Judgement

Rogue Demon Hunter

Sam Perlo-Freeman

This story is set about a month after the end of Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and setting in this story, which are the creation of Joss Whedon. I am merely borrowing them.

Thanks to Rachel Powell for beta-ing the story and for her comments and suggestions.

21^st June 2002, mid-afternoon

“Willow, Rupert, would you come and rejoin us?”

Willow and Giles had been wandering around the nearby moorland to keep themselves occupied while the wiccan tribunal considered their verdict. Now Kevin, one of the assistants at the hearing, had come to fetch them. He spoke with a soft, Northern Irish accent.

“Yes, of course, by all means” replied Giles, somewhat nervously. They did not speak further as they returned to the circle. It had been a couple of hours, and in the intervening time they’d had the chance to talk things over, though Giles had been trying to encourage Willow not to dwell too much on the coming judgement - though in truth, she seemed less nervous about it than he. Speaking openly of everything that had happened seemed to have had a cleansing effect on Willow -- she said she’d felt positive energy flowing through her as she spoke, coming from the circle of wisdom cast around them. Whatever was to come, she saw as the next step in her cleansing, her redemption, and now she strode confidently to face it. Giles hoped she was right, but he was all too aware of the how much she had to work through, how much power remained within her, and with it the potential to take over, to draw her again to the darkness from which she had scarcely emerged.

They reached the circle. Giles could feel tension in the air, though the tribunal smiled and welcomed them as they returned. Dragonwind and the others stood, and Willow and Giles took their places in the circle. A brief blessing was recited to draw them back into the circle, matching one that had bid them leave while the witches pondered. Then Dragonwind addressed Willow. Her gaze and her tone were firm, but not harsh. Nonetheless, the tension now began to show on Willow’s face, and she gulped slightly.

“Willow. Blessed be. You do not need to be told what you have done, as you have never tried to hide or lessen it. Nonetheless it must be stated clearly and aloud. You have abused the power of magick, of the energy that animates the whole universe. You have broken the Wiccan Rede, “An it harm none, do what ye will”, in the most grievous way possible. You have taken a human life. You came close to destroying all life in this dimension, so great was your power and your submission to darkness.

“And yet, at the last, you turned from that darkness, and now seek to redress your wrongs. Your friends have welcomed you back into the circle of their love, and we too wish you to return to harmony with the universe, with humanity, with us your sister and brother Wiccans.

“Yet there must be consequences, and you must face these with the same honesty and courage you have shown today in your testimony. Ours is not the way of vengeance, rather of redress, that you may give of yourself for good to counteract in some way the evil you have done, though that evil can never be reversed. The Rede teaches that our actions come back to us threefold, positive and negative. Therefore there are three ways in which we have judged you should pay for your actions. We will not compel you, though we believe this is the path you must follow to be restored to peace and harmony with the world.”

Willow replied, “Blessed be. I … trust your judgement and I’m ready to do what I have to.”

“Good. Firstly, the least of the three - though money can never bring back the dead, it is one way by which you can make some positive contribution. For twenty years, our judgement is that you should pay half of all you earn, to us, and we shall channel it anonymously to Warren’s family. Do you accept this?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Secondly, and this is rather harder and of much greater significance, for twenty years also, you shall continue in the fight against evil in whatever way you can, at the side of the Slayer.”

“There’s nothing I want to do more than support Buffy…”

“Do not be so sure. Buffy will probably not be the Slayer for so long. Our judgement is that you should work with the Slayer, whoever she be. Some you may not get along with so well. You will continue to be in danger through this way of life. Maybe now it is what you want, but in five, ten, fifteen years time it may not be. In that time you may want children, and that would without doubt be affected by your work. We want you to be fully aware of what you are committing yourself to.”

“I know it’s not all gonna be a bunch of roses, but I couldn’t live with myself if I wasn’t trying to do good in the world in some way. I know it’ll be hard.”

Dragonwind smiled. “You are wise, Willow, and we believe you can face this. The third part of our judgement is perhaps the hardest of all. Willow, your power is still great, as we have said, greater than anyone we’ve met before. Right now it is under control, and you would surely not wish to use it for evil. But there is danger in that power. You have allowed it to control you before, and you have, at times almost without realising it, slipped into abuse of it. If you continue to use magic there is every danger that it could once again lead you astray, and the consequences of that cannot be thought of.

It is therefore our judgement that the power of magick must be removed from you completely and permanently. There is a ritual we can perform that will do this, so that from now on you will be unable to wield magickal energy in any way. This ritual is not without danger. Drawing so much power from so deep within you will test you in ways you cannot imagine. We will encircle you with every protection and blessing we can, but still magick will have the potential to tear your soul apart if you do not remain properly grounded. Again, therefore, we will not compel you to submit to this. But without it, we will have to consider you ever a danger to yourself and others, and maintain the closest scrutiny of you by every means at our disposal. Will you submit yourself to this ritual?”

Willow considered her words.

