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“Damn,” Willow said as she turned her head to catch a glimpse of the mob running down the hallway to her. Willow picked up her pace as much as she could, desperately trying to reach the elevator. Just as the first arrow entered on her right side, Willow felt confusion set in.

“They’re gunna kill her,” Dawn said in a hushed voice over the hum of the electronic equipment in the van as she watched the demons on the screen pull out more weapons. Giles and Xander stared, caught by the glow of the screen, watching Willow’s figure stumble as the creatures approached her.

“Do you see her,” Willow asked as she staggered forward.

“See who Willow?” Giles asked, wondering what Willow was talking about, if she was asking for help and he just didn’t understand.

The redhead smiled as another arrow hit into her left hand, jutting half way through, gazing wide eyed at an almost transparent visage of Tara who was looking gently down at Willow while standing next to the elevator button.

“Tara baby?” the Slayer said in strained voice as she began running forward, tripping over her feet while reaching her right arm out to her friend.

“She’s lost it,” Xander said, frightened for his friend.

“Shut up,” Dawn said in an angry tone, her eyes never wavering from her monitor.

Willow let her body drop against the wall next to the elevator and pushed the button with her right hand, watching the form of Tara who was standing and smiling quietly in front of the elevator door that was opening. Moving towards her friend, Willow reached out again barley avoiding the knife that grazed by her shoulder, and somehow ended up falling into the elevator. Willow pressed the lobby button and dragged herself into one of the corners to sit. As the doors closed, the Slayer ignored the now eclipsed hallway full of demons, all yelling over each other, desperate to be the one that killed her first, and only looked longingly at her friend who stood on the opposite side of the elevator

“She’s coming down, I’ll pull the van upfront,” Giles said as he moved up to the driver’s seat. Xander quickly got in, sliding the door shut while Giles pushed the pedal of the vehicle down as far as it could go, driving to the lobby exit.

“Tara?” Willow said trying to force herself to move to her friend, fighting against her body. The unspeaking blonde drifted her way over to the floor button panel, pointing to the 10^th floor button. Willow leaned her body against the elevator and began sliding herself up as she started standing, concentrating on breathing in regular breaths, leaving a crimson streak on the tan elevator wall. Staggering forward Willow jabbed her finger at the button, suddenly feeling the elevator jolt to a stop. Willow turned again to her friend, moving forward to hug her, pull her close, and watched her slip out of the opening doors, into the now visible hallway.

“Don’t go,” Willow choked out as she began moving forward, following her friend.

“She stopped,” Xander said up to Giles.

“Stopped, what do you mean stopped?” Giles asked in a perturbed voice as he continued driving the van.

“She’s on the tenth floor Giles, she got out on the tenth floor,” Dawn said in a hollow voice as she watched the now almost uncountable amount for figures pouring down every hallway and elevator that seemed to lead to the 10^th floor.

“What in the blazes are you doing Willow,” Giles said under his breath as he brought the van to a parked position in front of the building.

Willow felt herself moving faster, running, as she tried keeping up with her friend that seemed to be growing more distant down the hallway, until Willow was in a break neck run, blindly following her friend’s image, desperately trying to catch her, to talk to her, to be near her again.

“Don’t leave Tara, don’t go,” Willow said franticly as she ran faster than she thought she could, desperately trying to catch up.

“Willow,” Dawn gasped. “Stop Willow,” Dawn started yelling into her head set. “Stop Willow!” Dawn grabbed the monitor she was watching, gripping it hard, yelling into her mouth piece. “Stop damn it!”

Willow ignored her ear piece as she felt her feet move as fast as they could, throwing her through the glass window of the building, her body falling into the night as she watched the frowning image of her friend fade from view, and then everything came franticly back into her brain. Willow’s eyes widened as she realized she was plummeting down to the cement below. Quickly, the redhead pulled her sword out and concentrated as hard as she could, forcing the words she had said what felt like hundreds of times before out again, and jammed the red blade into the side of the building, trying to slow her descent. Willow turned her head away and closed her eyes hard as she shattered glass pain after glass pain, feeling her body slow slightly as it moved unwaveringly for the pavement below.

