~Part: 11~
"Oh God." Willow said as she walked into the mansion and collapsing onto the couch. "I never thought men could be so demanding when it came to clothing."
Spike laughed as he dumped some of the numerous bags of clothes onto the floor. "Well luv, you've never shopped with Angelus before, but now you know and I guess you've learned from your mistakes."
"Yeah I have." Willow said. "I vow that if I ever want to go shopping again it will not be with Angelus. God, he's almost as bad as Cordelia."
"Hey," Angelus said walking into the room. "There's no need for the harsh insults Willow. That's just mean, comparing my shopping to Cordelia's. I like to think I have a bit more style than her."
Willow laughed, "Sorry Angelus. But you do have more style than her. Hell, look at my outfit. I love it."
"And it looks great on you pet." Spike said raking one of her feet in his hands and began to massage it. He was right though, Willow did look great, the three-quarter length green dress she wore clung in all the right places and showed off all of Willow's assets to their fullest advantage.
"Mmm," Willow mumbles closing her eyes. "Sleepy." She pulled her foot away from Spike and curled up on the couch. Angelus saw that and picked her up. "What are you doing?" Willow asked snuggling into his arms.
"Just taking you upstairs to bed. You're tired and you need rest. We always need you at your best if you're going to continue to please us." Angelus responded only half joking.
"Funny," Willow murmured into his chest. "Sleep good. No pleasing at the moment. Too sleepy."
Angelus laughed softly, "Don't worry little one, there's time for that later." He laid her down on the bed and stroked her hair. Willow was asleep in minutes.
"Do you think we've been a bit too hard on her? Do you really think she's ready for this?" Spike asked from the doorway.
"She'll be ready." Angelus confirmed. "I've never had anyone who wasn't before."
"True, but none of them were as innocent as Willow. What if she can't handle it? Handle what she really is?"
"She'll be ready Spike." Angelus said through clenched teeth. "We'll tell her soon and she can start preparing for the inevitable."
"I hope she'll be okay." Spike said watching Willow as she slept. "I really hope you're right Angelus."
***
Willow knew she was dreaming, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was in a large room with a table in the middle, holding a large book on it. Willow approached the book, strangely drawn to it. The front of the book had a symbol on it, a snake wrapped around a sword.
"Strange," she said running her hands over the book. She remembered the symbol from somewhere, but she didn't know where. Willow felt something move against her hand, she looked down and saw that the snake had moved off the sword, had wrapped around her hand and was preparing to strike her. She gasped and froze, the snake seemed to look her straight in the eye before it bit her.
Willow woke up in bed, screaming and clutching the hand that the snake had bitten in her dream. Spike and Angelus came running into the room asking her what was wrong, she looked down at her hand and saw two small puncture wounds there, much like a snake would make. "Oh my god," She whispered.
"What?" Spike asked frantically, then he saw her hand. "Oh my god." He parroted Willow.
Angelus grabbed her arm. "What happened?" He asked licking the blood from her hand. "Why is you're hand bleeding?"
"My dream," Willow said softly. "It was only a dream wasn't it? I was dreaming, it was only a dream. It wasn't real." She kept muttering to herself.
"Willow," Angelus said making her look at him. "What was only a dream? Tell me."
"The book, the sword, the snake. It was only a dream. Dreams aren't real. This couldn't have happened, there must be something in the bed that cut me."
"Will listen to me." Angelus said shaking her. "Your dream, was the snake wrapped around the sword?"
Willow nodded. "How did you know that?" She saw him look at Spike quickly and she got worried. "Why so you know that? What's going on? Why if I got bitten in a dream I wake up and the marks are there? WHY!?" She yelled. "What's happening to me?"
"Willow calm down." Spike said caressing her hair. "Just breathe, calm down and breathe. In your dream did anything else happen? Or was it just the snake that bit you?"
"It was just the snake." Willow said.
"That's good." Angelus said. "We still have time for to make inquires to some contacts."
"Inquires about what?" Willow asked confused.
