Blackest of Blue: Chapter: 2

Anya was stretched out on the couch, softly wheezing in her sleep. Dawn, curled up in the chair, trembled just a bit as she watched the TV. Giles quietly unpacked his carry-on. He had thrown some spell ingredients together in a rush, things he thought could easily make it past customs.

"What are you doing, Giles?” Dawn asked softly.

"C-Casting a spell to locate T-Tara.”

"I can't handle more magic,” Dawn said, unfurling from the chair.

"Maybe you should go upstairs. Dawn, do you know where Amy the rat is?” Giles asked.

"Up in my room. Willow brought her there when she and Tara left the dorm.”

"C-Could you bring her down here?” he asked not looking up from his luggage.

"Okay,” she said scurrying up the steps.

"Giles, what do you want with Amy?” Xander asked.

Giles didn't answer right away. He wrote hurriedly on a pad of paper. "It has always bothered me that we couldn't ever turn her back into a human. I've had time, now that I'm not always trying to save the world, to research Amy's problem. C-Can you go to the Magic Box and get these items, Xander. I really should help Buffy with S-Spike.”

"No problem.” Xander took the list and left.

Dawn came back with the cage. "Here she is.”

"Sit with Amy for a few minutes. I need to help Buffy and I don't think you need to be seeing that.”

Dawn swallowed hard, her color fading. "I saw him burning, Giles...heard him screaming. I...it was horrible. I hear it...smell it in my dreams. He was only trying to protect me.”

"I know.” He touched her cheek then headed downstairs. Buffy was working on unbandaging Spike's legs, tossing the gory dressings into a large black garbage bag.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "I said I can do this, Giles.”

"I-I can't get any further on my spells until Xander gets back with the ingredients,” Giles said, setting back to work.

Spike was one of the many things he had worried about when he had left for England. He had wanted to take out the vampire back when Spike first confessed his feelings for Buffy but the vampire proved too helpful against Glory. And given Buffy's state of mind after Willow and the others had torn her from heaven had made him even more nervous. Angel was bad enough. Spike was an unthinkable choice but he hadn't known what to say. He was afraid he had been standing in Buffy's way of healing, of becoming an adult and hadn't been sure if he should say anything or should he simply trust in her.

"Buffy, are you sure you're doing the right thing? Making him s-suffer like this?” he ventured, watching her face.

She refused to meet his eyes. "This is my fault, Giles. I can't just let him die.”

"This isn't your fault, Buffy. And I don't...”

"Have to remind me I'm the Slayer and killing vampires is what I do. No, you don't but it's more complicated than that and you know it.” Her chin lifted as she got the defiant look her knew too well.

"I'm afraid I do.” Giles fell silent. He worked mechanically on Spike's wounds. They got the dressings all changed and replaced them with fresh, saline-dampened bandages. Spike came to again during the procedure and Buffy forced more blood into him. When he was asleep once more, they went back upstairs. Xander was waiting for them sitting with Anya on the couch. She still looked out of it as she leaned against him.

"I got everything,” Xander said, offering up a bag.

"Th-thank you. Dawn, you didn't want to see more magic. You might want to go to your room,” Giles said.

"I...if you can help Amy, I'd like to see that,” Dawn said, shoving onto the couch besides Xander.

Buffy's head snapped around. "What's this about Amy?”

"I m-may be able to turn her b-back into a human,” Giles said, setting a sliver of lodestone in a bowl of water. He took out a reddish powder from the bag Xander brought and blew it over the bowl. He chanted something in a language the rest of them didn't recognize and the loadstone spun madly. When it stopped pointing somewhere other than due north, the water shimmered and showed Tara in a stand of Eucalyptus trees. She seemed to stare right at them. "Come home,” Giles whispered. She nodded and the water went blank. "Well. She's alive,” he said with relief.

"She heard you?” Buffy asked, amazed.

