Disclaimer: Joss owns the characters of BTVS. I
am not making any money off of this fic. Please don't sue me. Beta'd by
AtheneHahn
A/N: Written in answer to Redwolf50's Challenge 109. Challenge details
at the end.
Paradox
by Jackofspikes
Chapter 23
Once Buffy had visibly calmed down, Joyce hesitantly broached the
subject that was lying heavily on everyone's mind. "Was it another
memory change, honey?"
Buffy gave a bitter little laugh and held Spike's arms more firmly
around her. "Oh, yeah," she said, her tone indicating that this one in
particular was a doozy.
"What was it, Buffy?" Giles asked with quiet insistence. "Should we be
concerned about your younger self?"
"Well, she was freaked, but it was more an 'I'm so not gonna let Xander
know, 'cause I don't want to hear the gloating' way...or a 'oh, I have to
share the wigginess of this with Willow' rather than the total hysteria
that was me," Buffy told them with a self-depreciating smirk.
"But why did you act that way, Buffy? What did you see?" Dawn demanded.
She was feeling a little freaked herself, she didn't think she'd ever
seen her sister react in such a way. Not even before she'd been Chosen.
"It's kinda hard to explain," Buffy told them. She knew she had to get
it out in the open, because that was the only way she was ever going to
be able to understand what she herself had seen. "I was...um...the other
Buffy was really excited about the 'Clear Sight' spell, um...her, Willow
and Xander decided to go downtown and grab some ice-cream and check out
what she could see. The ice cream shop is really close to Angel's and
I...er...my younger self thought it would be a good idea to see how the
spell effected him." Buffy took a deep breath, steadying herself before
she continued. "When he opened his door..." Buffy faltered. Her heart
rate increased, as did her breathing.
"It's alright, luv, just take your time." Spike soothed the distressed
blond. Buffy immediately felt calmer; Spike's embrace was like a balm
on an open wound.
Closing her eyes to get the picture clearly in her mind, Buffy
described to them what she had seen. "There was this...like egg-shaped
cage. It was glowing. And then there was this glowing figure next to
the cage. I couldn't see them clearly, but whoever it was seemed to be
poking this stick like thing through the bars. Some of the bars looked
darker then the others...like dirty water. But what was inside the
cage...God..." She shuddered in remembrance. "It was Angel, but it was like
a black hole or something, sucking all the light out of everything that
touched it." Buffy lifted tear filled eyes to her shocked watcher.
"What does it mean, Giles?"
"Oh...er..." Giles turned panicked eyes towards the representative for the
Powers of Good, his look clearly conveyed his message, 'Bloody hell
man, you're supposed to be the expert on dream and vision analysis, you
explain it'.
Gently clearing his throat to gain the attention of the confused blond,
Wolfie waited for her to look at him before explaining her vision.
"What you saw is a manifestation of the curse, Slayer. The parts that
glow are the soul. The being inside the cage is what is left when the
soul is removed. It's clear from what you've said that the only part of
Angel that has any humanity is the soul itself."
"What do you mean by a 'manifestation' of the curse?" Joyce asked
curiously.
"The curse imprisons the vampire within the soul and the cage
represents that prison. The being on the outside of the cage is the
rest of the soul, and the poking of the stick through the bars is the
soul prompting the vampire to feel guilt," Wolfie explained.
"But...he's going insane," Buffy whispered.
Wolfie nodded solemnly in agreement. "Yes, he is."
"And the dark patches that Buffy mentioned?" Jenny felt her dread
rising. She had a very bad feeling about this.
"The soul is being corrupted."
~*~*~
"Buffy, I think you need to tell Giles what you saw," Willow advised
her best friend.
"I will, but please don't say anything in front of Xander; you know how
he gets," Buffy pleaded with the redhead. She loved Xander, but he
could be a serious butthead on occasion.
"Of course not, Buffy. No telling of Xander. My lips are sealed. But
maybe you should talk to Miss Calendar, too. I mean; her ancestors did
the spell in the first place, so she should be able tell you what it
all means." Willow excitedly bounced in her seat. Although she wasn't
excited about the obvious crushage than Xander still had going on for
Buffy- 'cause that was so not something to be excited about- the cool
computer teacher that just happened to do magic was another story. Now that
was something to get excited about!
"What 'what' all means?" Xander asked as he rejoined the girls at their
table in the Ice Cream Emporium. Double chocolate goodness always made
him happy.
"Oh...um, just that Miss Calendar will probably be able to tell us all
about the spell." Buffy smiled innocently at her curious male friend.
"Good idea," Xander replied through a mouthful of ice cream.
~*~*~
"How come everyone else just glows, but with Angel I got the whole
shebang?" Buffy grappled for something to take her mind off the whole
corrupting of soul business.
"It seems you won't have to work too hard on accessing your unused
abilities." Wolfie smiled cryptically.
"My what huh?" Buffy stared at the giant redhead blankly.
"Really! Must you, Buffy?" Giles sighed in exasperation.
Buffy grinned wickedly at her watcher and replied, "oh I must, I must."
Teasing Giles really did make her feel better.
Chuckling quietly at the quick-witted slayer, Wolfie explained, "You
have the ability within you to see the lightness or darkness of each
individual...much like some people can see auras. When you add that
ability to the spell that your lovely friend here has done, you get
what you saw with the Cursed One."
"I miss Tara," Buffy whispered as the mention of auras bought the
gentle Wicca to mind.
Spike's head popped up. "When we get this all figured out, we'll see
what we can do for the little witch, luv." Spike was thinking that a
little road trip out to bloody Podunk County wasn't such a bad idea.
"So...what? She'll be able to tell who's good and who's bad just by
looking at them?" Dawn asked, not at all sure she liked that idea. Dawn
could just see Buffy somehow using it to sabotage her when she was
finally allowed to start dating. It was already gonna be hard enough
with Spike and his tendency to be a little overprotective, she so
didn't need an all-knowing, interfering sister, too.
"Not exactly. The Slayer will be able to tell who she can trust and who
she may have to keep an eye on. I suppose it could be best called
having heightened insight," Wolfie clarified for the young teen.
"Why has Xander's humanity got a dark edge to it?" Buffy asked the
question that had so concerned her younger self.
"I can answer that," Jenny spoke up. "Seeing darkness in the glow of
humanity indicates that the person has the potential for strong
negative emotions like hatred or jealousy. If his humanity is
surrounded, it means that he is letting those emotions rule him. Xander
is going to have to be handled very carefully."
"Perhaps I can help. You are having a meeting tomorrow night to discuss
the matter of our time travellers, right?" Wolfie asked and waited for
conformation before continuing. "Being told by a representative of the
Powers of Good that he is considered the resident expert on the subject
of temporal paradoxes will encourage his positive emotions to
resurface, if we are careful."
Spike gave a hoot of disbelief. "Hang about. You mean the whelp's a
bloody expert on something besides Twinkies and cheese curls?" and
Wolfie sent him a pointed look. "You should know better than anyone
that things aren't always as they seem, vampire."
In spite of Spike's amusement, the idea that Wolfie should accompany
Giles had merit and was quickly agreed with by the rest of the group.
"Well, now that we've covered all that, we should really begin
preparing for the ritual. We only have a few hours before we will need
to leave," Wolfie suggested. "That is, if you've decided to go ahead
with it?"
"Ritual? What ritual?" Buffy asked. Her eyes narrowed as she focused in
on the two individuals that seemed to have a clue as to what the giant
redhead was talking about.
"Oh...er..." Giles hastily removed his glasses and proceeded to clean them
as he stuttered in the face of his Slayer's wrathful expression.
TBC~