Restoration
Sequel
to “Confrontation”
by Calli
It was night before the doctors at the hospital allowed Buffy to leave. Even then it had taken Spike over an hour to persuade them to let him take her home. In exasperation he had momentarily flashed his game face at them, which went almost unnoticed by the doctor, then growled menacingly, causing the doctor to agree. Helping Buffy into the DeSoto, he grinned all the way to Giles’. You’ve still got it in you mate, he thought gleefully. People are terrified of you! And now I can kill again! He glanced over at the slayer and sighed. I guess killing demons isn’t that bad.
Pushing open the door of Giles’ condo, the pair was met with a torrent of questions.
“Where have you been?”
“We were getting worried! We thought something terrible might have
happened.”
“What have you done to your arm?”
“Buffy, you’re hurt! What happened?”
“Chaos demon,” Buffy lied. They
wouldn’t approve if I told them the truth, she thought. She looked over at Willow, who had her head
turned away, blushing. Willow will
find out sooner or later. She may already know. We have to talk.
“Buffy?” Giles was talking to her.
“Huh?”
“I said, did you kill it?”
“Kill what?”
“The chaos demon.”
“Oh yeah. Totally killed it. Cut off its head.”
“Very well. Now, we must get on.” Giles motioned to the Orb on the table.
“Yes,” Buffy agreed, relieved at the change of subject.
They all sat in a circle around the table. Willow stared a little
awkwardly at Spike, who was sitting up close to her friend. I can’t do this, she thought, feeling
panicked. Not now there’s
Buffy...and Spike. “Uh, Guys?” she
spoke up. “I-I’m not doing the curse.”
The rest of the gang looked at her, puzzled. “Um, you see...Tara’s doing it!”
Everyone turned to look at her girlfriend, who gave Willow an astonished
look. “M-me? Oh, I don’t know, Willow. I-I can’t do that I -- I
don’t even know the vampire you want to curse, I...” Tara stuttered as she
tried to talk herself out of it, but the redhead gave her a puppy-dog
expression, and got her own way. “It’ll be okay, Tara. Just read from the
book.”
They all settled down again, and Xander lit the candles around the Orb,
as Wesley waved some lighted herbs over the objects, leaving a trail of smoke
behind, and the others looked on. Buffy stared at the Orb, wondering how
something so tiny could do such a great thing, and worrying that it may all go
wrong. She looked up at Spike. What
if he gets his soul back? she asked herself.
Seeing the worry in her eyes, the vampire squeezed her hand reassuringly. “It’s okay pet,” he whispered into her ear, as Tara began to chant, Willow at her side reading the English.
“Quod perditum est, invenietur.”
“What is lost, return.”
“Not dead, nor of the living. Spirits of the interregnum, I call. Gods
bind him. Cast his heart from the evil...realm. Return. I call on...” Tara
paused, and looked up. When she looked back down, a strange look had come over
her face, as she began to chant rapidly. “Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte...”
Willow looked shocked and then worried. “This happened before,”
whispered Cordelia, trying to reassure her. “You did this too.”
“Nici mort nici al fiintei, Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i transporta, sufletul
la el.” Tara’s whole body was shaking as the voice coming from her grew louder,
and the orb began to glow. “Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!” The possessed witch
stood up and cried, “Acum!” The orb
glowed brighter and brighter, then faded. The candles were extinguished
themselves and Tara collapsed on the floor, gasping for a breath.
“Uh, did that work?” Buffy asked a little nervously.
Angelus stood in an alleyway, drinking the blood of a young man who he
happened upon. The man struggled, but the vampire’s strong grip on his neck
didn’t lessen as he drunk to his health, until a glow appeared momentarily in
his eyes. Dropping the man to the floor, he blinked, unaware of his
surroundings for a moment, and looked around. Realization hit him. His game
face morphed back into that of Angel, and as if a floodgate had been opened,
the memories of the past two days returned to him, and he dropped to the floor
next to the dying man, sobbing.