![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoggedTitle: Self-Destruct Button (2/?)
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and many other corporations own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Spike, Willow/Kennedy
Word Count: 1749
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRAO/NC-17 (Eventually)
Setting: Buffy – Post “Chosen”/Angel – set shortly after “Damage.”
Summary: Willow gets a party invitation from a certain warlock in Los Angeles.
Beta(s):![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angelskuuipo and purplefeen. All other mistakes are mine.
A/N: Written forrua1412 who inspired me with her gorgeous artwork.
Banner byrua1412
When Willow’s eyelids fluttered open, she took a deep breath, hoping to reorient herself to the sunny surroundings as well as stave off the migraine that usually threatened to form at the base of her brain. The letter from Cyvus was still in her hand.
She was instantly rewarded with the smell of warm tortillas, sliced turkey, black beans, and sour cream. Mmm… She loved it when Kennedy made her black bean and turkey wraps. They were the very best in culinary refreshment and perfect for an exhausted astral traveler.
“You’re back,” Kennedy said tersely. She had a knife in her hand and she was cutting into a tomato with more force than necessary. Willow flinched as she turned around and witnessed a red chunk fly into the glass patio doors. Juice instantly splattered, creating a weird Rorshach-esque design on the clear surface.
“Swim didn’t go well?” Willow asked, rising to her feet. Usually the beach provided Kennedy the relief she needed after a fight, whether it was demon, girlfriend, or otherwise. But that didn’t seem to be the case today.
Willow didn’t let go of the envelope as she walked towards the kitchen, but she was tempted to given Kennedy’s current mood. If Kennedy was dancing on the razor-sharp edge of aggravation, Willow was pretty sure that mentioning a witch and warlock party might send her girl into the deep end.
“Not so much,” Kennedy replied, her shoulders noticeably twitching with tension. “The Torres boys beat me in a splash fight and Mrs. Gonzalez cried shark again so the lifeguards cleared out the beach for the day, even though it only took them three minutes to figure out that old Edith was just making it up for the sake of ruining everyone’s fun.”
Well, that explained why Kennedy’s hair looked extra damp. But Willow wasn’t all that sure that Mrs. Gonzalez’s actions, while silly and unnecessary, really warranted the intense increase in Kennedy’s stress levels.
Instead of pressing the issue further, Willow set the envelope beside the victimized tomato and placed her hands on Kennedy’s hips, tugging her closer. Kennedy sighed, releasing her grip on the knife, as she turned and wrapped her arms around Willow’s neck.
“You’ll get those boys next time,” Willow replied, the melody of a smile playing on her lips. “I’ll even help. We can be sneaky and give them wedgies.”
Kennedy laughed, her eyes brightening and her shoulders relaxing.
Willow quickly made a mental note that immature zingers could be used to cure Kennedy’s blues and stored that away in the back of her brain’s filing system.
“What would I do without you, baby?” Kennedy asked, tilting her head forward to capture Willow’s lips. The kiss was brief, but made Willow feel like she was no longer in danger of triggering an explosive reaction.
Kennedy pulled away first, not caring that Willow hadn’t answered her somewhat rhetorical question and segueing into the next topic. “How’d your astral journey go today? Find anything interesting?”
“You could say that,” Willow replied.
Kennedy arched an eyebrow, non-verbally encouraging Willow to elaborate.
“I got mail,” Willow explained, nodding her head towards the envelope that Kennedy apparently hadn’t noticed this whole time.
“The PTB is working for AOL now?” Kennedy asked, gingerly picking the correspondence off the counter, lifting the torn flap, and pulling out the note.
Willow chuckled a little, but shook her head. “Nope, the PTB is still using snails I think.”
Kennedy frowned, not getting the joke.
“Snail mail?” Willow offered, realizing that her comedy hot streak for the day had come to a disappointing halt.
“Of course,” Kennedy replied, nodding and forcing herself to laugh a little. “Very funny, babe.”
It was a little bit placating and not exactly reassuring, but Willow didn’t mind so much. The time had come to move on to bigger and better things.
“Just read it, okay?”
“Okay.”
Kennedy pursed her lips and scanned her eyes over the document. When she finished, she put it back down on the counter. “I think you need to call Giles. This guy seems like bad news.”
“That was the plan,” Willow replied. “Though I’ve kinda been thinking that maybe I should check it out anyway. I mean, this Cyvus guy could be useful to us somehow. Or, you know, if we sniff him out, we can send in the cavalry, and then boom! No more evil wizard guy.”
Kennedy flashed her a doubtful look. “I’m all for going in guns a-blazin’, but I don’t really want them to be your guns, babe. Call Giles and he can send a team out to investigate this guy. That way, you can stay home and….”
Willow didn’t need her to finish that sentence. She didn’t want to know exactly how Kennedy would end a phrase like that.
“But I was the one who got the invitation,” Willow protested. Despite her earlier reservations about Cyvus Vail, she didn't care for Kennedy’s implication that she wasn’t suited for this task. She was a witch, gosh darn it. One of the most powerful witches in the world. Besides, Kennedy had even witnessed her turn into a Goddess so why was she acting like this now? Was it because she was jealous that Cyvus wasn’t having a special slayer party?