"Nothing for you to worry about little one. I'll take care on everything. You just stay with Spike and I'll be back later."
"Hurry back," Spike said stroking Willow's hair and whispering into her ear softly.
***
"What's going on Spike?" Willow asked him as he washed and bandaged her injured hand.
"Nothing for you to worry about at the moment Willow." Spike said. "Come on, I think you need some rest." He picked her up as if she was a child and put her back into the bed.
"But I don't want to go to sleep." Willow murmured even as she fell asleep.
***
Willow woke up briefly for a little while to hear Spike and Angelus talking.
"Are they sure?" She heard Spike ask sadly.
"Yes they were." Angelus said and Willow could almost feel him nodding. "There's nothing much we can do about it, Willow needs to do this on her own."
"When will she realise what's going on and what she it?"
"Soon. She'll realise what she is soon."
Willow fell back asleep hearing their murmuring voices.
***
When Willow woke up again it was dark and Pike and Angelus were nowhere to be seen. She rolled over and found a note from them,
Luv,
Gone out for a bite to eat. Be back soon.
Angelus and Spike.
"Leaving me by myself," Willow said. "I guess they're beginning to trust me." She heard her stomach growl and realised it had been a while since she had last eaten, Willow got out of bed and headed toward the door to go to the kitchen. All thoughts of food vanished however when she tried to open the door. It was locked. "I guess they don't trust me after all."
So Willow sat there for over an hour waiting for Spike and Angelus to come home, because while they might be sating their hunger, Willow was not.
When they finally arrived back home, Willow thought she was going to die from hunger. "Finally," she growled, when she saw them. "What took yo so long? I'm starving."
"Well aren't you lucky we brought you something to eat." Spike said to her, holding up a McDonald's bag.
"Spike you're a god." Willow said grabbing the bag out of his hand and started wolfing down the contents.
"I like to think so," Spike said smiling as he watched her eat like it was her last meal. He sighed, "But I suppose we should tell you why we were gone for so long." He saw Angelus glare at him but he knew it was time for Willow to know the truth.
"Yeah that would be good. You two have been so secretive lately. It was beginning to get scary." Willow commented. "So what's the what?"
"Remember your dream? Anyway there was a reason you had that dream." Angelus began, sitting beside her on the bed. "It was about your destiny, it's about to come true."
"My destiny." Willow scoffed. "And what exactly is my destiny going to be? That is if you two are going to let me fulfil it as possessive as you are."
"To stop the end of the world." Angelus said softly.
"Yeah right," Willow said disbelieving. "That's Buffy's job, not mine. Besides, I'm not even a good witch, how am I supposed to save the world?"
"By looking into your past. Willow listen before you start arguing about it." Spike said calmly. "Look, there's even a prophecy about it.
The fate of the world in a tiny hand,
The decision is up to her.
She decides the beginning,
And the end."
Willow sat back, not saying anything. She had heard that before, she just couldn't place where it was from, but she did know that it was true, knew that it was about her.
"I'm meant to save the world." She said and fainted dead away.
***
~Part: 12~
"Well, that went well didn't it." Spike said sarcastically to Angelus as he picked up Willow and placed her on the bed.
"She needed to know Spike," Angelus told him. "It couldn't be held off any longer. It's almost here anyway, she needs to start preparing."
"God Angelus, give her some time to process all of this." Spike said angry that Angelus wasn't giving Willow the time she needed. "And what are you going to do afterwards anyway? Go back to being soul boy, back to your detective agency, what?"
Angelus spun around to face him, his anger evident. "I claimed her Spike, she goes where I go. And the soul isn't coming back, so don't try and take her from me. She's mine."
"You also forget Angelus, that we both claimed her. She belongs to me as well. Maybe I should be worried about you taking her from me."
"And you also forget that I'm your sire. Whatever belongs to you belongs to me."
"Whatever Angelus," Spike said to him. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you, sire or not. She doesn't need to be hurt by you at the moment. Not after all of this."