“Dawn, look at this,” Xander said, tugging on the brunets chair back. Dawn turned her head quickly to glance at what Xander was intent on. Their on the screen the young man was looking at, showing the bottom nine stories, was images of hundreds of demons standing up from crouching positions, from separate hiding spots, rushing up the stairwells to the prey that they still assumed was on the 10^th floor.

“She knew,” Dawn said as she watched wide eyed. “Some how she knew they were all there.

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“Willow?” the redhead heard as she opened her eyes up staring at a white ceiling. “Willow?” the voice came again, Giles’s voice. The Slayer turned her head to the side and saw Xander, Dawn, and Giles next to her.

“Hey,” Willow said with a weak smile, grunting as she sat up straight.

“Willow, you should lie down, you need to rest,” Xander chimed in and Willow decided that that wasn’t bad advice at all.

“How are you feeling,” Dawn said, forcing herself in between Giles and Xander who were standing next to each other, making sure she was easy to see. Willow grinned.

“I’ve been better,” Willow said as she gazed around the room with her eyes, looking at the pasty colored neat hospital room she was laying in. “Where’s Tara,” the Slayer asked, looking back at her friends with a curious look. Willow’s demeanor showed even more signs of confusion as everyone stayed silent and Giles began averting his gaze. “Giles, where’s Tara at?” Willow asked again more insistently, her hands beginning to grip her pale sheets with a desperateness.

“Listen Willow, Tara, she uh…” Xander said tailing off, not finishing his sentence. Willow watched as Dawn could only frown back as Willow looked helplessly at her little sister.

“She’s on another floor Willow,” Giles said quietly. Willow blinked in befuddlement. “She was admitted when you were.

“What are you talking about, what’s wrong with her?” Willow said, sitting back up again, ignoring the left over pain in her body.

“She had a piece of bullet in her and the doctors had to remove it. It was touch and go for a while but she made it through,” Giles said, his voice still holding something back, but Willow wasn’t sure what yet. Gripping the side of the bed, Willow started scooting her feet closer to the floor as she began standing up, getting ready to see her friend.

“What room is she in?” Willow asked as her bare feet touched the shiny white tile floor. Giles put a hand on her shoulder, applying a little pressure, making Willow pause for a moment and stay seated on the bed.

“Willow, she’s in a coma,” Giles said in a somber voice. Willow’s face jerked up, looking into Giles’s eyes, causing him to turn his face aside slightly.

“How? Warren, it was Warren who shot me and… He shot me then ran. Tara, she, she was fine. I don’t understand Giles,” Willow said. The redhead cocked her head slightly, forcing the man to look at her again.

“She did a spell Willow,” Xander said, causing Willow to turn towards her friend. “After I went inside to call the ambulance she did some kind of spell that---,” Xander started before being interrupted by Giles, who was speaking a soft almost soothing tone.

“The spell she did was designed to take someone’s injury and place it into the caster. As long as the person that caster is using the spell on is still alive, the caster can remove virtually any wound. It started pulling the bullet in you back, which probably saved your life, and started to transfer it, bit by bit, into Tara. She got about halfway done before she collapsed. You two had virtually the same wound when she was done. Since you’re the Slayer you came through a lot faster than she did. I’m sorry Willow,” Giles said, keeping his hand on the redhead’s shoulder. “Are you going to be ok?”

“No,” Willow said in a cold voiced as she brushed away Giles’s hand and started standing up again. “What room is Tara in? I need to see her,” Willow said as Dawn brought a wheelchair over for her sister to sit in.

“Don’t worry Willow,” Dawn said as Willow sat down. “We’ll take you there.”

Willow felt her head hang low as her sister pushed her down the chilly hospital hallways, her friends silently in tow behind her. Even with the noise and hospital chatter that seemed to float around them as they moved closer to Tara they could still feel an oppressive quiet form between.

