DestinyBy PSUBrat
Author's note: Chapter contains character death
Thrice the Misery
Giles ran towards Willow's lifeless body, his mind screaming out to him that it wasn't real; it had to be a trick. When he reached the location where she had fallen, he could feel the tears stinging the back of his eyes while he dropped to his knees beside her. A quick visual sweep of her body told him exactly how she died, two bullet wounds to the chest...right through the heart. He had no idea just how appropriate it all was in the great scheme of things. Gently, he brushed her hair off her face. He had failed her. It was all his fault. As he took a deep breath to steady himself, he closed his eyes and let images and snippets of conversations that he'd had with the red headed witch pass through his mind.
"Giles," Wesley stated, placing a comforting hand on the older watcher's shoulder.
"I failed her," Giles whispered as a lone tear slipped down his cheek.
"You did what any good parent could have done for their child. She asked for help and you found it for her. It was up to her to take it from there."
"But I was responsible for her, Wesley. I should have taken notice long before I did. I should have never left Sunnydale."
"No, Giles. You were not responsible for her. Your only responsibility was towards your slayer, the others you adopted along the way and they are now grown and responsible for their own actions."
"I should have done more."
Wesley sighed and tightened his grip on Giles' shoulder as he crouched down next to him. "Listen, you did what you could. You couldn't do more." He paused and looked towards the individual that was tied between the trees. "I hate to be the bearer of even worse news, but I think you need to see this as well."
Giles slowly looked up from Willow's lifeless form, dreading what else it was he might cast his eyes upon. That's when he saw her, or more like what was left of her, hanging there. "Oh my dear Lord." He closed his eyes again, shoulders slumping and tears coming harder. Willow couldn't have done this, could she? No. There was no way. Willow was much stronger than that. He had to believe that. Something else had to have been here...something else entirely...something evil.
"Please," he begged Wesley without looking up again. "Cut Tara down from the tree." His heart ached, almost as badly as the day that Buffy had jumped from the tower. He felt like such a total failure, as a man and a father.
Wesley stood to make his way to the flayed young woman that he'd never gotten to know. As he took his first step, he noticed that everything but the torches started to fade from sight. "Giles..." He looked towards Willow in time to see her body fade as well. "What on earth...?"
***
Giles sensed more than saw Willow's body disappear. He had been too busy sitting on the ground with his face buried in his hands to notice much of anything, until he had heard Wesley gasp. As he opened his eyes, he noticed that he and Wesley were now alone in the circle of torches. Standing slowly, he listened intently as his eyes scanned their surroundings. Something was coming. He could feel it.
"Right you are, Ripper," a familiar voice called to him from outside the circle.
"Ethan," Giles growled as he turned towards the direction of the voice. "Show yourself."
"In due time, my friend, in due time."
"I should have known you'd be involved in something like this. You always did worship the dark."
"Yes and so did you, once."
"That was a very long time ago, Ethan."
"Yes, yes. I know. You're all prim and proper now, aren't you? Or so you'd have everyone believe."
"But I know better," another voice stated from behind the two watchers.
Giles spun around, knowing instinctively whom it was he would see. "Ben," he stated coolly.
"Mr. Giles," the brown haired, young man stated with a captivating smile. "How have you been? Having a nice life?"
Wesley watched the exchange closely. He was clueless as to why these men were taunting Giles. Obviously they were from his past, but why here and now? He noticed Giles stiffen and square his shoulders. It all felt...wrong.
"Quite," Giles answered.
"Must be nice," Ben responded, taking a step closer to them. He then turned towards Wesley. "Do you know what your Mr. Giles here did? Hmmm? While he's trying to prove to everyone how upstanding he is; he carries a dark little secret. Isn't that right, Rupert?"
Wesley took a step forward to address the seemingly young man before him and to let Giles know that he was behind him, no matter what was said. "We've all done things, things that we believed we had no other choice but to do at the time."
Ben regarded the former watcher carefully. "Yes, I suppose that's true, isn't it? But we'll get to you later." He turned his attention back to Giles, folding his arms across his chest and giving the older man another smile. "Tell me; is it nice to have a life? I really wouldn't know about that though, would I? You took mine from me." His smile was quickly replaced by an angry scowl.
"You know why I did it," Giles hissed at him. "You couldn't be allowed to live."
"You knew that for a fact?" He asked as he began to circle the two men, his eyes never leaving Giles. "Impressive. I only thought gods knew any of that stuff."
Giles continued to face him, his face showing no emotion. "Funny you should mention that, seeing as how you shared your body with a hell god."
Wesley's eyes widened in recognition; Ben had been the hell god, Glorificus! After they had come back from Pylea, Willow had been there, at the hotel, waiting to tell Angel what had happened to Buffy. However, she had left out the part of Giles killing Ben. That's when it hit him, no one knew what Giles had done; he had done it on his own and quietly, doing the one thing that none of the others could do. He supposed he would have done the same if he had been in Giles' position.
