"Buffy it wasn't that bad!" the redhead protested.
Buffy Summers stopped and looked at her friend in disbelief. "Yes,"
she said, "It was."
"I'm sure you did fine on it," Willow assured.
"I have to go with Willow on this one," Oz added.
Buffy wasn't surprised about that. Oz always seemed to side with his
girlfriend. Aloud she said, "I'm sure you guys found it simple. But
for the rest of us mere mortals, the SATs are hard."
Willow smiled at Buffy's choice of words. The blond was in no way a
"mere mortal." She was the Slayer, destined to fight vampires and other
evil beings.
Maybe Buffy had suddenly learned to read minds, or maybe she just
understood why her friends were smirking. "You know what I mean," she
whined.
The three of them had just left the Bronze and were heading home. Or, at
least Oz and Willow were. Buffy was going out on patrol and stopping by
to see Angel afterwards. She was only walking the others to Oz's van.
Sunnydale was no the kind of place that was very safe once the sun set.
A low growl was all the warning they got. Out jumped two vampires that
thought they had found an easy meal. They soon realized their mistake.
Buffy leaped into action by kicking one of them into the wall. The
other, who had attacked Willow, was sent stumbling when the hacker sent
him stumbling with a punch that surprised them all.
Your average vampire was usually not the brightest of creatures, and
these two were no exception. Instead of moving on to easier prey, the
recovered demons attacked the Slayer and her friends once again.
Quicker than thought possible, Buffy staked the first creature. The
second realized that sticking around was a bad idea and started to run.
He didn't get far before the blond had caught up to him. He, too, was staked.
Buffy looked down at the pile of dust at her feet with satisfaction.
She turned back to her friends and smiled. "Well, that was fun."
"I don't really think we need these," Oz said, referring to the stakes
he and Willow held in their hands, but had not gotten the chance to use.
"Hopefully not," Buffy replied. "Good punch, Will!"
Willow blushed and said thank you.
"Come on," Buffy continued, "The sooner I start patrolling, the sooner
I can finish it and go back to worrying about my SATs."
They had barely walked three metres when again a noise warned them of
an attack. Only this time it wasn't the growl of a vampire, but a low
muttering sound.
"Buffy! Look out!" Willow, who had recognized some of the words, cried.
Buffy hadn't survived so long without fast reflexes, but before she even
had the chance to blink, something pushed her down.
There were two screams as the world seemed to become completely dark.
The lights soon came on again, but when Buffy got up, she could only see
a horrified Oz standing there. Willow was gone.
Giles was sitting at a table in the library with a book in one hand and a
cup of tea in the other the next morning when the doors opened to reveal
two very worried teenagers that he knew well.
"Giles, we have a problem."
The librarian listened to the words with a feeling of dread. Too many
times those words, or others like it, had been spoken. Too many horrible
things had happened in that town for him to write it off as the melodramatics
teens often use.
"What's wrong?" he asked, preparing for the worst.
"There's a dance this Friday night!"
The Watcher stared at the cheerleader and her boyfriend. "I don't see
what the problem is, Cordelia," he told her in his rich, English voice.
Giles was saved form Cordelia's lengthy explanation of the problem when
the library doors once again swung open to reveal two more frantic teens.
"Giles, we have a problem," Buffy told him, unaware that she had used the
exact words that her Homecoming Queen rival had just 30 seconds ago.
"Hello, I was talking here," Cordelia said, "I'm sure whatever it is can
wait. You will not believe -"
Oz cut her off, "Willow's gone."
"Gone?" three voices echoed in unison.
"What do you mean, she's gone?" Xander demanded, his eyes a little wild.
"We mean she's gone. Poof! She disappeared into thin air," Buffy said.
There was a crack in her voice that betrayed her worries.
"When did this happen?" Giles asked.
"Last night, after we left the Bronze." Oz's voice also showed how upset
he was.
"How?"