Dawn reached forward and opened the door that lead to the room Willow’s friend was in. Before Dawn could re-grip the wheelchair handles, Willow grabbed the wheels and began moving herself to her friend’s side. The redhead stopped her chair near the head of the bed Tara was laying in, looking intently down at the blondes closed eyelids.

“Hey baby,” Willow spoke as she put Tara’s hand into her own. “I’m here honey.” Willow moved her face closer to Tara’s. “Come on baby, it’s time to wake up,” she spoke softly.

“Willow---“ Xander started but quickly became silent as Giles motioned him to be quiet.

“Giles told me about what you did honey,” Willow said, then smiled. “You keep saving my life. If I didn’t know any better I’d say…” Willow buried her face onto her friend’s arm before finishing her sentence, beginning to cry.

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As Giles sped the van down the road Willow let out another loud grunt while Xander began taking a knife out of Willow’s body.

“Is she going to be alright?” Dawn asked to Xander, looking down at her sister.

“You have the book?” Willow groaned out in an almost confused sounding tone. Willow was laying down in the small space available in the back of the vehicle, being boxed in by all the electronic equipment that was littered everywhere. Xander, who was kneeling next to the redhead was forced to try and keep his balance as the van intermittently hit bumps, causing the young man to almost spill over onto his friend on a frequent basis. Looking down, Xander saw the book Willow was talking about tapped to her chest, red streaks staining the silver duct tape that was cover her midsection.

“Giles, can you slow down!?” Xander said in a stressed tone of voice.

“No, not really,” Giles said from the drivers seat without looking around. “We still don’t know if we lost all of them and I’d rather not take any chances,” the Englishman finished.

“Did you get the book,” Willow asked again. Xander bent his head down closer to Willow’s.

“Yeah Will, we got it.” The young man said, watching a smile crest his friend’s lips.

“Tara is gunna be so happy we found it,” Willow whispered to Xander, her voice carrying a wistful quality. Xander ran his hand over his friend’s forehead, moving her hair aside.

“Don’t talk Will, you need to save your strength. We’re taking you to the hospital now,” Xander said. The young man watched as Willow’s eyes started to grow wide, the redhead propping herself up on her elbows, dragging herself out of her friends reach as her blood soaked clothes stained the floor and wires she was moving across.

“No, no I can’t go to the hospital anymore Xander!” Willow began yelling hysterically. Dawn quickly moved behind her sister, grabbing a hold of her, pulling her close.

“Calm down Willow,” Dawn said franticly, trying to restrain the Slayer that was frantically trying to move about, to get free. Willow started calming down after a moment, resting back in her sister’s arms.

“I can’t go back Xander. It’s always bad when I go there, someone is always hurt and dying. Please don’t make me go. Please don’t,” Willow said, her voice begging as she desperately looked into her friend’s eyes. Xander gave a pained look back as he put his hand on his friend’s arm.

“You have to Willow, everything will be ok,” Xander said in the most reassuring tone he could muster.

“Please Willow,” Dawn asked, pleading. Xander expected some type of reply but instead only saw Willow close her eyes as her head drooped down.

“Giles, we need to get to the hospital now,” Dawn said in a fearful voice.

Chapter 2 – Exposures In The Fold

(“Baker baker baking a cake, make me a day, make me whole again” Tori Amos – Baker Baker)

It had been half month since Willow had gotten the book of Tekuyea, the book she had placed all her hopes in that could help Tara. Willow had recovered from her injuries, her body mending up her bones and muscles, letting Willow return to her normal life again but the redhead knew it wasn’t normal, not without Tara around. She had poured over the book day in and day out as soon as she was well enough too and still she had made no headway. She kept wanting to give up, move on to something else but a part of her, somewhere deep down, nagged at her, at some part of her brain, that the answer was somewhere in one of the pages and she was just missing it. Willow glanced at the wall clock in the living room, watching the hands officially shift to the eleven o’clock hour. The redhead decided another hour up reading wouldn’t hurt her too much, seeing as how she was staying up past her ten o’clock bedtime as it was. Willow set the book down, her book marker carefully in place, and headed into the kitchen for another soda.