"I could have defeated her but you didn't give me the chance. You took my life away from me before I could prove that." His eyes shone in the firelight as rage covered his face.
"Yes I did, and I'd do it again," Giles stated calmly, coolly.
"Would you? You'd take another innocent life? Cause I was an innocent, you know. I never asked to be the other half of her, but that didn't seem to matter to you."
The anger boiled up from within him as he took a threatening step towards the man he had killed, eyes blazing. "You were far from being innocent. When it came down to saving yourself or saving the world, you chose yourself. Millions would have died and you didn't care, as long as you saved your own skin. So don't stand there and tell me that I took an innocent life."
Ben growled as he charged at Giles, knocking the man off his feet as he hit him square in the chest.
***
Giles hadn't been expecting an attack and wasn't prepared for Ben's charge. As the two of them fell to the ground, he felt Ben's hands wrap around his neck, squeezing the life from him. He tried to punch the man, but found that every time he made a move to defend himself, Ben had anticipated it and blocked it effortlessly.
As soon as Wesley realized that Giles was in no position to defend himself, he ran to his aid. In one swift motion, he pulled Ben off Giles, twisting the neck of the thing parading as the former intern in the process.
Giles gulped fresh air as he heard the sound of bones crunching to his right. He had been so close to passing out, that the grayness had started to eat away at his vision. By the time his lungs had started working properly again and his vision returned to normal, Ben's body lay in a heap at Wesley's feet.
Slowly Wesley walked over to Giles and helped him up off the ground. A look of understanding passed between the two. Both had done what they believed had been right and proper.
"Thank you," Giles stated as he placed a hand on Wes's shoulder.
A clapping sound was heard from what sounded like far off, but eventually, it got closer and closer. Ethan stepped into the circle, a grin showing from ear to ear. "Nicely done you two. I'd love to tell you that this was the end and that you've both passed, but really, you've only just begun."
"Giles, who is this?" Wesley asked, turning to watch the dark haired man with the British accent.
"Yes, please Ripper, do tell him who I am."
Giles glared at his former partner in the dark arts. "He's Ethan Rayne. An old acquaintance of mine."
"Come now, we were much closer than that. We were best mates at one time, weren't we?"
"I wouldn't go that far," Giles stated harshly.
"Oh, Ripper, I'm hurt. How could you be so cruel?" He paused and smiled at Wesley. "You see Mr. Pryce, Rupert was once involved in things much darker than killing an innocent who was unfortunate enough to share a body with his enemy. Rupert was quite the black sorcerer. He wielded power that only you and I could possibly imagine or hope to grasp. Isn't that right...Ripper?"
Wesley frowned. Why did this man keep calling Giles, Ripper? The implications of it made him shiver. He had seen the glint in Giles' eyes whenever he had become extremely angered or if Buffy had been threatened in anyway. There had been a few times that Giles' darker side had shown itself to him when he had been Buffy's watcher for those few short months. He wasn't ashamed to admit that it had scared him.
Giles sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ethan, do get on with whatever it is you're here to tell us, otherwise, bugger off."
"You really are no fun anymore, you know that?" His shoulders dropped, along with all pretenses as to why he was there. "I'm here to kill you. Not him of course," he stated, gesturing to Wes. "He'll have his own ghosts to fight shortly. You and me, Ripper, we're going to have some fun."
"I'm not going to fight you, Ethan. Not now, not ever."
"You don't have a choice. It's kill or be killed."
"I will not fight you," Giles reiterated.
"Oh, come on! Let's have some fun! Remember all the fun that we had when I came to town during Halloween? Or how about the time that Eyghon jumped into your precious girlfriend's body? That was a load of fun! I did especially enjoy tattooing your little charge. Wait, I suppose all the fun was mine, wasn't it?"
Giles glared at the man as the anger began to envelope him. It was taking all that he had to keep his darker side in check, but at the mention of Jenny Calendar and what Ethan had done to Buffy, he felt his resistance crumbling.
Ethan continued, goading Giles on. "Do you know what my favorite visit was? Not the chocolate bars, although I must say that was sheer genius on my part. My favorite was turning you into a demon."
Giles' body tensed, every part of him screaming to tear Ethan limb from limb. He never felt Wesley shaking his arm and yelling at him to stop as he began chanting in an ancient language, directing an energy force towards Ethan. Loosing the force on the man from his past, he watched as Ethan flew back on the ground. In an instant, he was on top of him, punching him, letting Ripper completely take over. He reveled in the feel of the power coursing through him. It felt...
"No!" Giles screamed, jumping up and away from Ethan. "I will not do this. I will not let you do this to me. I am not Ripper. Not anymore."
Ethan rolled his eyes as he pulled himself to his feet. "Such a pity," he stated matter of factly. "You really have changed."
"Yes, I..." his words trailed off and his eyes widened as Ethan's face changed. "Eyghon."