Willow moaned and stirred on the bed. Spike rushed to her side, stroking the hair off her face. "Come on pet, open up those eyes. Come on Willow, open your eyes."
"Do as he says Willow." Angelus told her. "I don't have time for you to be lying about in bed."
Willow's eyes snapped open and she glared at Angelus. She sat up, moving off the bed to stand in front of him. She poked her finger at his chest pronouncing each jab with every word she spoke. "Don't tell me what to do Angelus. I've just been told I have to save to world. That's a pretty big thing if you ask me-"
"But I didn't," Angelus said taking her finger away from his chest and holding between his hands. "I didn't ask you anything Willow, I told you. There's a difference. You have to save the world. I'm the one who's meant to prepare you, train you, for that. We need to start training right away. There no time to waste, the time is almost here."
"God, you can't even give me a minute to process all of this can you." Willow raged pacing around the room. "I have to save the world. I would like some time to get used to that. Okay! I wan to sit and get used to it. I don't want to go and train for something when I'm still in shock over finding out about it. Angelus you're just going to have to wait until I'm ready."
Spike smiled proudly at Willow and smirked at Angelus. "You heard her, she doesn't want to train yet. Let her have some time to herself first." Spike led Angelus out of the room, keeping a tight grip on him when he tried to go back to Willow.
"She needs to be trained Spike, we don't have much time left." Angelus growled trying to pull away from his childe.
"And if you keep pushing her Angelus she's going to run. We can't let her run; everything counts on her being able to handle this. Do you really want the world to end? We all know what'll happen if it does, and wherever we go won't be as happy as where you went before. No one will be able to handle it. Not the evilest of demons, no one."
"I know," Angelus said looking at the closed door. "But I don't want to loose her. What if she doesn't make it through? What if we loose? We don't know what will happen if the world ends. All the prophecy says is that 'bad will occur.' We don't know what that means. No one has been able to translate the last part of the text. I don't want to loose my mate Spike."
"Do you think I do?" Spike demanded. "Willow means as much to me as she does to you. I've been the one with her all these months. I was with her when dog-boy left. Where were you? In LA! Living the high life with your detective agency and celebrity friends. Willow means more to me than she ever has to you. You always just thought of her as a thing, something you owned. Well she doesn't need you, I'm here to-" Spike stopped because Angelus' fist slammed into his face. Spike looked at his Sire shocked, then jumped on his feet, slamming his fists into his face.
Willow came outside her room when she heard the commotion. She found Angelus and Spike rolling around the floor fighting eachother. "Stop it!" She yelled but to no avail. She finally screamed, "STOP IT!" And they stopped, not because if what she said but because when she yelled she shattered all of the glass in the house.
"Whoa," Spike said. "Remind me never to get her that angry at me. I don't want to blow up."
"Agreed," Angelus muttered. "Remind me to do the same." He turned to Willow. "Well Willow, looks like you've shattered all the windows."
Willow just stood where she was, looking where all the glass used to be in the windows. "I did that. I didn't mean to do that. All I wanted was for you guys to stop fighting. I didn't mean to shatter the windows."
"Willow calm down. It's all right; it's just your powers showing themselves. They're not dangerous. If you learn how to control them, you won't have to worry." Angelus told her.
"Then teach me," Willow said turning to him. "I want to learn how to control these. I don't want to hurt anyone."
Angelus smiled, happy with her decision. "Then let the training begin."
***
For the next four weeks all Willow did was train. She learned how to fight with weapons and without weapons. She now fought better than Buffy. That was another shock. Angelus and Spike let her see her old friends. But she wasn't allowed to stay with them, they were allowed to stay in the mansion and train with her, but she was not allowed to be alone with them.
Angelus taught her everything, while Giles tried to translate the last part of the prophecy, where the final battle was going to be.
"Do you think he's pushing her too hard?" Riley asked Buffy after watching Willow train for 8 solid hours.
"Yes," Buffy said. "But I think she knows how to handle it. She fights better then me. She has more stamina, more strength. She can handle more than she used to."
