TITLE: Magic 2/14
AUTHOR: Rari Coss
DISCLAIMER: It all belongs to Joss, the real king of the world, the WB, UPN, Fox, Mutant Enemy and anybody else who feels they own it. Im just borrowing, lost in admiration, and then giving them back, memories wiped clean.
FEEDBACK: Absolutely.

The next morning Giles opened his eyes. He lay there for a minute trying to orient himself. His eyes opened wide when he realized that he was still alive. He jumped up. He felt fine. He wasn’t even drowsy. He was familiar with the drug he had taken. A fourth of those pills should have done the trick. There was no reason he should still be alive. He walked into the bathroom and picked up the empty pill container. He read it again. He didn’t understand.

He faced the mirror, hands leaning on the counter. He looked at himself in the mirror. He felt no relief at still being alive. He looked at his face. He looked as if he were twenty-five again. The same age he was when he summoned Eghyon. He supposed there was a certain rhyme and reason to the magic bringing him back to this age. He had certainly been at his magical peak then. He turned his head slowly. His hair had continued to grow; it was past his shoulders now. There was no gray left.

As he looked at himself he realized that even in the year he’d been here that he hadn’t aged at all. He snickered. He spoke out loud. “Figures I’ve found the fountain of youth now when all I want to do is die.” Suddenly he felt a surge of panic. He wondered again why the pills hadn’t worked, afraid that he knew the answer. He stared for another minute in the mirror hating his youthful appearance. He wanted his old face back; he wanted his life back. He punched his fist into the mirror, into his reflection. He watched as his face fragmented, pieces distorting his appearance.

He pried a jagged piece of mirror loose. He gritted his teeth and he jammed it into his wrist. When he finally bit in deep enough the blood began to spurt. He laid his wrist in the sink laughing at himself and his need for cleanliness. He watched himself bleed, he watched himself bleed for a long time until finally it stopped. He didn’t feel faint; he didn’t feel anything at all. He looked down at his wrist and he could hardly see where he had cut himself when a few minutes ago his wrist had been badly lacerated.

His heart was racing. He looked at himself in the broken mirror again. He spoke his fear. “The magic won’t let me die.” He repeated the sentence over and over again. “The magic won’t let me die.” He walked back into the main room. He looked around. He would be here forever. He fell to his knees, pounding the floor, screaming out his frustration and terror.

He stopped eating that day. He took the food but then just threw it away. His body didn’t care. The magic fed him. He went without eating for a month and it didn’t affect him at all. He spent half of his days pacing up and down in the small room, the other half staring out the window. He had moments when he lost his hold on his sanity. He started seeing Willow.

The first time he saw her she was standing underneath one of the trees. He called out to her. “Willow, I’m here.” When she didn’t respond he grew agitated. “Willow, Willow, it’s me, it’s Giles, I’m over here.” He pushed his hands between the bars and hammered at the glass. He hit it over and over until it finally shattered. He broke off the pieces until the window frame was clear of glass. He called again to her, he yelled at her, he threatened her but she wouldn’t come to him. His sense of abandonment when even Willow ignored him was so complete he could feel his heart shattering into a thousand pieces just like the glass. He fell to the floor, weeping.

He woke the next morning still on the floor. He couldn’t remember at first why he was there. When he did he sprang up and looked outside but Willow was no longer there. As he stood under the shower he realized that he was going mad. He knew he had to be killed. If he couldn’t control his mind, the magic would. He dried himself off and got dressed. He walked back into the main room and spoke to the camera. “You need to come and kill me. I’ll be dangerous soon.” Throughout the rest of the day he repeated some variation of his message on a regular basis. He waited for someone to come but no one did. He wondered if after all this time they had just shut his cameras off. Out of sight, out of mind.

The door opened. His heart leapt. “Willow?” He saw her as she walked in. Her red hair was brilliant in the light of the lamp. He moved to her.

He felt her hand on his face. “No, Rupert, it’s Mary.” He shook his head, confused. “Rupert, it’s Mary.” She spoke louder this time. She held his face and looked at his eyes.