"I think so. H-hopefully she'll come back here so we can work out a plan. I don't relish searching the forest for her even if we were at full strength which we obviously are not.” He wiped his forehead and glanced over at the cage where Amy ran around on her wheel.

"Do you think it will work?” Buffy asked following his gaze. "Willow and I tried a lot of times but never got it right.”

"I don't know, B-Buffy. I'm not...not even sure how Amy got stuck as a rat. That spell shouldn't have trapped her like this. When she t-turned you into a rat we were able to reverse the spell relatively easily. I have no way of knowing what went awry but I have a c-couple of spells we can try. Can you take Amy out of the cage, Buffy and hold her please?”

Buffy did that. Giles could see all of their unease as he began the spell. He didn't blame them. Magic could be hard to watch and in light of everything he should probably have sent them all out of the room. But these were stubborn, resilient young people, far too used to the supernatural for their own good sometimes. He shoved it out of his mind as he cast the spell. Nothing happened. He choked the cursing back just like he almost always did around Buffy's friends, when what he really wanted was to vent a blue streak that could make Spike blush.

"Should we wait?” Anya asked, leaning forward.

Giles shook his head, taking off his glasses. He had gotten into the bad habit of playing with them ever since he quit smoking so many years ago. He was only barely aware he was doing it. "No. L-Let me try something more drastic.”

"Okay, how drastic? We shouldn't clear out, should we?” Xander asked.

"No, I'm the only one at risk.”

"I don't like this sound of that,” Buffy said.

"I know what I'm doing.” Giles fished out an eagle talon from his bag of tricks, hoping he fully remembered the blood magic he had once learned from the granddaughter of a yuwipi man. He hooked the tip of the talon into the thick of his thumb and let a few pearls of blood form. He rested the bloody digit on Amy's rodent head and hesitantly intoned the proscribed words.

Amy's furry little body began to shimmy and shiver. Buffy dropped her, scooting back wide-eyed. The rat made a squeal as it convulsed and contorted. Finally in a blinding shimmer of golden light the rat disappeared and a naked young lady took its place.

"You did it, Giles!” Buffy cried. "Dawn, go get her a blanket.”

Trembling, Amy sat up with Buffy's help. She held out her hands in front of her. "I...I'm human again,” she sobbed.

"We're sorry it took so long,” Buffy said.

Amy tried to focus on her. "Buffy?”

"Yes.”

"Your hair...it's different. You look older.”

"You've been a rat for three years Amy,” Buffy replied as Dawn raced back into the room with a blanket. She draped it over the shivering witch.

"Three...” The girl's mouth flopped open.

"T-Try not to think about it just yet. There'll be t-time to explain everything to you,” Giles said, wiping his sweating face, smearing it with blood. "Is there anything we can get you...outside of clothing.”

"I...I'm very tired.”

"Come on, Amy. You can sleep in my bed,” Buffy said, gently drawing her up to her feet. "Giles you look beat, too. Maybe you should get some rest.”

"I'll be fine,” Giles lied when what he really wanted to say was 'I'm totally knackered and could use a scotch.' He levered himself up onto a chair and glanced over at Xander. Something the young man had said had been nagging at him. Certainly it was something he should have known. Had no one ever told him before or had he simply not heard? It could have been the latter. Willow had gotten into witchcraft after Jenny's death, her first real spell was the return of Angel's soul. It was something the young girl really shouldn't have been able to do and from Xander's brief recounting of Cordelia's story it was highly possible she didn't do it alone. He should have guessed at that. It should have been obvious but at the time he had been enveloped in agony caught in the emotional mire of Jenny's death and the horrible torment Angelus and Drusilla had inflicted on him. How ironic that even still evil at the time, Spike was the one who aided in his rescue, granted for his own selfish reasons. After that, there had been problem after earth-ending problem to contend with and he had never had the time to think about why Willow's magical ability seemed so effortless and accelerated. "Xander, tell me again about what Cordelia said about the time Willow restored Angel's soul.”