“Call Giles,” Kennedy repeated, crossing her arms over her chest as her famous don’t-fuck-with-me expression slipped into place. “At least he’ll be able to talk sense into you.”
Willow opened and closed her mouth like a fish on land, hurt by Kennedy’s cutting remark that spoke volumes about how the Slayer really felt about this, but was too stunned to say anything about it. Instead, she marched over to the phone, picked up the receiver, and dialed in the digits for the Watcher’s Council. If Giles was hanging out anywhere these days, it was probably there. Besides, maybe Giles would tell her that she was the one filled with sense and Kennedy was the illogical one. Yeah, ‘cause Giles would do that…
Sighing deeply, Willow listened as an automated woman’s voice prompted her to dial her party’s extension. She pulled the phone away from her ear and punched 1-2-6 on the keypad.
“Hello?”
“Giles? It’s me.”
“Hello Willow. I take it you have news?” Giles asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” Willow replied. “I didn’t get a chance to trace any new slayers, but something else happened out on the plane.”
“Is everything all right?” She could already hear the world of concern in his voice. Strictly father-like.
“Everything’s fine. It’s just…,” Willow paused, before her babbling instinct took over. Best to get it all out at once. “When I opened up the veil today, a letter shot out at me. This guy, Cyvus Vail, wants me to attend some sort of party in Los Angeles. I know I don’t know anything about him, but I was thinking it would be good to go. Plus, if there’s trouble I could always call Angel….”
Angel.
It had been awhile since she’d last thought of her best friend’s former flame and her sort-of friend. The last time being the last time she saw him and that had been pretty awkward on account of the fact that she’d needed to shove his soul back inside of him. But now he seemed like a pretty important person to think about given that he could provide back-up for her and maybe even lodging.
“Willow, I really don’t think that’s appropriate. Cyvus Vail is one of the most powerful influences in Los Angeles and he’s one of the darkest wizards I’ve ever had the misfortune to read about. You wouldn’t be safe there. Not even with Angel involved.”
Willow’s lips twitched and she frowned in disappointment. Why did he think Angel wouldn’t be able to help? Angel had been nothing but help for the last decade. Even when he’d left Sunnydale behind, he’d always kept their backs in mind.
“Well, I’m sure Wesley and Fred and Gunn would also be involved. Wesley’s pretty good at the magics too. He’s totally helpful. I bet I could make him my plus one or something and then if Vail causes trouble, I’ll be ready for him and stuff.” She would have mentioned Cordelia in that list as well, but Fred had called her to let her know that Cordy was in a coma. She and Kennedy had sent lilies. Buffy had sent roses. Xander had sent…a cactus. The implications of that were positively endless, but she hadn’t been able to get a real answer from him yet.
Turned out the Resolve Face approach didn’t translate all that well over the telephone.
Giles clucked his tongue. “Yes, well, I suppose I can’t stop you, Willow. You’re a grown woman now; capable of making her own decisions.”
Willow wanted to feel relief at Giles’s response, but something about his tone told her that if he could, he would chain her down to a chair somewhere and keep her locked in a closet until someone else took care of Cyvus Vail.
“I’ll let you know how it goes,” Willow replied, hanging up the phone before Giles had a chance to say what he had really wanted to.
“So you’re going?” Kennedy said, anger rising in her voice.
“Yes,” Willow replied calmly. “It’s something I need to do. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You know what? No. If you go, we’re done.”
Willow’s heart clenched at the sharp sting of Kennedy’s ultimatum. It was unfair that her girlfriend was reacting this way after all the times Willow hadn’t argued or whined (too much) when Kennedy had to leave for several weeks at a time to go off and save the world. Sure, Kennedy was a self-proclaimed selfish brat, but this was going too far. If Kennedy couldn’t be okay with her leaving this hemisphere for a week or two, then maybe it was time for them to come to an end. She was tired of always being the one to give in.
“Fine.”
She nearly choked on the word as it left her lips, but she couldn’t let Kennedy win like this. If Cyvus was as dark as Giles said he was, then it would take a witch who’d risen from the darkness and the ash to stop him.
With a sharp inhale, Willow muttered the incantation for a teleportation spell, knowing she was pressing down on what had to be her self-destruct button, and disappeared with a pop before Kennedy had a chance to see her cry.
Chapter 3
Author: snogged
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and many other corporations own the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series. I don’t.
Pairing: Willow/Spike, Willow/Kennedy
Word Count: 1749
Overall Rating/Warnings: FRAO/NC-17 (Eventually)
Setting: Buffy – Post “Chosen”/Angel – set shortly after “Damage.”
Summary: Willow gets a party invitation from a certain warlock in Los Angeles.
Beta(s):
angelskuuipo and purplefeen. All other mistakes are mine.A/N: Written for
rua1412 who inspired me with her gorgeous artwork.Banner by
rua1412When Willow’s eyelids fluttered open, she took a deep breath, hoping to reorient herself to the sunny surroundings as well as stave off the migraine that usually threatened to form at the base of her brain. The letter from Cyvus was still in her hand.