Buffy told them what happened the previous night with Oz filling in the
parts she missed.
"And she threw herself at Buffy just as that black thing was about to hit
her. Everything grew dark for a couple of seconds, and when the lights
came back on, Willow was gone," Oz finished.
"We spent the rest of the night looking for her," Buffy added.
After saying that, Giles realized that they looked awful. They had on
their clothes from yesterday, only now the garments were rumpled. Buffy's
usual styled hair was a mess.
"Giles, do you know what happened?" Buffy asked hopefully.
Giles shook his head and watched their faces fall. "I'm sorry," he said,
"But that doesn't sound familiar."
"But we can research it, right?" Xander asked. They were words none of
them had ever expected to hear from Xander. Cordelia had moved closer to
her boyfriend and was now semi-supporting the devastated boy.
"Of course," Giles assured, "You and Cordelia look up anything you can find
on vanishing. Buffy and I will try to find out about this darkness she
mentioned."
"What about me?" Oz asked quietly.
"You go on the computer and look for anything remotely like this."
Meanwhile - Unknown Place & Time
Willow woke up with a splitting headache. She moaned and went to put her
hand to her head in a fruitless effort to relieve the pain. However, she
was unable to do that as her hands were tied behind her back. The redhead
also realized that she could not see.
She did not know who spoke to her, which was rather disturbing. The voice
sounded dead and flat. "You're not the Slayer," it observed. She could
not tell if it was a male or female voice.
"No, I'm not," Willow replied, rather proud that her voice didn't show her
fear when she spoke.
"Why did you jump in front of her? You would not have been harmed by my
spell." If the voice was angry, Willow could not tell.
"Because she's my friend. I couldn't let you hurt her."
"You're friend?" Willow's captor sounded surprised.
"Yes, my friend," the prisoner repeated.
"Slayers don't have friends. Are you her Watcher? Some Watchers become
emotionally attached to their Slayers. But you're rather young to have a Slayer."
"No, I'm not her Watcher," Willow said, annoyed, "I told you, I'm her friend."
"A Slayer with friends," the voice murmured, "Interesting."
It said nothing more, and Willow got the feeling that she was once again
alone in her dark dungeon.
The books revealed nothing that day. The fountain of knowledge Sunnydale
High's library usually was ran dry. All the Slayer, her Watcher and the
Slayerettes had to show for their long day of researching was weary eyes
and tired faces. Mrs. Summers and Faith were filled in when they came
around, and joined in the search. It was a downcast crew who finally
decided that they weren't going to do much good without some rest at then,
after twelve hours in the library.
Buffy was an emotional wreck. Once again, someone she knew, someone she
cared about, was hurt because of her. She went home, wishing for the
billionth time that she had never heard of vampires and slayers.
Her mother drove her home. Joyce Summers was worried, but more about her
daughter that about Willow. Sure, she was concerned about the missing girl,
but Buffy was her daughter, and she was clearly upset.
Giles was also extremely worried, and one could tell by the distracted way
he walked. His mind wasn't quite with his body, instead was off with that
redhead hacker that he'd come to rely on in helping with his research.
Xander and Oz wore almost identical looks of grief. Oz couldn't help
thinking about Willow's smile. It really was the sweetest smile he had
ever seen before, and he highly doubted any could come close to even
tying it.
Xander was remembering all the times they had shared, both pre- and post-
Buffy. More importantly, he remembered the kisses they had shared. He was
just starting to realize how much she meant to him. Could life be so cruel
as to take her away now?
Even Cordelia, who at times seemed like the Ice Queen herself, was disturbed
by the previous night's events. She had stayed close to her boyfriend all
day. She didn't try to talk to him, or pick a fight that was her usual
method of showing affection to him. Instead she just stood close and
comforted him with her silence.
Faith had long since left to go patrolling so Giles locked the library up.
The group decided to meet again early the next morning to continue looking
for a clue to what had happened to Willow.
