Title: Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live
Author: Angelina
Email: angelina2006@hotmail.com

Part 5


Piper showed the visitors from Sunnydale into the livingroom and invited them to take a seat. Buffy decided that she definitely liked Piper better than her sister who was still looking at them with an ill-disguised air of suspicion. Buffy, Willow and Giles sat on the couch while Xander remained standing, staring at Prue and Piper, trying to decide which one he was more attracted to.

Prue spoke, “OK, does one of you want to tell us what is going on here?”

“No, wait a minute, before we get into that I want to know what just happened on the doorstep” said Buffy.

Willow looked at Piper. She had appeared to be the one to unfreeze things so it was probably safe to assume that she had been the one to do the freezing in the first place. Piper was looking at Prue.

“So do we tell them?” she asked

Prue gave an exaggerated shrug. “Well personally I think we should just put a neon sign on the front of the house.”

Piper sighed and turned back to their guests. “What do you know about us and why are you here?”

Giles spoke up. “Well, it would appear from the events just now that you have magical abilities, and that is why we are here.”

Prue’s eyes narrowed. “Are you warlocks? Demons?”

“Good gracious no!” Giles was quite amused that he had been mistaken for a demon.

Piper turned to Willow. “But you are a witch right?” she asked. “I mean, that’s why you didn’t freeze when everyone else did.” Willow nodded in agreement.

“You can freeze time?” Buffy interjected. Piper glanced at Prue who still looked annoyed, and then nodded.

“Cool.” said Xander.

“How did you know about us?” asked Prue. “If I find out that Phoebe’s been putting ads in the paper or something I’ll...”

“Look, maybe we’d better introduce ourselves,” said Buffy. “I’m Buffy, I’m the Vampire Slayer. This is Giles, he’s my Watcher and you already know Willow’s a witch. And the deal is that we fight evil, a lot, and now Will’s under some kind of curse and we read somewhere that only the Charmed ones could reverse it so that’s why we’re here.”

Prue and Piper looked mildly shocked at all this information.

“You’re....a vampire slayer?” asked Prue.

“Well, THE Vampire Slayer actually.” said Buffy. “Now are you the Charmed Ones or not?”

Piper and Prue both nodded slowly.

Xander stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Xander by the way. Buffy omitted me from the introductions, an oversight I’m sure. And your names are?”

“I’m Piper and this is Prue. So what do you do in the group?”

“Lots of stuff.....what do you mean?” Xander was puzzled

“Well, Buffy’s the slayer, Willow’s a witch, Giles is a looker....”

“A watcher actually” said Giles.

“Sorry” Piper blushed again. “I was just wondering what you are.”

“I’m the resident wise-guy, I keep the troops entertained.” He forced a smile then he was quiet. This had never really occurred to him before.

“Right” Piper smiled awkwardly at him. Just then footsteps were heard thundering down the stairs.

“Hey, I heard voices, who was at the doo......hi!” Phoebe smiled uncertainly at the people in her livingroom.

Xander’s deep thoughts were forgotten at the addition of another gorgeous woman to the equation. Phoebe was looking from face to face, as if trying to remember something. Then realisation dawned in her eyes.

“Oh my God, it’s the people from my vision!” she said looking at her sisters. She looked at Willow. “You’re the girl on the table.”

“We like to call her Willow for short though” said Xander.

“So I guess this means we’re supposed to help you?” said Prue.

“You can see the future?” Willow addressed Phoebe.

“Yeah, sometimes, I can’t totally control it though.” Phoebe realised that she’d just told a stranger about her powers. She looked at Prue expecting to be yelled at but Prue just sat down on the arm of Piper’s chair.

“And you saw us?” asked Buffy.

“Yeah, all of you, with us, in the kitchen. I think we were doing some kind of spell.” Phoebe looked form the strangers to her sisters. “Does someone want to fill me in on the situation here?”

“We’re not all that sure ourselves but these people need our help.” said Piper.

Xander stepped towards Phoebe. “I’m Xander.”

“Phoebe.” She held out her hand and he took it and kissed the back of it. Willow rolled her eyes and Buffy made a throwing up gesture. Xander ignored them.

“Charmed I’m sure.”

“You got that right” said Phoebe, smiling at the young man who was so patently flirting with her. He was kind of cute in a dopey, puppy dog kind of way. Phoebe wondered what age he was. Buffy wanted to turn the conversation back to the matter in hand.

“So what can you do?” she aimed her question at Prue.

“Telekinesis.”

“Oh, Willow can do that!” said Buffy, proudly.

“A little” said Willow, modestly. “I can float a pencil.”

“Were you born a witch?” asked Phoebe.

“No” Willow shook her head. “I kind of got into it through helping Buffy with all the demon fighting and stuff. I’m not very good, I haven’t been doing it that long.”

