought we talked about the whole 'morbid attitude' thing."
"We did, but I'm facing something pretty darn serious, and I can't deny the fact that I may not come back!" Buffy shook her head. "Look, this isn't the way I wanted to do this..."
"What is it now, yet another convergence of mystical forces that causes the known universe to get sucked into an evil dimension or something?" Riley looked exasperated.
"What? No, what...Forget it, you don't understand. You can't understand." Buffy turned angrily, and started walking away.
"Buffy..." Riley caught up, and stepped in front of her. "Buffy, look, you can't just throw around this mystic mumbo jumbo, and expect me to believe it, I'm a scientist..."
"No, you're a psychology major. There's a big difference." Buffy poked a finger into his chest, hard, almost knocking him back. "You hide in your little bunkers, and do your little Dr. Mengele experiments, and pretend that all the world's problems can be solved by your hi-tech weapons. But you know what? They can't. They can't stop the prophecies, and they can't stop the world from coming to an end." Buffy took a deep breath, and a step back. "That's my job." She left, heading straight for Stevenson Hall.
Riley stood there for a moment, speechless.