They slowly cleared and she could see him recognize her. His eyes closed. “Mary, I’m sorry.” He turned to her and motioned for her to sit down. He sat down across from her. He spoke, capturing her eyes. “The cookies didn’t do the trick.” As her eyes widened he continued. “Nothing has. Do you understand me?”

She nodded, frightened. “What else..?” She didn’t want to speak it out loud.

Giles laughed bitterly. “I don’t think they watch anymore.” He looked out the window again from his seat. Then he turned back. “I cut my wrist, I watched myself bleed and then I watched myself heal. I haven’t eaten in a month.” He gestured down to his body. “In a month, nothing. Look at me.” He jumped up. “I have more energy than I’ve ever had.” He kicked his chair across the room. He held his hand up towards Mary, wanting to reassure her. “I’m okay. It’s just a bloody nightmare. I have never wanted to die so much and the magic won’t let me.”

He started pacing the room. “I have stood in this room and begged them to come and kill me. I’ve told them that I’m losing my mind. I’ve warned them how dangerous I’ll be if I’m not sane. No one has come.” He looked at her. “I’ll need to make them kill me soon. I’ve tried to hang on but I’m slipping. I’m hallucinating, more and more.”

She just watched him, her mind racing. He turned back to her from the pacing he was doing. “Look at me. I’m almost fifty years old and look at me.” He gestured at his face. “I’m twenty-five again. I’m not aging.” He clenched his fists. He went back to the window and rested his head against the bars, feeling a few drops from the softly falling rain.

She stood up and went to stand by him. “Rupert, what do you need me to do?” She put her hand on his arm.

It was the first time someone had touched him in months. He had to fight back the tears at how lonely it made him feel. He wanted Willow here with him so much so he could just hold her and feel like he was human again. He turned to look at her. “Make them kill me.” She shook her head, more with pain than in denial. He misunderstood. “Please Mary, I can’t live like this. Don’t make me.” Her eyes filled with tears.

“I’ll go talk to them.”

“If they won’t listen…” He didn’t finish her sentence.

She bowed her head and spoke softly. “I’ll take care of it, one way or the other.”

He nodded and let out the breath he was holding. He swung his head to look out the window again. There was nothing left to say. Mary tightened her hand on his arm for a moment and she left.

Giles saw Willow again outside his window. He called to her.

***

Willow was at the Magic Shop researching. The slayer and watcher had come up against a new demon and they were all trying to figure out what it was. She heard Giles call her. She spoke without thinking. “Yes, Giles, what is it?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she heard the words come out of her mouth. She gasped and looked around. Everyone was staring at her. “Did you guys hear that?” They all looked at her confused. “I heard Giles call me.” She stood up and started to walk around. She heard him again. “There, there it is.” She looked at them all. “You didn’t hear that?” She couldn’t believe it when they said no.

Xander walked over to her. “Willow, are you going loopy on us?”

She stamped her foot and shook her head. “I heard him. He sounds so upset.” Her eyes were unhappy. Xander watched her concerned. She heard Giles call again, wanting to know why she wasn’t listening to him. She spoke out loud. “I am listening, I’m right here.” She could hear the pain in his voice. She looked at Xander. “I’m not going crazy, I can hear him.” Her eyes begged him to believe her.

He wanted to believe her. “What is he saying?”

“He just keeps calling my name. He keeps asking why I’m ignoring him, why I’m not listening.” Her eyes were filling with tears. “He can’t hear me.” She couldn’t stand that he couldn’t hear her, that he would think she wouldn’t answer.

The watcher looked nervous. “Is she talking about Rupert Giles?” Xander nodded. “Isn’t he in England?” Xander nodded again. They had never told the watcher that Giles had spent a day in Sunnydale, they were afraid he would have a stroke. The watcher had simply gotten an official Council memo stating that the rogue watcher had been apprehended. He looked confused. “How can she be hearing him?”

Xander shook his head. “I don’t know. But if she says she is, then she is.”