“Same with us” said Phoebe.

“Oh really?” Giles was interested. “You haven’t always had powers?”

“It’s a long story. Prue and I had them when we were little but when Phoebe was born our Grandmother bound our powers so warlocks wouldn’t come after us. We only got them back when she died last year.” Piper gave them a brief overview.

Phoebe turned to Buffy. “So, you fight demons?”

“I’m the Vampire Slayer.” Buffy told her, realising that Phoebe had missed the formal introductions.

“Cool title ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. I wish we had something like that.”

“We’re the Charmed Ones” said Prue.

“And you were ‘The Amazing Phoebe’ for a little while.” Piper said, grinning at her.

“OK, OK, I was just saying it sounded cool” grumbled Phoebe.

Piper thought of something. “Have you guys eaten?”

“Not since breakfast, which was really just half a cup of tea each from Giles’ Thermos.” said Xander.

“Well listen, I’ll rustle us all up some lunch and we can talk more when you have something in your stomachs.”

“Maybe we should make it dinner” said Prue looking at her watch and then at Phoebe. “Would you like to stay here tonight? You all look pretty exhausted.” Everyone knew she was talking about Willow.

“How very kind of you, are you sure we wouldn’t be putting you to too much trouble?” asked Giles.

“Of course not” said Piper. “I’ll share with Prue and Buffy and Willow can have my room.”

“And Xander can sleep with me” said Phoebe, smiling impishly at the teenager who was rapidly nearing the drooling stage.

“Phoebe” said Prue sternly “Stop teasing.”

“Who’s teasing?”

“Xander and I will be more than happy to sleep on the couch or the floor down here” said Giles, halting this conversation before it caused Xander to explode.

Piper took Willow and Buffy to her room. On the way upstairs Piper noticed that Willow was leaning on Buffy heavily. Piper caught Buffy’s eye and was moved by the profound concern and worry she saw there. She supposed that Buffy felt a certain amount of responsibility for her friends. Maybe she should talk to Prue, Piper thought. She left the two friends alone for now and headed back down to the kitchen. In the livingroom Giles was telling her sisters more about what was going on. Piper listened in as she went about her business.

In Piper’s room Buffy was shaking her head. “No Will, I really don’t think you should go to sleep again.”

Willow was seated on the bed looking up at Buffy imploringly. “But Buffy I’m so tired, I just want a little rest, I’m all sore and...”

A strangled cry escaped Willow’s lips before she clutched her chest and collapsed backwards onto the bed gasping for air.

“GILES!” Buffy screamed from the doorway and then sprinted to Willow’s side. She thought it was probably best not to move her or speak to her when she was in so much pain but she didn’t want to just do nothing. The big, bad slayer had never felt so impotent. She laid a hand gently on Willow’s back as Giles and Xander entered the room, closely followed by the Halliwells.

“What’s happened?” asked Giles.

“I...I don’t know..she’s in pain, I think it’s her chest.” Buffy was on the verge of tears. Giles looked as helpless as she felt. He bent down to look at Willow more closely but didn’t touch her for fear of making the pain worse.

Xander stood back , watching as his best friend fought agony he couldn’t even begin to imagine. The Halliwells didn’t know what to do or say. Phoebe tentatively reached out and squeezed Xander’s arm. He looked at her and smiled slightly. But just then his attention was drawn by a multitude of floating, glowing spheres which had appeared in the room. They seemed to be taking shape and then all of a sudden a very attractive man stood before Xander.

“Leo!” Piper’s exclamation was both happy and relieved.

“Hey Piper.” Leo glanced quickly at the woman he loved before turning to the suffering girl on the bed. He walked towards her and held out his hands which started to glow. Buffy watched mesmerised as Willow’s breathing became easier and then returned to normal except for the odd hiccup caused by the sobs which took time to subside. She gingerly sat up, her hand still covering her chest where the pain had been. She looked at Leo.

“Thank you,” she said solemnly before another wave of tears overcame her and she reached out to Buffy who embraced her tightly. Xander walked over and enveloped both girls in a hug, rocking then gently as the three friends cried together. Giles regarded Leo.

“Are you...I mean I take it you are....it’s just that I’ve never..are you a Whitelighter?”

Leo nodded and turned to the Halliwells.

“I’ve only eased the pain for now, I can’t reverse the curse, that’s up to you but you don’t have much time. She was in a tremendous amount of pain just now which means Proctorion is stepping up his plan.”

“Are you going to stick around in case this happens again?” asked Prue.

“Yeah I’ll stay but I won’t be able to stop the pain for much longer.” He looked back at Willow who was looking steadily at him, he realised that she’d heard what he’d been saying. He walked over and took her hand.

“I’m going to do everything I can to help you Willow but I can only help to a certain extent. It’s going to get worse from here on in.” He heard Buffy trying to contain a sob but Willow remained calm.