"Your right. I'm still worried about her though."
"So am I." Buffy said watching Willow. "So am I."
"I have doughnuts!" Xander yelled walking into the room. "Fun for all. Willow stop training and come to the good stuff. The only reason for living. The jelly! The God of all doughnuts, we must bow down to it is worship, and then show him our true nature. To eat him! Oh my friend, you have lived a wonderful life, but it is time to meet your fate." Xander stuffed most of the doughnut into his mouth and in a few seconds the whole thing was gone.
Willow laughed at Xander and went to reach for a doughnut. Just as she was about to put it in her mouth she saw Angelus shaking his head at her. "No, Willow. You can't have that."
Willow sighed and put the doughnut down. She then got up and walked away not wanting to watch everyone else enjoy what she couldn't have.
Buffy glared at Angelus. "You know, you could have let her have that. It wouldn't hurt her."
Angelus shook his head. "Willow needs to be in great shape. That means she needs to eat healthy, she can't have junk food and that's final."
"Yes dad," Buffy grumbled and walked off to find Willow. She found her not long after sitting outside in the sunlight. "Hey Will, what are you doing?"
"Hiding,"
Buffy laughed. "In plain sight. Wait a go Willow, no one will think to look for you there."
Willow laughed as well. "I'm hiding in the sun. They can't come out here to get me. It makes me feel a bit better."
"Yeah, what's with that? Angelus won't let you do anything, you can't ever eat a doughnut for Christs' sake."
Willow shrugged. "It's no big deal. It's not something I need."
"But it's something you want." Buffy pressed.
Willow nodded. "There are so many things I want. But they won't let me have any of them. I want to leave the house, I can't. I want to spent time with you guys, alone, they won't allow it. See?" She said pointing to the window where Spike was standing watching them. "I swear if this doesn't finish soon, I think I'll so insane."
"So leave," Buffy said. "We'll get you out of here and save the world together, just like old times."
"You have no idea how much I'd love that. But I can't, Angelus had a warlock put spells on the house, so I can't get out without one of them. And since they aren't going out anytime soon with me, I just have to stay here. But having you guys here has kept my sanity. I just hope that this is all over soon and my life can get back to normal."
"We all want that Will," Buffy said wrapping her arm around Willow. "So there's something that's been bugging me for ages, how did Spike loose his chip?"
"He never had it." Willow explained. "Well he did, but it never worked. It was all an act, so that he could get close to me and find out what was going on."
"So you mean I could have killed him all along?" Buffy demanded. "I wish I had known that before because he would be dust right now."
Willow smiled but lost it when she heard Angelus' voice. "Come on Willow, you have to complete your training."
"No rest for the wicked." Willow commented standing up.
Buffy grabbed her arm. "If you need anything Willow, you can ask. We're all here for you."
Willow smiled, "I know."
Angelus grabbed her arm when she walking into the house. "Don't you ever go out in the sunlight without one of us again. Do you hear me?"
Willow snatched her arm back. "Spike was watching us the whole time, Angelus. You don't need to worry about anything. I'm going to do this, and when it's over I'm gone. I'm going back to my life where I was happy and had fun."
"Willow," Angelus said softly. "I'm only trying to prepare you. If you're not ready you'll die and I don't want that to happen." He pulled her into his arms for a hug.
"I know that, but you need to lighten up, these are my friends, not homicidal maniacs. I need some time with them to feel normal. And that's what I am normal, I may be special but I'm still normal. You need to let me be around them or I'll do insane."
"Alright," Angelus agreed grudgingly. "But I don't want you to go far. And take the cell, I want to be able to get in contact with you, if need be."
Willow squealed. "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou." Willow really was happy, for the first time in a long time she was able to have fun with her friends.
***
~PART: 13~
So Willow did have fun with her friends, but it wasn't for long, because everything that Willow was training for came quicker than they thought it would. And before Willow knew it she was fighting the very thing that she had feared.