The watcher looked concerned. “Perhaps we should report this.” Xander shot a glare at the watcher. The watcher recoiled. “Then again, maybe not.” Xander bit off a grin. For some reason that he certainly did not understand this watcher had always been a little intimidated by Xander. Xander found it to be a source of never ending amusement. He shook his head.

He wandered over to Willow and spoke softly to her. “Iks-nay on the Iles-gay. Watcher at ten o’clock.” Willow looked up at Xander and nodded. She shut her mouth. She picked up her book bag and smiling apologies she swept out of the store. She drove home and ran inside her apartment. She hoped that the silence would help Giles hear her. She dropped off her book bag and spoke out loud. “Giles, it’s Willow.” She listened and heard nothing. She stood there listening intently. When the phone rang she jumped a foot. Panting for breath and hand over her heart she picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Willow?”

“Mary?”

“Yes.”

Willow’s heart constricted at the silence that followed. “Mary, what is it?” Mary still didn’t speak. Willow’s knees gave out and she slowly dropped to the floor. “Is he…?” She couldn’t even finish the sentence.

Willow heard Mary take a deep breath. “Willow. How much do you love Rupert?”

“What do you mean? I love him. I’ll do anything for him. Mary, what’s going on?”

“Will you really do anything?”

Willow held the phone tighter. “Mary, what’s wrong?” Willow could still feel Mary’s reluctance to talk. Willow prompted her. “You called me. Now talk to me.”

“You need to come here. You need to get to Rupert. He wants to die. I don’t know how long I can keep it from happening. You’re the only thing he cares about. Maybe you can make a difference.”

“You know I’ll come.” Willow was confused. She didn’t understand why Mary seemed to feel this was a big deal. This seemed like such a simple request.

“You don’t understand. I can’t take you to him. I’m out of the country. I can’t guarantee your safety. I can’t promise you that you’ll get home. I don’t know that Rupert will be glad to see you. I just know I have to try this one thing before I give up on him.” Mary paused. “I have no resources left to help you. My friendship with Rupert has eliminated them all. I need you to understand that you’d be on your own.”

Willow closed her eyes and reviewed Mary’s words. “They’re not letting him go are they?”

“No, they’re not.”

“You want me to come and what? Steal him away?”

Mary didn’t know what she wanted. She made a frustrated noise. “I want you to come and make him want to live, whatever that takes. You just need to understand that it isn’t at the invitation of the Council.”

Willow didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there.”

“I’m probably sending you to die.”

“Then I’ll die. I can’t not go.” Willow paused. “I heard him calling to me today.”

Mary gasped. “You heard him?”

“Yes.”

“They tell me that he sits in his room for hours sometimes calling for you.”

Willow’s eyes filled with tears. “Mary, why haven’t you told me this before?”

“I kept hoping…I kept believing that they’d change their minds, that they’d let him out. I don’t believe that anymore. They’ll keep him locked up in that room forever.”

Willow bit back a sob. “What did they do to him?”

“Nothing. They just locked him up and threw away the key.” Mary took a deep breath. “Willow, I need to tell you something else.”

Willow braced herself. “Go ahead.”

“He can’t control his magic. None of us have ever seen anything like it. He’s so strong.”

“Is it evil?”

“No, it’s just strong. When he uses it he can’t control it. He has been very careful not to use it at all.”

Willow knew she wasn’t saying everything. “Mary, finish what you’re trying to say.”

“His mind is going. He’s losing his grip on reality. He’s afraid he’ll hurt someone. He’s asking for them to kill him.”

Willow didn’t really want to ask but she had to. “Why don’t they?”

Mary made a disgusted noise. “They don’t believe him, they’re frightened of him, no one wants to go near him, who knows.” She sighed. “He asked me to do it.”

Willow gasped. “Are you going to?” Her heart was racing.

“If you won’t come, or if you are unsuccessful, then yes, I will kill him. I’ll try to anyway. I don’t know if I would be able to.”

“What do you mean?”

“His magic is protecting him. He’s tried to kill himself three times and each time the magic has saved him.”

