By PassionFish
A/N – Dedicated
to Marsters’ Girl – my never-tiring beta!
"I-I don't think I quite understand...” William
trailed off, his brow deeply furrowed.
"There was another pair of us?" Buffy questioned, her eyes darting between
William, Giles and Xander for conformation of the wacky.
"It would appear that way." Giles tried to speak soothingly, but a
gleeful Xander taunting Angel thwarted his attempts.
"You saw what?!" Angel growled for the fifth time, completely ignoring Buffy's
mini-shriek and the gang's disapproving look.
"For the last time, Dead boy, we saw Spike
carry Buffy off over his shoulder."
Xander rolled his eyes, annoyed over who he liked less. Angel or Spike; at the moment he was leaning
toward the former.
"Don't forget the naked part...oh, and the
touching." Anya perked up again,
ignorant to the Vampire's glare.
"Yes, please tell it again, Anya!" Giles exclaimed in exasperation.
"Well-"
"Stop!"
Came the shouts of many present; no one really feeling the need to re-hear
the very descriptive account of Vampire and Slayer's...encounter.
"Fine."
Anya grumbled, slumping back in her chair.
"We have to bring them back." Angel declared jerkily, attempting, once
more, to keep his emotions in check and try to think rationally.
Giles nodded, "I agree." Angel made to move but the Watcher spoke
again. "Uh, however, I don't think you should accompany us."
"Giles-"
"You are too volatile, Angel, and you know
it! If...” He coughed uncomfortably.
"If we were too catch them, uh, in flagrante delicto, I can not trust you
to keep calm."
"And you think you will?" Angel demanded, heatedly, trying to ignore
the very expansive image that popped into his mind at Giles words.
"I believe that, however I may act, I will not
inadvertently harm Buffy...” He left his sentence trailing, implying to all
that could decipher his strange look that there may be more to this situation
than met the eye.
Angel understood and with a large growl he turned
and lumbered into the kitchen. Giles winced
as they heard the sound of cups being banged loudly, but said nothing.
"Um, Giles?" It was Tara who spoke, and all turned to face the quiet
woman. Giles smiled reassuringly and
she continued. "M-maybe we should
hold off the search party...” At some of the outraged looks she clarified. "Just until we have worked out how to
put them back together. It doesn't look
like Buffy will let Spike kill, or Xander and Anya would be dead right now, so
we haven't got that to worry about.
And, I'm sure they're...in one spot." She ended with a blush.
Giles nodded, a slight blush staining his own
cheeks, then frowned. "Put them
back together? Do you think...?"
"It's possible...” Tara shrugged helplessly.
"What?"
Cordy asked, stepping up to the circle.
"Of course, a separating spell...” Willow
finally gasped in understanding.
"A what?"
Xander spoke up, eager not to be left out.
"I didn't think there was a demon that walked
this plane that accomplish such a feat."
Giles questioned.
"A Shuggagiy could." Anya perked up. "They're inter-dimensional travellers."
"A what?"
Xander asked again. "What's
a shaggy?"
"A Shuggagiy - they separate entities to even
the balance of a dimension." Giles
explained, briefly looking at Anya for conformation, who nodded.
"So they work for the powers?" Fred finally spoke up.
"Perhaps, or possibly the beings the powers
work for...” The older watcher continued.
"There are higher beings than the powers? Gunn asked, shocked.
"The powers are only the 'high powers' of this
dimension...all dimensions have different, uh, leaders." Wesley explained.
"So basically, " Willow began, turning
everyone’s attention back to the matter at hand, "we need to find a spell
to fuse them back together?"
"Hi."
Everyone turned to Buffy who had finally stood up. "Sorry to interrupt, but what the hell
are you talking about?"
---
"Oh, I've found something!" Willow pressed a button on her computer
screen and a picture of the Shaggagiy popped up in the centre of the monitor.
"Wow, guys really gotta 'Grim Reaper' thing
going on." Cordy remarked
absently.
"Actually, the Grim Reaper doesn't look like
that. Writers just stole that look from
the Shaggagiy." Anya
explained. "Anyway, Grimmy's more
into pink cats then all black..."
"Ooookay!" The gang turned back to Willow.
"Does it say how to re-connect them?" Giles asked, shaking his head at yet another
weird piece of information from the ex-vengeance demon.
"No."
Willow looked sad for a moment, and then perked up. "But it does say what was done to
them...and the spell that was used.
Maybe, me and Tara can go through it and try to come up with an undo
clause."
"I can help...i-if you want."
Willow smiled at Fred encouragingly, "That
would be great."
"What’s' it say was actually done?" Gunn asked.
"Oh, actually its really cool!" Willow bloomed with witchy joy, causing Tara
to smile widely. "He split their
entities; one pair got all their human qualities, and the other their
supernatural ones."
"Spike doesn't have any human qualities." Xander and Angel said simultaneously, and
then glared at each other.
Giles let out a low growl that could have rivalled
the dark Vampire's any day, "You both know that is not true...no matter
how much you'd - any of us - would like to believe it."
The two in question glared down at the floor, but
both said nothing.
"And we may have to live with the repercussions
of that fact when we turn them back."
He finished gravely, watching as Angel growled and stormed out of the
house, slamming the front door as he went.
Continued in…Chapter Eight!