FanFiction Archive

Understanding

Part 10

Giles sighed and took off his glasses to polish them. As he put them back on, he looked around the room. Willow was standing up, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Dawn had tears running down her cheeks and a look of horror on her face. Xander kept swallowing as he tried to keep from crying and Anya was trying her best to comfort him.

Giles cleared his throat, causing all eyes to look at him. "Well, that's an interesting theory you have Willow," he admitted. He was vastly disturbed by the redhead's idea that Buffy was in a hell dimension. It was entirely possible that the Wiccan was correct, but Giles knew better than to say so aloud before verifying where the blonde slayer actually was. "And I do think we should look into it."

Willow looked at him with wide eyes. "Do you think we could rescue her? I can do a spell. I saw one that called for the Urn of Osiris and there's got to be one kicking around somewhere," she began.

"I think I saw one of those on eBay," Anya volunteered.

"eBay?" Willow asked incredulously before shrugging philosophically. "Well, if we can get it, then we can get Buffy out!"

Anya nodded and got up, going to the computer. "Let me see if I can find it," the ex-demon said, expertly clicking on the correct icons to connect to the internet.

Dawn managed a smile at Willow. "Do you really think you can do this spell?"

Willow began to nod when she was interrupted.

"Hold it!" Giles said firmly. When he had everyone's attention, he shook his head. "Have you all lost your bloody minds?" He asked in frustration.

Willow's face hardened. "What do you mean by that?" She asked, her tone of voice betraying how hurt and angry she was.

"You don't even know where Buffy is! For all you know, she could be in paradise!"

"But we don't know that, Giles!" Willow protested.

"And you don't know if she's in Hell either!" he snapped back.

Willow swallowed, trying to keep her already frayed temper. "But... what if she's being tormented? Can we just leave her there while we research? It could add weeks or even years to her pain!" Willow retorted. She hadn't expected this much of a fight from Giles. She understood his reasoning but didn't he understand how much pain Buffy could be in? How it could be tearing her apart from the inside as her body was... 'No, don't go there,' Willow said to herself, turning her thoughts away from the possible fate of her best friend.

"Well, I doubt she'd appreciate it if she is indeed in paradise as a reward for her sacrifice and you pulled her out!" Giles replied. He took his glasses off yet again and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Perhaps we can do a scrying. It will at least let us know where she's not."

Willow nodded, pleased that Giles had finally seen things her way. "That'd be a good start! And if she is in... there?"

"Then we'll get her out."

Willow smiled. "So how do we start?"

*****

Willow groaned and laid her head on her arms, pushing a book out of
the way so she would have room. It hit the floor with a loud crash. Without moving, she looked at the others. They were as exhausted and disheartened as she was.

Dawn, who had fallen asleep where she sat, her head resting against the display case, looked up sleepily as the sound of the book crashing awoke her. Xander and Anya were leaning against each other, stifling yawns. Spike, who had shown up as soon as the sun went down on the first day, was out on patrol. He had promised to be back in time to walk Willow and Dawn home. Giles was surrounded by the remnants of their search.

A scrying bowl, the remains of several packs of incense and one of Buffy's crosses lying in disarray. They had spent the last three days systematically scrying for the slayer in every Hell dimension Giles, Anya and Willow could find in the research books.

With an effort, Willow reached out a hand and grabbed the portable phone, pressing the `redial' button. Angel, Wesley and Cordelia had been doing the same search from Angel Investigations in L.A. Between the Sunnydale searchers and the ones in L.A. Willow had figured they had searched more than four hundred Hell dimensions. And so far, no luck.

"Hi Willow," Angel said wearily from the other end.

"Any luck?" She asked hopefully.

"No, Willow. I'm sorry," Angel said apologetically. "And we're out of ideas. We've even looked into the lesser dimensions. She's just not there."

Willow sighed, tears pricking her eyes. "She's got to be somewhere," she whispered. "And I'm going to find her! I won't let her suffer. I won't!" She said more loudly, standing up. "Angel, I'll talk to you later. And thanks." Without listening for a reply, she hung up the phone.

"Willow? Did they find anything?" Giles asked, looking more awake than he had a few minutes ago.

"No. But I'm not leaving her there! She's hurting! I know she is!" Willow said staunchly.

Giles frowned. "But you don't know where she is. We all know that
for one who gives their life up for others usually goes to paradise. I was willing to use our energy and time to search, to make sure she was okay. But we've ruled out all known Hell dimensions. You need to let her go, Willow."

"I can't believe you're just giving up! Haven't you just heard what you're saying?" Willow asked, grabbing her bag. "They 'usually' go to paradise. All the 'known' Hell dimensions. What if this is an unusual case? What if there's some unknown dimension!"

"Willow, what do you plan to do?" Giles asked, standing up and moving between her and the door.

"I'm going to save Buffy since nobody else is willing!" She snapped as she walked around the older man.

"I forbid you to attempt that!" Giles almost snarled, grabbing her arm. "You'd be messing with powers and forces you have no hope of controlling."

Willow scowled as she forcefully yanked her arms from Giles' grasp. Glaring, she turned on her heel and stomped out of the Magic Box.

Giles groaned.

"Great job, G-man," Xander said. "You know there's nothing that'll stop her now, don't you?"

Spike walked through the front door. "What was Red so bloody pissed about?" He asked as he strode in. He disagreed with bringing Buffy back, hence his volunteering to patrol while they searched for the girl. She had done her duty, paid the price and Spike believed she was probably being rewarded for her sacrifice. In his experience, the Powers That Be were good about things like that. 'Well, depends on your view, I suppose,' he conceded silently to himself.

Dawn spoke up from her position on the floor. "Willow's gonna bring Buffy back and Giles told her she couldn't. Now Xander says nothing can stop her," she said quietly. She had mixed feelings about Willow's quest. Part of her agreed with the red haired witch. If Buffy was in Hell, she wanted to save her. And most of all, she wanted her sister back. But the other half was resolutely on Giles' side. They didn't know where she was so how could they pull her from an unknown situation? She sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. Crossing her arms, she rested her head once again.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Bloody wonderful, Ripper," he snapped as he hurried to the table to grab the phone.

"What are you doing?" Dawn asked.

"Calling the Poof. He'll stop her," Spike answered as he began to dial.

PREVIOUS TBC...

Back to archive