Willow shook her head, the pain in her heart almost killing her. She couldn’t stand that he had lost the will to live, that he had tried to end his life. She gritted out the words through her pain and her tears. “I’ll be there, if I have to swim. Nothing will keep me away. I promise you.”

“I’ll be back in a week. If I can help then, I will.”

“Can you tell me where he is?”

“He’s in the basement. He has a window at ground level that looks out on the back of the complex. There are two trees there. Next to the trees is a small green shed.” She paused. “Willow, they’ll have security. His window is barred. I don’t know how to tell you to get in.”

“I’ll figure out something.” Willow’s mind was already racing, matching the pace of her heartbeat.

Mary could almost hear Willow’s mind work. She softly smiled. “Good luck.” When she heard no response she slowly hung up.

Willow looked at her watch. It was mid afternoon and she had a lot to do. She pulled her laptop to her and flipped it open. Before the Council sent the team to kill Giles and take all his belongings away Willow had hacked into his bank accounts and taken his money. She had set it up into a private account wanting to keep it safe for him should he return. It had been a lot of money but she had never touched a penny of it. She was planning to touch it now. She started searching for private planes to charter.

After she’d made plane arrangements she headed off to the bank. After that she had one more errand to run. She needed to find Spike. There was an hour left before sunset so she headed to the cemetery, to the crypt he still called home.

She pushed open the door and ran inside calling his name. He slowly sat up looking at her, a puzzled smile on his lips. He was in a good mood; he had fed well last night. Willow and he had worked out a compromise. She wouldn’t stay friends with him if he killed humans. He refused to go back to drinking animal blood. So, he’d learned to snack on humans. He’d found humans who would pay to be bitten, people like Riley. Every now and then he’d leave town and go on a feeding frenzy but he saw no need to tell Willow that. Her friendship was important to him. So, he just looked at her, waiting for her to speak.

She threw a bag down on the ground. “We need to go rescue Giles. I need you to go with me.”

That got Spike’s attention. “Excuse me?”

“Mary just called me. She said I have to come and get him now, or he’ll be dead soon.”

Spike’s eyes darkened. Ever since he had helped to rescue Giles last year he had felt responsible for him. Giles was yet another spot in his soft vampire underbelly. He couldn’t help it. He had tried to resist it, but it was there in his head, and in his heart, like his feelings for Willow. He had listened to Willow rant about Mary’s calls for months now. Spike had suggested going and getting Giles a dozen times and Willow had always stayed his hand, unable to believe that the Council wouldn’t eventually do right by him. Spike had known better. She looked at him. “You were right. We should have gone and gotten him. They’ve locked him away. He doesn’t get to see anybody. He’s tried to kill himself three times.” She started to cry and he moved to her and took her in his arms.

In a few minutes she lifted her head. “Spike, we have to break him out. We could get killed. And Spike…” He looked at her. “He still has all his magic.” Spike swallowed. Nothing had ever frightened him like Giles had when he’d been possessed by the magic.

Spike let out a breath. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag. He grinned at Willow. “Sounds like fun. When do we leave?”

Faking a cough and waving her hand through the smoke from his cigarette, Willow hugged him. “I chartered a private plane so we could keep you safe. It will be ready before dawn.”

“Do we need supplies?”

Willow looked at him. “I don’t know. I never paid much attention to the security while I was there. I didn’t imagine I’d ever have to break in.”

“Good thing you’re already expelled because this would really throw them over the edge if you weren’t.” Spike took another drag and grinned at her. He was ready to go now.

Willow let out a short laugh. “No kidding.” She looked at Spike severely. “And hey, no killing.” She realized how unrealistic that might be. She frowned. “Unless absolutely necessary.” Spike grinned again.

“Sounds like even more fun now.”

Willow smacked him on the arm. She stopped suddenly and cocked her head. Spike looked at her. She was listening to something. She took a deep breath. “He’s calling me, I’ve been hearing him all afternoon.” She looked at Spike waiting for him to scoff at her.