“Hey Will, you still up,” Xander said coming into the kitchen with a tired look in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Willow said, grinning at her tired friend. Willow knew that Xander had been working late at his job recently and felt slightly reassured that every once in a while, during her late night reads, her friend would show up and talk to her a little bit, jarring her out of her frustrated state.

“Found anything new out?” Xander asked as she started rummaging around in the fridge that Willow had just stepped away from, looking for any easily microwavable leftovers.

“No,” Willow sighed, taking a swallow from the drink in her hand. “I keep re-reading the book again and again and I just can’t find anything, but something in me doesn’t want to let it go. I don’t know, I just… I don’t know.”

“Maybe you need a break,” Xander said as he began dumping the contents of a plastic Tupperware container into a bowl for the microwave.

“Not yet,” Willow said. “It’s right there, in the book. It’s like when you’ve forgotten a word or a name but you can feel it right at the back of your throat. I know it’s in there. I know I’ve read it too and that frustrates me even more. I’ve read the spell and I just don’t know it.” Xander watched his friend sit down at the kitchen table, slumping her head into her hands with her face showing her mood of disappointment. Xander put his bowl into the microwave and started the timer and walked over to his friend, sitting down next to her. Willow and her friend sat quietly, the hum of the microwave filling the room as the two stared blankly down at the kitchen table they both were sitting at.

“I know what’ll help you out,” Xander stated triumphantly, standing up again. Willow gave a confused look.

“What’s that,” the redhead asked as Xander started moving towards the refrigerator.

“Ice-cream,” Xander said as he pulled out some vanilla ice-cream from the freezer door. Willow grinned as the young man eagerly pulled out a huge spoon and two bowls and began plopping out huge dollops.

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1805:

Daniel, 21, had been so happy to come to the secluded abbey, to have graduated to his level and come under the training of the man he had looked up to for so long. Being a Watcher meant more to him than practically anything else he had done in his life, even if it meant wearing itchy brown robes. And now, to be here, to train under Thomas, it was a dream come true. Daniel forced a large amount of self restraint and kept himself from bounding up the stairwell to Thomas’s door, walking slowly instead, and gave three knocks on the door.

“Yes!” came an older voice, heavy with agitation. Daniel grimaced slightly and then fortified himself.

“It’s Daniel, I was told to come see you as soon as I arrived,” the young man said, trying hard to keep the wavering from his voice. The Daniel stood patiently near the oak door at the top of the old drafty stairwell, trying to keep his sandal covered feet from shuffling too much. From the other side of the door, the young Watcher heard papers being rumpled and moved about and a chair being pushed around and then finally foot steps approaching the door. With a squeaky swing, the door opened up into a candle lit room and an old man motioned for Daniel to step in. The young man walked in, almost bumping into Thomas, then stepped back slightly.

“So Daniel,” Thomas said, as he turned away from the young man and walked over to his desk to organize a few stray papers and close a large book. “Do you know why I have sent for you?”

“No sir, I was just told that I was to come see you and that I would be training under you now.” Daniel nervously shifted where he was standing as Thomas turned around to eye him up. The older man brought a fisted hand up to his mouth as he choked out a cough, then paused and smiled at Daniel.

“Daniel,” the man began. “I’m getting on in years and it’s time to start training someone to do the functions I now assume.” Daniel suddenly got a sense of sadness from the man he was now to train under, a sadness that he didn’t quite understand but he could feel it hold the old man. “There are things…” The old man sighed as he sat down in the frail looking wood chair that was near the. “The Slayer is so important to the world Daniel. I’ve watched—“ Thomas stopped and laughed at his comment lightly. “I’ve watched…” Daniel stood and observed as the old man’s gaze seemed to linger into a far off distance for a moment. “I have seen a lot in my time and I have become privy to knowledge far greater than I should ever know but the burden falls on somebody.” Thomas’s voice grew to a whisper. “It always does doesn’t it?”

