Kathy's Revenge

Chapter 37
Willows POV

I manage to persuade Faith to take a trip downstairs to the basement. I don’t like to say I need to run tests, she isn’t my science project but I really don’t know what else to call what I’m doing.

I’ve moved two chairs down to the basement and got her to sit on one of them before I start rummaging in a box I’ve brought down with me containing all the things that I think I might need.

I pull out a small vile filled with orange liquid. “What are you going to do with that?”

“Nothing.” I answer. “You’re going to drink it.”

“Yeah right and why would I do that?” She crosses her arms and looks like a stubborn child.

“Because you haven’t slept in days. The dreams are keeping you awake.” I pour the liquid into a small medicine cap. “Even when awake you’re having flashbacks so much that you threw me across the room.” She looks down all guilty at this. So I take that moment to push the small cup into her hand. “And if you don’t I’ll never do that thing with my tongue again.” She’s not the only one who knows how to use it.

She looks up at me mortified. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.” Resolve face in place. Talk your way out of this one.

She looks down at the orange liquid, which by now is emitting a rather ripe smell. Then back at me. I could have gone the whole hog and threatened to withhold sex but I don’t think I could live up to that one. “Fine.” She throws it back like a shot only doesn’t let any of it touch the sides. I’ve got to say that showed quite a lot of trust, I could have put anything in that. “What now?”

Always the impatient one. “Just wait a moment. It needs to get around your system a little, it wont take long.” I put the stopper back on the vile. I’d left it off in case she spat it out. I put that back in the box and take out a small crystal attached to a long chain.

“I’m not swallowing that.” She says.

“Always thinking with your stomach.” I shake my head and walk a little closer. “You just hold it.” See the thing is, timing is very precise in this spell so instead of dangling it and letting her take it I take her hand and push it into her palm.

I move back fast enough so the reaction doesn’t affect me. Don’t get all worried it’s harmless. All it does is make her aura visible to me. You would never guess how much an aura tells you. “I’m fucking green.” She says to me looking down at her hands.

”That would be your aura’s colour. Greens not a bad thing okay?” I take a look around her looking for any fragments. There’s a rather large back wedge in the back of her head. Tara was right, when this sort of thing happens it looks like something has pushed its way through.

I take the crystal out of her hand. Having your aura exposed for too long is never good. Especially if something is trying to force it’s way into your mind. The thin green layer around my girlfriend lifts immediately. “Hey I was just getting used to that.” Always complaining.

I roll my eyes. “Good news is you’re not going crazy.”

“Well that’s nice. Like to tell me why I’m reliving all of my memories. And I might point out none of the good ones.”

“Well it looks to me like some sort of magic. Not one I’m familiar with. But it seems to be messing around with your mind putting things in front of your eyes and making you think like you did at the time of the memory.” Confused yet?

“Great.” She says her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now how do we get it out?”

“It looks strong I don’t think I’m going to be able to get it out from here.” I place all my items back in the box. And pull out the rather large crystal that I used to view Andrew’s memory’s all those weeks ago.

“Hey stop right there. What do you mean from out here and what are you going to do with that? I’m not going to show you my memories.” She’s trying to be stubborn again.

“Faith.” She looks down at the floor so resolve face wont work. Sneaky little bitch. So I kneel down in front of her and look up into her face. “If we don’t get rid of this it could kill you. Either from lack of sleep, or from one of your memories going too far. What if you were to have that one with Buffy just before graduation again? What if you were to have it on the roof?”

“Well can’t you just do that thing you did with Spike? Then I can figure it out for myself.”

“We’re not looking for something which still has some hold on you. Clearly all of this has some sort of hold we’re looking for what’s causing you to live like this.” I take a pause more to figure out what I’m going to say than for dramatic effect. “Why don’t you want me to see your past?”

She gets up from her seat and takes a little stroll across the room. “Because that’s exactly what it is, it’s the past, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

”It matters to you otherwise you wouldn’t be having this problem.”

She looks up form the floor in my direction but she’s still trying to avoid looking at me and caving. “No.”

“Faith somewhere in your mind there is something which is slowly killing you, you’re going to have to forgive me if I worry too much about you.” I take a breath to calm down. My words were getting gradually higher in both volume and pitch. “Faith I just want you to trust me. Whatever is locked in there it’s part of what’s made you, you. And I wouldn’t have you any other way.” Too sappy what do you think?

She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Fine.” She more stomps than walks back to her chair and sits down. “But If I feel it’s getting too dark you stop. Got it?”

“I’m not going to put you through anything you wouldn’t want.” I hold the crystal in front of her. What’s going to happen is the essence of my mind is going to leave my body and be channelled through this into your mind.” Different than with Andrew but this is one powerful crystal. It can do so many things involving memory I don’t even know what I can do yet. “You will be unconscious so you’ll be there with me and you will see everything that I see.” I hold it up. “All you have to do is look into it.”

She nods at me and after taking a rather long breath looks deep into the centre of the large pinkish object. Within moments I feel the pull of her mind and I’m pulled into the slayer.