Spike stood up and flicked his cigarette away. “If he’s calling for you, let’s get you there.”

She smiled at him, her gratitude bright in her eyes. They sat down and started to plan. When it grew dark Spike began to escort Willow to her car. As they left the crypt she handed him the bag she had carried in with her. “Here, you can be in charge of this. It makes me nervous.”

He looked in the bag and his eyebrows rose. “Bloody hell. How much is in here?”

She grimaced. “Only ten thousand. I hope it’s enough. That’s all they’d let me withdraw at one time.”

He looked at her. “Can you get more?”

She nodded. “A lot more. Just not today.” They made plans to meet early in the morning and he walked her to her car.

When she got home she called Xander. She had promised never to leave him out of the loop again.

“Xander, it’s Willow.”

“Still hearing Giles?”

“Yes. And Mary called again.”

She could hear the anger in Xander’s voice. “What the hell did she say this time?”

“She said to come and get him. Spike and I are leaving tonight.”

“They’re letting him out?”

“No.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We’re going and breaking him out.”

“What?”

“She said to come and get him. So I am.”

“You’re going to go kidnap Giles from the Watcher’s Council.”

“Yes.”

“You and Spike.”

“Yes.”

“And then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“Then what are you going to do? You can’t bring him back here. Are you going to drop him off somewhere in some godforsaken corner of the globe?” Willow hadn’t thought that far. She didn’t know what to say to Xander. He spoke again. “Let me come.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Shit, Willow, don’t do this to me.”

“Xander, Anya is due to have her babies any day. Mary warned me that it could be dangerous. I won’t let you take the chance of not coming back.”

“But I’m supposed to take the chance that you might not come back?”

“I need you here. I might need you to figure stuff out for us. I might need you to wire us money. I need you here.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“Look, I have my magic and Spike has his…vapiryness.” She winced at the word. “We can sneak in, get him and sneak out. I’ll call you when we get to safety and you can join us. That way I’ll know you’ll be safe but you can see Giles. Okay?”

Xander looked at Anya as she struggled to get off the couch in the living room. She flashed him a smile and he sent her one back through tightened lips. He knew Willow was right; he couldn’t leave Anya now. “Okay. I don’t like it but okay. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just keep your cell phone charged and near you all the time. Oh, and come up with a good reason why I’m gone.”

“That I can do.”

“I love you Xander.”

“I love you too. Please be careful. Tell Spike I’ll stake him if something happens to you.”

“I’ll call you as soon as we’re safe.”

Xander felt his stomach start to churn. “See that you do. In fact, call me either way would ya?”

Willow laughed despite her worries. “Okay, no matter what I’ll call.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting for your call. If you need anything, call. If you think of a good joke, call.”

“I will. Hey, just in case, kiss the babies for me.” Anya was expecting twins.

“No, you can kiss the babies for yourself.” She fought back tears. Xander spoke again, his voice sharp. “Do you hear me Willow? You can kiss the babies when you get back.”

“I heard you.” She heard his shaky indrawn breath and she slowly hung up.

She packed a small suitcase and tried to get a few hours of sleep. Spike shook her awake, waking her from a nightmare. She laid there, her breath coming out in frightened pants. She covered her face with her hands. “What are we doing?” She looked at him. “What am I doing?”

Spike just looked back at her. “You’re helping out a friend.”

She closed her eyes. “Helping out a friend.” She nodded and took a deep breath. “Helping out a friend. Okay. I can do that.”

She shooed him out of her bedroom and got dressed. Ensuring she had everything she locked up the apartment behind them. She gasped as they started down the hallway. She looked at Spike. “Do you have a passport?”

Spike laughed. “No, luv. Can’t take a photograph, remember?”

She looked at him in dismay. “What will we do?”

He held up her bag. “Hope the pilot needs some extra cash.” Willow grimaced, her stomach in knots. There were so many things that could go wrong she couldn’t even begin to list them. Willow had arranged for a cab and it was waiting for them down on the street. They got in and headed off to the airport.

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