“Sir, I don’t think I understand,” Daniel said in a confused voice.

“You shouldn’t have too Daniel, but I had to choose someone.” Daniel felt his brow furrow a bit as the old man stood up again, moving closer towards him. Just as the Thomas was about to speak again, Daniel felt his attention turned towards the closed door, a repeating knocking jarring into the room.

“Thomas!” came a loud voice from outside the room as the old man moved briskly towards the door. Daniel watched as the door swung open, showing a boy, no older than 15 in brown robes much like Daniels, panting with sweat running down his face. “Sir!” the boy said while gasping for breath. “You told me to come get you if anything had changed with her.”

“Yes?” Thomas said in a patient voice, urging the child on.

“She has a book now. We don’t know how she got it yet but when we looked in she had it with her sir,” the young man said, his voice now coming out in calmer breaths. Thomas’s demeanor changed instantly.

“What book David?” Thomas asked intently, causing the boy to slightly cringe.

“The Tekuyea book sir.” Daniel watched as Thomas pushed past the young child and started walking, almost running down the stair’s, yelling at the two to follow. As the three entered into the main downstairs room, Daniel could see four people standing around a center round wooden table all talking anxiously. Thomas walked up and everyone around quieted immediately.

“That book was to be burned. Who’s ever job it was for that text’s destruction will be banned from this abbey when I’m done and their punishment will not stop there, but I’ll deal with that later.” Everyone stared as Thomas’s voice rang through the main room and the hallways.

“What’s going on Thomas, how does her having a book change anything?” one of the men standing near to the old man began. Thomas glared at him, causing the man to be silent.

“Right now, your’s is not to question. Has anyone tried removing the book from her?” Everyone remained silent to the old man’s question until finally one of the men on the opposite side of the table spoke.

“No. Everyone knows what happened last time someone tried entering her cell. Jonathan’s burial is still too fresh in all the young one’s minds,” the man said.

“Jeremy,” the old man said, motioning one of the others near to him. “Ride as fast as you can to the Coven, have them come here now, on my order. We need a barrier put up on Samantha’s cell. Go, now,” Thomas said, to which the man next to him began running for the door, to the horses outside.

“The Slayer?” Daniel said in a whisper. Thomas turned to Daniel, ignoring the table now.

“Come Daniel, it’s time for you to meet destiny,” Thomas said as he began walking out of the room. Daniel quickly followed in tow behind the old Watcher as they walked down hallways and stairwells silently in the dim glow of the torch scones placed about, until finally they entered into a long hallway that lead to a sole cell.

“Is the Slayer really in there?” Daniel asked in a hushed whisper behind Thomas. The old man didn’t answer as they approached the metal door. Daniel watched as Thomas peered through the small grated square at the top of the door, silently standing, gazing in.

“Hey Thomas, I found the book,” came a young girls voice from inside, her tone almost giddy. “You know, it took me a while to find the spell in here. I didn’t get it for the longest time. I mean, how was I to know from what little I stole out of your books but then it came to me, in a dream. I think it was trying to talk to me, to tell me but I’m not to sure, maybe I just found out on my own, but it really doesn’t matter now does it. Of course,” the girl said in an almost inviting tone. “You could come in here and take the book away from me before I start casting it you know. Come on Thomas, you and me? You taught me everything I know, I’m sure it’ll be a fair fight.”

“Please Samantha, you don’t know what your doing,” Thomas began, his voice strained.

“I know exactly what I’m doing,” came the retort from inside the metal cell. Daniel felt his confusion deepen even more as he stood, listening.

“Please don’t do this,” Thomas said softly.

“Who are you to tell me what not to do? Aren’t I the Slayer? I’m the one that fights the demons. I’m the one that embodies the shard of divinity that humanity lacks. I’m the protector of the world, of man and woman. Peace and tranquility is wrought by my hand. Hope is sown through my actions. How dare you command me?” Daniel heard the shuffling of the girl inside, as if standing up.