Nightmares came to all members of the Scooby Gang and its auxiliaries that
night. Willow haunted each of them, except for Buffy. The Slayer dreamt
of a dark place and Angel. Not in the usual way, but more like her prophetic
dreams. Her ex-boyfriend was telling her something, something she couldn't
hear. When she woke up the next morning, however, feeling no more refreshed
than she did when she went to bed; the blond could remember nothing of her dream.
"Hi Buffy." Oz gave her a half smile as she walked up to join him at the
library doors the next morning.
"Hi Oz," she replied. "You're here early."
"Couldn't sleep," he admitted, "Nightmares."
"Me too," Buffy said. Then she frowned, "I think."
Oz raised one eyebrow quizzically. "You think you had a nightmare?"
"Yeah. For a second there I had a flash of something, but then it was gone.
I don't remember it now." She shrugged. "Ah, well, it couldn't be that
important if I can't remember."
Buffy opened the library doors and the two teens went in. They went straight
to the books and it was quite awhile before they realized that no one else
had come.
"Something's wrong," Buffy said. "Where is everyone else? They shouldn't be
this late."
"You're right," Oz agreed, "It isn't like Giles to be even a minute late.
Especially not for something like this."
"I'll phone him." Buffy went over to the phone and dialed the Watcher's
number. She let it ring for a couple minutes before giving up. "There's
no answer. Maybe we should go to his house and see what's the matter."
Oz nodded and they headed off to the parking lot.
Knock, knock, knock.
Giles looked up from his drink with annoyance. He was planning on getting
into a drunken stupor as quickly as he could, and was not in the mood for
answering the door and talking to people.
He soon realized that whoever was at the door wasn't going to go away.
When he heard Buffy's voice calling his name, he decided it would probably
be a good idea to answer the door before his overzealous Slayer kicked it in.
"What do you want, Buffy?" he asked crossly.
Buffy's wrinkly nose proved he was unsuccessful in trying to conceal the
fact that he was not quite sober. "Have you been drinking?" she asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was," Giles told her. "Now, please leave, so
I can get back to it."
Oz and Buffy looked at each other in confusion.
"Giles," Buffy asked, "Why are you drinking? You're supposed to be down
at the library now. The others are probably the waiting for us."
"What are you talking about?" Giles demanded. "I'm not going to the library today."
"Why not? I thought we agreed to meet at nine this morning. Did something
change that I didn't know about?" Oz asked.
Buffy shrugged, "I didn't hear anything different - "
Giles exclaimed, "Why would you think we were meeting at the library this
morning?"
"Because we said we would?" Buffy suggested.
Giles looked at Buffy strangely. "No we didn't."
"Actually, I think we did," Oz corrected him.
Giles shook his head. "No, I don't remember that. Why would we?"
"To research. That is what one does in a library."
"I don't think that the research is so important that we can't wait a
couple days."
"What!" were the twin cries of Buffy and Oz. "How can you say that?"
demanded Oz.
"I think we can take a day of under the circumstances."
"Under what circumstances? What is so important that we can't look for Willow?"
"Look for Wi - "Giles trailed off and looked at the Slayer and the werewolf
in amazement. "Willow's dead!"
"What!" The teens chorused for the second time in as many minutes.
Giles stared at them for a moment before answering their pleas for an
explanation. "Are you two feeling alright? You know Willow's dead. You
were there. You're the ones that told us."
"No," Buffy protested, "We didn't see her die. Willow's not dead."
"Buffy," Giles responded softly, "You were there. You saw the vampire kill her."
"Vampire," Oz asked, cutting Giles off. "What vampire? There was no vampire."
"But you said . . . " Giles was beginning to look every bit as confused as
he felt.
"Look," Buffy said, "Obviously we aren't understanding something. Giles,
can you tell us what you remember?"