“I know … this’ll probably be the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, and I’ve been through some pretty heavy stuff. But I know I dare not use magick. I stopped before, but it only took one moment to drive me over the edge. I can’t let that happen again.”

“Good. Willow, you may not yet be able to believe it of yourself, but you are a brave and true soul. We shall perform the ritual at sundown. We suggest you take some rest and prepare yourself. May the goddess infuse our beings with her power, wisdom and love, and bring you safely through all you must face. This hearing is now complete. So mote it be!”

***

“So, Willow, they’re gonna make you into a muggle?”

Willow laughed at the reference. Xander’s voice at the end of the phone, as always, lifted her spirits.

“One totally magic-free Willow comin’ up! When they’re done, I could read out the most powerful scroll on the planet and nothing’d happen.”

“So how does that work? I mean I thought there was supposed to be this magical energy flowing through everything? How do they make it not flow through you? I mean even I made a book catch fire once when I read it aloud in the magic shop, and I’m no Wicca.”

“I’m not sure I understand it exactly. First they’re gonna drain all the power out that’s built up over the years - they say there’s still an aura about me that means there’s a lot left - but then - well, there’s magic in everything, but it has to be manipulated. There’s various rituals you can use, herbs, symbols, y’know, that can focus it - and then more powerful things like magic items - and then there’s scrolls and spellbooks which are like supercharged packets of magic ready to be set off - but in the end there’s gotta be someone to set it off, to give the command. Anyone can do that if there’s enough to focus their power, enough that’s been set up by someone else, like you and the book.”

“Whereas you could just set off all the magical energy from Sunnydale to Outer Mongolia with a thought.”

“Pretty much … but the thing is it’s gotta go through your Name. I mean you don’t have to say your Name out loud or even think it, in fact you rarely do, but every sentient being has a Name, and that’s sorta like your signature on the spell … when you make it happen there’s like a little bit tagged on the bottom of the spell saying I, Willow Rosenberg command this. Or … or… the spell’s like a legal document, and there might be an awful lot of power stored up in it, like a legal document can make a lot of stuff happen, but you still have to sign it. You with me?”

“Kinda… I, Xander Harris, command this. Just trying that out to see how it feels. Nah. You were saying?”

“So what they’re gonna do is cut my Name off from the energy … sort of cross it off the Univers’s list of Names for doing magic. So even if I were to try to do a spell, the magic wouldn’t recognise me. It wouldn’t recognise my signature.”

“Just so long as they don’t cross your name off all the public records. That could get kind of awkward. God, what if your credit cards don’t work?”

Xander paused.

“Seriously Will, that sounds like big mojo. Are you sure … it’s safe … there aren’t any possible consequences?”

“Nothing’s completely safe, but … Xander, I’ll be OK. It’s the right thing to do. Then I can start again.”

“With 20 years as a Slayerette. On half pay. Though mind you, half of nothing is pretty much nothing, so I’m not sure what…”

Willlow chuckled. “It’s not 24-7, the Slayeretting, I’ll be carrying on my studies, maybe getting a job of some sort... But it’ll be like now, I’ll be Scoobying, ‘cept from now on, that’s always gotta be numero uno.” She paused. “It’s the least I can do.”

Xander replied “You know I’ll be there with you. Always.”

“I know.”

They said their goodbyes, and Willow put down the phone. They were in the Coven’s community house in Oakhampton. There had still been several hours to go till sundown when the hearing finished, so they’d gone back there for the meantime. Giles came alongside her.

“Willow, you know there are very real dangers in this ritual.”

“I know. But … I’ll be OK. They’ll be putting down major protection spells, and … I’m ready for this.”

“However strong the protection, this ritual will be cutting deep into your soul … it’s major surgery if you like … it will take an awful lot of strength of will to handle it, to centre yourself. It would be very easy to … get lost.”

“And, ready for it. Besides, don’t really wanna be Willow, Rogue Witch Weapons of Mass Destruction Rosenberg for the rest of my life.”

“I’m sure you are ready, Willow, as ready as anyone can be, but … you can’t know exactly what you’re going to face - this hasn’t been done to a willing subject for well over a millenium. And … there may be alternatives, I … I could speak to them, you could, appeal as it were. There may be ways of making sure your powers are kept … contained.”

“Giles, you know how it is with me and magic. I can’t be certain something wouldn’t happen that could set me off again - maybe not in a world-destroying way, pretty much over that hate-the-world-and-want-it-to-end sort of thing, but bad enough to mess me up, not to mention the people I care about.”

She paused and smiled a smile that reminded Giles of the sweet, innocent creature he’d first met six years ago.

“Giles, I know you care, and I appreciate it, you can’t begin to know how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me this past month, after what I … but trust me. This is for the best. I’ll be fine. Resolve face.”

She hugged him, and he returned her embrace, somewhat uncertainly at first, then fervently.

“Breathing…”

He let go, and looked at her. “Just … just make sure you come out of it in one piece.”

Willow smiled again, then turned to go.

“Or I shall never forgive myself”, Giles added to himself.

***