The fight went on for a long time, almost four hours and Willow could feel her strength failing from her, but in her minds eyes she saw what would happed if she failed. What would happen to her friends, they would be slaves to the demons, even Buffy, if she survived. The whole world would be in slavery where the demons would just kill a person when they felt the need. The human race would be kept in cages like animals and bred, when the demons needed more.
All of these images gave Willow the strength she needed to kill the demon, but when she was done she didn't know she would survive, everything hurt so much and she hit the ground, hard.
"Willow!" Spike cried running over to her. She was unconscious but Spike could see a weak pulse in her throat. "What happened?" He demanded of Giles.
"She used too much energy, she might not have enough to keep her heart beating." Giles responded.
"No!" Spike roared. "She will live. She's too strong to die. She can't die." Spike whispered brokenly.
"She won't die Spike," Angelus said kneeling next to Willow and taking her from Spike's arms despite his growls of warning. "She is too strong. I'm taking her back to the mansion to recover."
Spike followed Angelus back to the mansion and watched as he laid Willow down on the pillows. She was so pale, her skin looking like porcelain. "She will be alright won't she?" Spike whispered.
"She'll be fine. Come, on lets leave her alone for a while." Angelus said leading Spike out of the room.
***
It was two months before Willow fully recovered. There were times when she would wake up for a few minutes but would fall asleep again before anything could be done.
Everything felt so strange to her. Willow had been locked in her own little world for the past two months and seeing all her friends and the real world was almost too much for her. But she was okay, and it didn't take her long to get back into her natural order of things.
"How're you feeling?" Buffy asked walking into her room. There was one thing that hadn't changed, Spike and Angelus still wouldn't let her out of bed.
"I'm fine, as I've been telling people for the last three weeks since I've been awake, but will anyone listen to me? No, I mean it's my body, I know what it's capable of."
Buffy laughed. "They're just worried about you. Give them time, besides you like being waited on hand and foot."
Willow laughed as well. "Yeah that is a plus. So what's be going on lately? Any new baddies?"
"Nope, just the usual boring stuff, we really do need you back Will, Xander and Anya are really getting scary, I need you there with me to even things out."
"Well you're just going to have to wait." Spike said walking into the room with a tray of food in his hands. "Red it's quite ready yet to see the big bad world."
"Yes I am," Willow said but to no avail.
"I'm sure you think so pet, but you're not." Spike responded looking at her lovingly.
"What's going on in here?" Xander asked poking his head in the door. His eyes lit up. "So this is where you keep all the food."
"Don't even think about it. This stuffs for Willow." Spike said glaring at him.
It wasn't long before the whole gang came into the room, and they were joking around like old times. It was great, all the people Willow loved the most in this world were right here with her. Things couldn't get any better. Well they could, Willow thought as she watched Spike and Xander get into yet another fight.
"Can't you boys just grow up?" Giles asked. "It's worse than watching two puppies fight."
"But it's just as entertaining." Buffy responded laughing as she watched her friend and once enemy roll around on the floor because Spike had called Xander something that he didn't understand.
"And Xander might get sweaty," Anya said. "I like it when he gets sweaty, it makes my think of wanting to have sex with him, like I'm thinking right now. Xander!" she called out. "We have to go now."
"Why?" He asked still fighting with Spike.
"Because I want to have sex." Anya said.
Xander was up with lightening speed, grabbed Anya hand and ran out the door calling. "See you guys later, we're taking the room down the hall."
"Just don't break the bed this time." Willow called out.
"And don't make so much sodding noise. I nearly went deaf last time." Spike grunted getting himself off the ground.
"Are they at it again?" Angelus asked as he saw Xander and Anya run down the hall."
"Yep," Buffy grinned, the wrinkled her nose. "It's kind of strange when you think about it. I think Anya's still got some sort of power that always makes Xander want to have sex."
"I don't think so Buffy." Riley said putting his arm around her shoulders. "He's a man, men always want to have sex."
"That's true," Willow said looking at Spike and Angelus.
Everyone laughed and Willow's life was happy again. And she was gong to keep it that way, no matter what.
The End