Giles nodded in agreement. "Yesterday," he began, "You came to the library
and told us that Willow was dead. You said that there had been some vampires
that attacked you three the previous night. You told us how one of the
vampires attacked Willow and killed her."
Both Buffy and Oz were shaking their heads. "That's not what happened," Oz
told him. "Yes, vampires did attack us, and one fought Willow, but she
didn't die. Buffy saved her."
Giles looked at them with pity. It was obvious what had happened. "I think
you two have suppressed the memory," he said gently, "Changed it subconsciously
so Willow survives. Your minds couldn't handle the stress of her dying."
"No," Buffy said stubbornly, "I know I didn't see her die."
"Buffy, was any one else at the library the morning?" Buffy reluctantly shook
her head no. "That's because we weren't going to meet there. Willow's
dead. We can't help her anymore."
"But - " Oz said, quickly cut of by the wave of the Watcher's hand.
"Oz, Buffy, we'll call a meeting if you're not satisfied with just my
word. Come to the library in one hour, and we'll sort this out."
One hour later the Scooby Gang as well as Mrs. Summers sat assembled in
the library. Cordelia sat in silence, but if one looked closely, they
could see her trying to hold back tears. Xander's bright red eyes told of
how he had spent the night. He was no longer crying, but his eyes had a
haunted look to them.
"Why did you call us here?" Xander asked quietly.
Giles cleared his throat and played with his tie. He was reluctant to tell
them why. God knew how much they had already suffered.
Seeing her Watcher hesitate, Buffy jumped in. "Giles thinks that Willow's
dead. He thinks she was killed by a vampire two nights ago."
"Is this some kind of joke?" Xander asked, angrily, "'Cause it's not very
funny."
"Let me assure you that this is no joke," Giles told him. "I clearly remember
Buffy an Oz telling me that, yet they seem to think that never happened."
"How could they?" Cordelia asked incredulously. "I mean, they're the
ones who told us what happened.
"You all remember it the way Giles does then?" Oz asked.
"Of course we do," Joyce answered. "How can you not?"
Giles explained his theory to the others. They lived on the Hellmouth,
after all, and normal reactions often seemed to be multiplied.
"Honey, I think you should go home and rest," Buffy's mother told her.
Before the Slayer could object, Joyce led her out to the car. Oz left
too, in his own van without saying a word to anyone else.
The other three went home as well, back to each of their own forms of grief.
A ringing noise woke Buffy from a dream of a shadow land. She slammed her
hand down on her dresser, breaking yet another alarm clock. With a groan,
she realized that the still ringing annoyance was not the alarm, but the
phone. She dragged herself out of bed and went over to answer it.
"'Lo?" she mumbled into the receiver. The petit blond teen rubbed her eyes
and tried to wake up.
"Buffy, is that you?" a male voice said on the other side
"Yeah," she said. Who was it? Buffy knew she should recognize the voice.
"You sound . . . weird. Were you sleeping?
"Yeah. Is this Oz?"
A chuckle came through the line. "Yeah, this is Oz. Sorry I woke you up."
"It's okay. Why'd you phone?"
"You remember what happened this morning?"
"Of course."
"Well, I was thinking. We both thought Willow had survived the fight with
the vamps, right?"
"Yeah," Buffy said. Where was this leading?
"But we were both worried about Willow."
Realization dawned on Buffy. She knew what Oz was trying to say. "Yeah,
we both thought something had happened to Willow. She didn't die, but
something happened after the fight."
"Do you remember Willow disappearing?" Oz asked.
"Into sudden darkness, yes. How is it that both of our so-called remade
memories are the same?"
"It doesn't make much sense, does it?"
"No, it doesn't"
"Hello? Is anyone home?" Faith's voice came from downstairs.
"Hold on a sec Oz," Buffy told him. She went downstairs to see he fellow
Slayer.
"Hey B," Faith said. "I stopped by the library, but no one was there, so
I thought I'd see what's up. Did you find out what happened to Willow?"