"Stupid fool," the demon hissed at him as his hand shot out and wrapped around Giles' neck. "I've been waiting a very long time for this, Ripper." Just as Ben had done before, Eyghon began to squeeze the life out of Giles, succeeding in mere seconds, as a shocked Wesley stood by, unable to help.
***
Wesley dropped to the sand as his knees buckled. He watched helplessly as the creature released Giles, letting the man sink slowly to the ground, murdered. There had been no time to help. No warning. One minute Ethan had been there and the next, a monster had taken his place. Everything had happened so quickly that all he could do was watch. Watching. He seemed to be good at that. When things mattered most, when the chips were down, it seemed that he could be counted on to, well, not be counted on at all. Suddenly he felt nauseous; turning to the side, he began retching. Everything he had seen, everything he had done in his life to this point, had not prepared him for something like this.
"Well, well, well," a female voice stated after Wesley had stopped gagging and sat up. "This is what's become of you, has it? First you betray your friend, Angel, by kidnapping his child and then you let your friend here die. You're not much of a man, are you Wesley?"
Without opening his eyes, Wes growled at the voice before him. "I did what I thought was right when it came to Connor and nothing you can say, or do, will change that, Justine."
"No?"
"No."
"I really beg to differ with you on that one, but I digress. I'm not here for a friendly visit with you, but I think you already know that, don't you?" She watched as Wesley nodded his answer. "Good. Let's get started, shall we?"
"Yes, let's," he stated as he looked up, his steel blue eyes boring through her.
"You're not a man of many words, are you?" She asked as she sat down on a large rock that appeared out of nowhere. When he didn't reply, she laughed and continued. "You do know that you're treading very close to the darkness, don't you?"
His eyes dropped to the ground. "Yes," he whispered. "I know."
"So why don't you just take that one last little step and come on over here with us? The water's fine." She stood up and walked over to him, giving him a seductive smile as she held out her hand to help him up. "Come on. Just take my hand. You know you want to."
"I will not." He stood on his own, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I will not be seduced by you or anyone."
She smiled and snorted. "I think you're already seduced enough by Wolfram and Hart, in more ways than one."
"You leave Lilah out of this," he snapped in reply. "She has nothing to do with my descent into hell. I've done that on my own."
"Yes and no. She's certainly helped you along. Yeah, what you did to Angel did cross the line but you truly believed you were doing the right thing. You're punishing yourself for it; everyone can see that, except maybe for him. Doesn't that upset you? Make you mad? I know it would send me over the edge."
"You have no idea what Angel thinks of me." He could feel the anger begin to well up in him.
"Did you think that by keeping an eye on Connor like you did, that he would just accept you back into the group with open arms? He hates you. They all hate you. That little show of shaking hands at the Slayer's house? Just show. There's nothing you'll ever do to change his mind. You're nothing."
"That's not true."
"It is. Your father was right when he said you'd never amount to anything. You failed as a watcher and you failed as a friend, many times over. You're a failure, Wesley."
He flew at her, grabbing her by her throat. "You have no idea what you're talking about." Rage covered his face. In an eerily calm voice, he stated, "Do you have any idea what I could do to you right now? I could snap your neck or call on the darkest powers to destroy you."
She smiled slyly at him, her eyes flickering black in the firelight. "You've been studying up on how to kill in just the right way? Good for you, Wesley. Just one more step."
He continued to glare at her as his grip on her throat tightened. It was so tempting to just do it, to just crush her windpipe like that creature had done to Giles. As much as he held himself responsible for not believing in Angel, he held her and Holtz just as responsible. The darker side of him wanted to kill her, to do what he should have done earlier but failed because he was taken in by the false prophecy. He felt the darkness taking control, the lust to kill becoming greater as each moment passed.
"Come on Wesley," she cooed at him. "One more step." She reached up and caressed his face with her hand, willing him to just do what needed to be done so that his soul would be lost forever.
Suddenly, something in his mind snapped and he began to swim back into reality, back to the light within him. He dropped her to the ground and stumbled backwards, staring at his hands, as if they were covered in blood. Slowly he shifted his attention from his hands to her face. "I will not kill you. Do you hear me? I will not do it."
She shook her head and laughed at him. "That's a shame Wes," she said as she stood up and brushed her pants off. "For a minute there, I really thought you had it in you. Now I have to do what I failed to do the first time."
"And that is...?"
"Kill you." She was on top of him before he had completed his question.
He could feel the cold steel of the knife at his throat and knew instantly what was about to happen. As he closed his eyes he felt the slow, deliberate slicing begin and the warmth of his blood flowing down his neck.
"Sorry, Wes," she said as she began to walk out of the circle. "It had to be done."
He didn't move, not that he could have even if he had wanted to. He had failed Giles and now he had failed the group. God help them all. "Angel..." he whispered as he felt his life ebb away.