“How do you know my name?” she asked.

Leo smiled. “Whitelighters know all new witches. We’ve been watching you, you’re progressing very well.”

Phoebe thought of something. “Leo, why doesn’t Willow have her own Whitelighter?”

Leo glanced at Phoebe. “A Whitelighter is someone who guides a new witch,” he said looking at Giles “And also someone who protects her and looks out for her” his gaze moved to Buffy. “Willow is an exceptional case, it was felt that a Whitelighter was unnecessary for her.”

Everyone pondered this statement for a moment until Xander clapped his hands together twice.

“C’mon people, you heard the weird healing guy, we’re on the clock here.”

“Right, OK” Prue assumed her normal leader role. “Attic everyone, I guess the Book of Shadows is our best starting point.”

“And I brought some demonology volumes I thought might come in useful they’re in the car. Xander will you give me a hand?”

“Sure thing G-man.”

There was a flurry of activity as everyone started to leave the room. Buffy stood up but felt Willow’s hand on her arm pulling her back.

“Don’t leave me by myself.” The fear she’d been successfully hiding was apparent now on her face and in her voice. Buffy felt tears well in her eyes for the millionth time since the previous day.

“I’m not going anywhere Will, I was just going to close the door.”

“Oh...OK”

After the door was closed Buffy climbed onto the bed. Willow immediately moved so that she was sitting as close to Buffy as possible and rested her head on Buffy’s shoulder. Buffy noticed that Willow was shaking so she pulled a blanket around them both and held Willow close.

“Are you cold?” she asked.

“No.....Buffy I’m so scared.” Willow’s voice was a whisper. “Leo said we don’t have much time and that pain was so bad and it’s going to get worse and I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it.” She lifted her head to look at Buffy. “I’m such a coward aren’t I?”

“Willow listen to me, that could not be further from the truth. You’re the bravest person I know. Of course you’re scared now.” Buffy paused. “I want to tell you that everything will be fine but I can’t because I don’t know that and if I’m being really honest.....I’ve never been as scared as I am right now. Never.” Buffy fought back the lump in her throat because she had to finish what she’d started to say. “Willow, I don’t know what I’d do if you....I mean I don’t think I could go on. You are the best friend I’ve ever had and I love you so much....” The lump was now too big to fight and further words were impossible. Willow smiled at her friend.

“I love you too” she began, “but I don’t want to hear any of this ‘I can’t go on’ stuff. You have to go on, the world needs you to go on. Promise me that if...that you’ll keep fighting.”

Buffy looked at Willow through blurry eyes. “How about if I promise to try?”

“Is that as good as I’m going to get?” Buffy nodded. “Then I’ll take it.”

Buffy laughed and rested her cheek on the head of red hair on her shoulder.

Upon their arrival in the attic the Halliwells had found that, to their relief, the Book of Shadows was already doing that handy page flicking thing. It came to a stop on a page about Heather Warren. The three of them and Leo read intently while Giles and Xander stumbled into the attic weighed down by piles of books.

“Now I’m really impressed that that car of yours made it this far” said Xander panting from his exertion. Giles chose to ignore him.

“Any luck so far?” asked Giles. Three worried sets of eyes met his. Prue spoke first.

“According to this Proctorion can’t be defeated in the limbo state he’s in”

“Yeah, we know that” said Xander.

“Oh, right, well we have to summon him back into this realm where he can be killed like any normal demon.”

“Wow, I thought we were the only people who used phrases like ‘any normal demon’” said Xander. Again he was ignored.

“So there shouldn’t really be a problem then?” asked Giles.

The Halliwells looked at one another. Phoebe spoke up.

“Well, we don’t really know how to summon people from other realms”

“We can summon people from the past if that’s any help?” Piper put in.

“Not to worry, there should be something in this lot which will do the trick” Giles nodded to the pile of books.

“Then let’s get to work.” For once Xander was keen to participate in the research.

“I’m going to check on Willow and Buffy” said Leo heading for the door. On his way he paused to kiss Piper firmly and passionately. Xander mentally struck the middle sister from his list. The remaining people in the attic each picked up a book and started the search.

Downstairs Leo knocked on Piper’s door and entered when Buffy called.

“How is she?” he asked softly, seeing that Willow had fallen asleep.

“I don’t know, she’s really hot but she’s shivering. And she’s been kind of moaning, I don’t know if she’s in pain or not.”

Leo held up a hand passing it over Willow a few times.

“She’s in slight pain but nothing like she was earlier.” Leo settled down in a chair beside the bed. “You’ve been doing a great job looking after her,” he said after a while.

Buffy snorted. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

“What?” asked Leo. “There was nothing you could have done to avoid this Buffy.”