Buffy stopped short. "What happened to Willow?" she repeated.
"Yeah. I thought you guys were going to be at the library all day trying
to find out what happened. Is she alright?"
"You remember!" Buffy shouted, almost jumping for joy. "You remember
what happened!"
Faith looked at the giddy Slayer weirdly. "Of course I remember. Even
on the Hellmouth it's not everyday people disappear literally into thin
air. Especially not people you know."
"Oz and I thought we were going crazy," Buffy said. Then she exclaimed,
"Oz!" She ran back to the phone. "It was Faith," she said to him. "And
she remembers the same thing we do."
"What do you mean 'I remember the same thing you do?'" Faith demanded.
She had followed Buffy up and heard her tell Oz. "What do I remember?"
"One sec," Buffy told her. Into the phone she said, "Actually, Oz, why don't
you come over." She hung up the phone and turned to Faith.
Faith, who had been tapping her foot in impatience waiting for Buffy to
explain, finally burst out. "What's going on! What are you talking about?
What do I remember that's so important?"
Buffy was still very excited, and not exactly coherent. "You remember about
what happened to Willow."
"Of course I remember," Faith told her, "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because everyone else thinks she's dead."
"What?" exclaimed Faith.
"Because everyone else thinks she's dead," Buffy repeated.
"Yes, I heard you the first time," Faith said annoyed, "I mean why?"
"How the hell should I know?"
"Well, you'd think you'd know." Faith wondered if Buffy was being
deliberately stubborn or just not thinking. Either way, it was extremely
annoying.
Buffy wasn't being vague on purpose. All that had happened in the last
48 hours had taken its toll on the Slayer. "Why?"
Faith's patience was wearing thin. "Because you knew they thought she was
dead."
"Yeah, but I don't know WHY they think that."
"Will you just tell me what's going on!" Faith yelled.
A new voice answered her quietly. "We have no idea why everyone now thinks
Willow is dead." The two Slayers twirled around. Neither of them had
heard Oz enter the house.
"All we know is that this morning no one came to the library," Oz continued,
"When we went to them, they all thought Willow died in a vampire attack
on Friday."
"A vampire attack?" Faith asked. "I thought she disappeared."
"So did we," Oz told her dryly.
Faith looked at him surprised. "I though you were there?"
"We were."
"And no one else believes you when you tell them what happened?"
"That pretty much sums it up," Buffy responded.
"They seemed to believe you yesterday."
"Yes, they did," Oz said. "But today they seemed to think she died."
"And they also thought we were crazy," Buffy added.
"So we know what's happened, but not why." Faith said.
"That is the question," Oz answered.
"So," Buffy said cheerfully, "All we have to do is go to the library and
figure it out."
Again that was much easier said than done. The two Slayers and the
werewolf spent another day in the books without any luck. Once again they
tiny group had to call it quits for the night.
Before going home, Buffy headed towards the old mansion where Angel was
currently residing. She found him as she often had since his return;
trying to regain his strength.
"Hi," he said when he noticed her.
"Hi," Buffy smiled shyly.
"I thought you were going to come sooner."
Buffy apologized. "I was, but stuff came up."
"Serious stuff?"
Buffy nodded solemnly. "Very serious stuff. Willow's disappeared."
Buffy then proceeded to tell he ex all that had happened since Friday,
Willow's disappearance and the gang's memory loss.
When she ended, Angel whispered, "Mykos."
"Hmm?" Buffy asked.
The vampire elaborated. "Mykos, who's also known as the lord of the
shadows. He's a human, or at least he was. He was born a couple of
thousand years ago."
"What do you mean, he used to be a human? What is he now?"
"It's a bit complicated. Mykos is a practitioner of the black arts.
His soul's still there, so he's not a demon, but he's a lot more powerful
than the average human."
"Plus the average human doesn't live thousands of years."
"There's that," Angel agreed.
"So why do you think this is the guy we're after?"