“Samantha, please understand that—“ Thomas started.

“I understand that a few with limited vision are trying to hold back what they don’t understand. Your insolence would anger me more than it does if I didn’t already know the narrowness of your pathetic ideals.” Thomas turned himself around in futile despair and began walking away from the cell.

“God help us all,” the old man said in a hushed voice. Daniel followed close behind and when he felt they had put enough distance between them and the cell, he began to speak again.

“What’s going on Sir? Why is the Slayer in that cell?” the Daniel asked, wide eyed and somewhat disbelieving of the whole matter still. It made no sense, a Slayer locked up, spouting rhetoric at one of the wisest Watchers that ever existed.

“Tell me Daniel, what do you think a Slayer is?” Thomas asked as they continued walking back to his room.

“A Slayer,” the young man said, beginning to launch into the verbatim recitation of what a Slayer is.

“No Daniel,” the old man said, interrupting with a serious tone. “Not what you’ve been told. What do you think a Slayer is?”

“Well Sir I…” Daniel thought hard for a moment. “I think they are protectors, guardians.” Daniel watched Thomas’s face sadden.

“They do seem like that don’t they?” Thomas replied. “I’ve sent for you because you are to replace me and to replace me you have to know everything about what this order does. For the most part the Watchers are trainers, observers, facilitators, and other things. For some of us though, we have another task as well, a task that is now going to be burdened on your shoulders, and I’m sorry. It’s time for you to learn what Samantha and every Slayer before her and, if we live through this, what every Slayer after her is.” As the two re-entered Thomas’s room again, Daniel sat down at the old man’s desk as the senor Watcher began talking.

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“Willow?” Giles said as the redhead burst through the front door. Willow walked quickly past the Giles towards the kitchen.

“Giles? Where’s the book of Tekuyea?” Willow said loudly from the kitchen, the sound of things being moved around franticly issuing forth.

“In here, I’ve been looking at it,” Giles called back. Willow walked hastily to Englishman, taking the book he was holding out of his hands and laying it down on the living room table in front of her, flipping pages about.

Why don’t you have a look,” Giles said in an absent slightly sarcastic voice.

“Thanks,” Willow replied with a distracted voice as she kept her gaze locked on to the book. Willow continued flipping through pages for a few more seconds until she finally ended on one page, planting her index finger on the spell title. “There,” Willow said. “That’s it.” Willow slide the book over to Giles, letting him read over the page.

“I don’t understand,” Giles said, lifting his head up from the text to look at the Slayer.

“Neither did I at first, the way it’s worded. The reallocation of curses.”

“I’m still not following,” Giles said.

“Listen, my mother wasn’t a Slayer right?” Willow began. “Neither was my grandmother or my great grandmother right? Before me, it was Buffy, and after me it was Kendra, and after her it was Faith. All four of us aren’t related at all.”

“Yes, but I’m still not following,” Giles responded.

“Just hear me out. Being a Slayer isn’t genetic. It isn’t some random gene code that just happens to wake up when another Slayer dies, so what else does that leave?” Willow said.

“Magic,” Giles said back in a low voice. “I don’t like where this is going Willow.” The redhead ignored his last comment.

“Now all a curse typically is is just a spell cast on a single target, affecting them for long periods of time, maybe even life, altering their normal life into something else. If they perceive the life alterations as bad, then the spell is a curse. So in the end the curse is just perception based. What could be a curse to one person wouldn’t necessarily be to another so in the end a curse is just a magical enhancement right? So if we theorize that the thing that makes me a Slayer can be quantified into the curse category, via the fact that it’s life altering and can be perceived as a bad thing, seeing as how I’m forced to deal with people I love dying all around me because of it, than it’s possible this spell can be used,” Willow finished, her face unable to control her smile.

“Use this spell to do what exactly,” Giles asked.

“To transfer my… Slayerness, whatever you want to call it, to Tara, make her the Slayer,” Willow said, tapping the page the spell was on.

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