“And what about all the other times she’s been hurt or been put in danger because of me?” she asked, her voice full of bitterness.

Leo shook his head. “But you’ve always come through for her and that’s what a Whitelighter does. You’re a good friend and a good protector. We know, we’ve been watching. If you hadn’t been up to it she would have been assigned to someone else.”

Buffy let this sink in. She was silent for a long time. “So, do I get some kind of Whitelighter badge or anything?” she asked trying to lighten the mood.

Leo laughed. “Nope, I think being the slayer overrules your Whitelighterness.”

Suddenly Willow’s body stated convulsing violently in Buffy’s arms. It took a great deal of her strength to hold her down so that Leo could try and stop the fit. The convulsions eased off but Willow was now awake and in considerable discomfort.

“Oh God, my stomach hurts...it really hurts.” Willow was whining like a child. She looked back and forth between Leo and Buffy. “Please make it stop...please” she begged.

Leo shook his head. “My powers aren’t working any more, there’s nothing else I can do.”

Buffy wanted to scream at him, or hit him, but she stopped herself. She knew it wasn’t his fault. Instead she pulled Willow around so that she was facing her.

“Come on Will look at me.” She held Willow’s chin so that she was staring straight into her eyes and she began to talk in a low soothing voice about anything that came into her head. From Harmony’s latest fashion trend to what had happened in the last episode of Xena. And Willow listened. Almost like she was hypnotised. She never broke eye contact and her pain seemed to be forgotten for the time being. Leo was impressed, this kind of thing usually required a great deal of skill and training but the slayer seemed to be a natural. Buffy kept up her steady flow of words until Giles stuck his head around the door.

“We’re ready. Bring Willow downstairs, we’re all set up in the kitchen.”

Buffy looked towards him and stopped talking, straight away Willow’s pain returned.

“Owwwwww” she moaned pitifully. Leo moved to pick her up but Buffy was already on her feet with Willow in her arms and on her way out of the door.

In the kitchen candles had been lit and various herbs were burning. Buffy gently put Willow down on the table but kept a hold of her hand.

“So what’s going to happen here?” she asked the assembled crowd.

“Prue, Piper and Phoebe will summon Proctorion into this realm, they will reverse the curse and then..”

“And then I’ll kill him just like I killed his brother” said Buffy firmly. “Only I think I’ll hurt him more.”

“Yes, well, quite.” said Giles. “Shall we begin?”

Prue nodded. “Buffy, you’ll have to step away from Willow now, we need to form a triangle around her.” Buffy did so, reluctantly.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe stepped forward and held hands around Willow’s prone form. They began a low chant. Giles spoke softly to Buffy.

“You see, this is an everyday spell but with this much power behind it it will work in these extraordinary circumstances.” Buffy nodded but didn’t take her eyes off Willow. Leo and Xander were also looking at the young witch, willing the spell to be successful.

All at once there was a puff of black smoke which mushroomed from some point above Willow and filled the room. When it cleared, a tall, thin, dark man was standing at the foot of the table. He was dressed in flowing green robes. For a second he seemed disorientated, then he threw his head back and laughed.

“Foolish mortals! You have brought me back to the world from which I was banished, an act you would come to regret....if you were to live.”

“NOW!” Giles bellowed. Piper broke a small bottle she’d been holding, a strange red vapour emanated from the shards of glass, then Prue began to speak.


“The curse which came
From a realm other than this
Shall thence return
And remain forever in the mists”


Proctorion watched in horror as a red vapour left Willow’s body and mingled with that which had come from the bottle.

“No, how could you...you are of the Warren line!” he spat the words accusingly at the sisters.

“These demon types are so melodramatic huh?” commented Phoebe.

“The curse is reversed right?” Buffy asked. Giles, Prue and Leo all nodded. “Oh goody, now for the fun part.”

And with those words she launched herself at the demon hitting him with everything she had in her. He went down under her assault and was soon howling in agony as bones broke and flesh ripped. Giles picked up a knife from the drying rack and handed it to his slayer. She accepted it and with one swift movement she drove it deep into the demon’s chest. She made sure that she looked into his eyes as he died. She pushed the lifeless body backwards and stood up.

“Nobody messes with my friends.” she said, but the tremor in her voice didn’t quite match the bravado of her words.

“Is it over?” The weary voice from behind caused everyone to turn. Willow was sitting up on the table looking at the faces of the people in the room before she was smothered by Buffy Giles and Xander all hugging her and crying.

Leo pulled Piper into his arms and kissed her. Then they watched the touching scene taking place before them. Prue and Phoebe smiled at one another.

“This is way better than a raise” said Prue softly.

“Or a shopping trip at your expense.” added Phoebe.

Prue, Piper and Leo all pretended to look shocked at this statement.

“What?” asked Phoebe. She shook her head and turned back to watch their new friends.




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