"Well, you said that Willow disappeared in the darkness. She was most
likely sent to his shadow realm."
"His shadow realm?" Buffy echoed quizzically.
"Well, you know how there are many different realms out there, right?"
Angel asked.
Buffy nodded in agreement, thinking about her adventure with Lily in that
demon's realm during the summer. She waited for the vampire to continue.
"Mykos managed to gain control of one. He is able to transport himself and
others between our reality and his. Also, all those he sends there appear dead."
"How do they appear dead?" Buffy demanded frantically. "Is Willow dead?"
"I don't know. No one knows," Angel told her, trying to calm her down.
"All I meant is that all those close to the victim suddenly think the
person is dead."
"Like Giles, Xander, Cordelia and mom," Buffy said, amazed.
"That's part of his powers, yes. That way no one ever goes looking for
the person."
"Then why do me, Faith and Oz remember?"
"For the same reason I know about Mykos and Giles doesn't."
Buffy had been wondering why her Watcher had known nothing while Angel
seemed to know so much. She asked Angel to explain.
"It's their minds," Angel said. "Mortal minds are rather easy to tamper
with. Any creatures with a hint of supernatural blood, however, are harder
to influence."
"So Faith and I, because we're Slayers, and Oz who's a werewolf, are able
to keep him from messing with our memories." Angel nodded. "Then that
means," Buffy continued, "That Willow is alive!"
"Maybe, but she won't be for long."
"What do you mean?" Buffy stopped dancing for joy and stared at the
creature of the night.
"None that Mykos has ever taken have returned. And I somehow doubt he
granting them immortality."
"I see what you mean. Come on then, we don't have any time to waste."
Angel was confused. "Where are we going?" he asked.
"To get Oz and Faith, of course, and then we're going to rescue Willow."
Convincing Faith and Oz was hard. Neither of them had good experiences
with the good vampire gone bad, and then back good again. Still, Oz was
fairly willing to go along with them when he realized they knew where
Willow was. He also brought up an interesting point.
"How're we going to save Willow from this guy?"
Angel and Buffy looked at each other. "I don't know," Buffy admitted.
"Great," Faith said sarcastically. "So we know where Willow is, but we
don't know how to get to her or save her."
"And Giles isn't exactly believing us about this whole Willow being alive
thing, so we aren't going to have much help with research."
"We could always do the research ourselves," Angel reminded them.
"Nu-huh," Faith said emphatically, "Count me out."
"But Faith -" Buffy protested.
The other Slayer cut her off. "We already did the library thing. And it
got us no where. I'm not going to waste any more time looking for something
that isn't there."
Before anyone else could say anything, Faith left.
"I guess we should go to the library, then," Angel said.
Knowing what to look for certainly did help. It wasn't too much later when
Oz shouted out excitedly, "I think I found something!"
"What?" Angel and Buffy asked, as they crowded around him.
"It looks like a ritual to get into other realms. All we need is something
of Willow's, four candles, and a couple of herbs.
"Okay," Buffy said, taking command. "I'll drop off at Willow's and get
something. Oz, you and Angel get the other stuff."
"Buffy," Oz said, "We need four people to do this ritual."
Buffy paused in mid-stride. "I'll get Faith. I don't care what she thinks.
She's going to help us." If the flinty look in her eyes was any indication,
Faith was going to help if she knew what was good for her.
"We'll meet you back in one hour," Angel said, as they all left.
Less than an hour later, they had all returned. Faith had come, but she
obviously hadn't wanted to. She was currently sulking in the corner while
the other three talked.
"Okay," Buffy said, "We have everything. Oz, what do we need to do?"
Oz explained the ritual and soon the four friends were sitting on the floor.
They had decided Angel would be the best one to do the actual chant, since
he knew Latin.
They began, Angel saying the words and Buffy, Oz and Faith lighting the
candles and adding the necessary items at the appropriate times.
As Angel reached the end of the spell, all four of them felt a sudden
energy rush through them.
Seconds later, the spell ended and they all disappeared.
The journey knocked them all out. Buffy was the first to awaken. She
moaned and sat up. She couldn't see anything.
"Well, at least it looks like the spell worked," she said aloud. Around
her she heard the others moving and guessed correctly that they were also
waking up.
"Where are we?" Faith asked.
"The shadow realm, most likely," Angel answered.
"I guess the ritual worked," Oz commented.
"I can't see anything," Faith complained. "I don't suppose anyone thought
to bring a light."
The illumination of the area indicated that someone had. Oz held a
flashlight in his hand. "Which way?" he asked.
Buffy shrugged and pointed to a direction at random. "That way."
Willow woke up. She wondered idly whether it was day or night. There was
no way to tell. She also wondered how long she had been trapped there.
Her mysterious captor had unties her and given her food and water. He or
she had also asked more questions about Buffy. Willow hadn't answered them.
All of a sudden, Willow thought she heard a noise. When turning to
investigate, a light flashed towards her, momentarily blinding her.
"Willow!" several voices called out in delight.
"Buffy?" Willow asked incredulously, "Oz? Is that you?"
It was. Angel and Faith were there, too. Willow laughed and ran towards
them.
Son everyone, excluding Faith, was either hugging or kissing. They were
all talking at once. It was impossible to tell what anyone was saying.
Finally everyone settled down enough to talk. Buffy explained what had
happened since Willow disappeared.
"They think I'm dead?" Willow exclaimed.
"Yep," Buffy nodded.
"I hate to interrupt," Faith said, totally insincere, "But can we get
out of here?"
"Yeah," Willow agreed. "I really don't like this place."
The others formed a circle around the redhead. Returning was easy luckily.
During the first ritual, Angel had made an anchor to their world. All he
had to do was recite a simple verse.
The return trip was just as painful. The four teens and vampire all woke
up with splitting headaches on the library floor.
Faith left quickly. Buffy stared wistfully after her, wishing the girl
would open up sometimes.
"So how're we going to straighten out this whole me being dead thing?"
Willow asked.
"I'm sure the others will believe us," Oz reassured her. "It's rather
hard to argue someone's dead when she's standing in front of you."
'Make sure you do it in daylight," Angel told them.
Willow looked at him quizzically. "They think you were killed by a vampire,"
Angel explained. "If they see you at night, they may try to stake you."
The others saw the wisdom in his advice. Soon, they fell asleep in the
library, waiting for the sun to rise. Angel slipped off quietly shortly
before dawn to go back home.
Giles felt a sense of déjà vu the nest morning when someone started to
bang on his door. It only strengthened when he opened the door to reveal
Buffy and Oz. He hoped he was not caught in a horrible time loop.
Giles," Buffy said ecstatically, "Remember yesterday when we said Willow
was alive? Well, we were right!"
Giles opened his mouth to demand to know what she was talking about when
he stopped short. There, with the sun shining down on her red hair, was
Willow Rosenberg, alive and well.
"H-How?" he finally stuttered.
"It's a long story," Oz told him.
"So this Mykos thing was after Buffy?" Xander asked. The entire gang was
in the library, three hours later. Buffy, Willow and Oz had just finished
explaining everything.
Willow nodded. "Yep. He was very surprised to discover I wasn't the Slayer."
"Do you think he'll try again?" Buffy asked Giles.
"I don't know," the Watcher admitted. "It is very likely. However, I doubt
he'll try to kidnap you that was again. You have been warned and know to
avoid it."
"Does anyone besides me find this all really freaky?" Cordelia asked. "I
mean, why did this guy want Buffy?"
No one had an answer to this. They soon forgot and went out to celebrate
Willow's return from the dead.
'Two Slayers!' Mykos thought in amazement. 'How's that possible? And a
werewolf, vampire and witch as friends. I will have to be careful.'