She was instantly rewarded with the smell of warm tortillas, sliced turkey, black beans, and sour cream. Mmm… She loved it when Kennedy made her black bean and turkey wraps. They were the very best in culinary refreshment and perfect for an exhausted astral traveler.
“You’re back,” Kennedy said tersely. She had a knife in her hand and she was cutting into a tomato with more force than necessary. Willow flinched as she turned around and witnessed a red chunk fly into the glass patio doors. Juice instantly splattered, creating a weird Rorshach-esque design on the clear surface.
“Swim didn’t go well?” Willow asked, rising to her feet. Usually the beach provided Kennedy the relief she needed after a fight, whether it was demon, girlfriend, or otherwise. But that didn’t seem to be the case today.
Willow didn’t let go of the envelope as she walked towards the kitchen, but she was tempted to given Kennedy’s current mood. If Kennedy was dancing on the razor-sharp edge of aggravation, Willow was pretty sure that mentioning a witch and warlock party might send her girl into the deep end.
“Not so much,” Kennedy replied, her shoulders noticeably twitching with tension. “The Torres boys beat me in a splash fight and Mrs. Gonzalez cried shark again so the lifeguards cleared out the beach for the day, even though it only took them three minutes to figure out that old Edith was just making it up for the sake of ruining everyone’s fun.”
Well, that explained why Kennedy’s hair looked extra damp. But Willow wasn’t all that sure that Mrs. Gonzalez’s actions, while silly and unnecessary, really warranted the intense increase in Kennedy’s stress levels.
Instead of pressing the issue further, Willow set the envelope beside the victimized tomato and placed her hands on Kennedy’s hips, tugging her closer. Kennedy sighed, releasing her grip on the knife, as she turned and wrapped her arms around Willow’s neck.
“You’ll get those boys next time,” Willow replied, the melody of a smile playing on her lips. “I’ll even help. We can be sneaky and give them wedgies.”
Kennedy laughed, her eyes brightening and her shoulders relaxing.
Willow quickly made a mental note that immature zingers could be used to cure Kennedy’s blues and stored that away in the back of her brain’s filing system.
“What would I do without you, baby?” Kennedy asked, tilting her head forward to capture Willow’s lips. The kiss was brief, but made Willow feel like she was no longer in danger of triggering an explosive reaction.
Kennedy pulled away first, not caring that Willow hadn’t answered her somewhat rhetorical question and segueing into the next topic. “How’d your astral journey go today? Find anything interesting?”
“You could say that,” Willow replied.
Kennedy arched an eyebrow, non-verbally encouraging Willow to elaborate.
“I got mail,” Willow explained, nodding her head towards the envelope that Kennedy apparently hadn’t noticed this whole time.
“The PTB is working for AOL now?” Kennedy asked, gingerly picking the correspondence off the counter, lifting the torn flap, and pulling out the note.
Willow chuckled a little, but shook her head. “Nope, the PTB is still using snails I think.”
Kennedy frowned, not getting the joke.
“Snail mail?” Willow offered, realizing that her comedy hot streak for the day had come to a disappointing halt.
“Of course,” Kennedy replied, nodding and forcing herself to laugh a little. “Very funny, babe.”
It was a little bit placating and not exactly reassuring, but Willow didn’t mind so much. The time had come to move on to bigger and better things.
“Just read it, okay?”
“Okay.”
Kennedy pursed her lips and scanned her eyes over the document. When she finished, she put it back down on the counter. “I think you need to call Giles. This guy seems like bad news.”
“That was the plan,” Willow replied. “Though I’ve kinda been thinking that maybe I should check it out anyway. I mean, this Cyvus guy could be useful to us somehow. Or, you know, if we sniff him out, we can send in the cavalry, and then boom! No more evil wizard guy.”
Kennedy flashed her a doubtful look. “I’m all for going in guns a-blazin’, but I don’t really want them to be your guns, babe. Call Giles and he can send a team out to investigate this guy. That way, you can stay home and….”
Willow didn’t need her to finish that sentence. She didn’t want to know exactly how Kennedy would end a phrase like that.
“But I was the one who got the invitation,” Willow protested. Despite her earlier reservations about Cyvus Vail, she didn't care for Kennedy’s implication that she wasn’t suited for this task. She was a witch, gosh darn it. One of the most powerful witches in the world. Besides, Kennedy had even witnessed her turn into a Goddess so why was she acting like this now? Was it because she was jealous that Cyvus wasn’t having a special slayer party?
“Call Giles,” Kennedy repeated, crossing her arms over her chest as her famous don’t-fuck-with-me expression slipped into place. “At least he’ll be able to talk sense into you.”
Willow opened and closed her mouth like a fish on land, hurt by Kennedy’s cutting remark that spoke volumes about how the Slayer really felt about this, but was too stunned to say anything about it. Instead, she marched over to the phone, picked up the receiver, and dialed in the digits for the Watcher’s Council. If Giles was hanging out anywhere these days, it was probably there. Besides, maybe Giles would tell her that she was the one filled with sense and Kennedy was the illogical one. Yeah, ‘cause Giles would do that…
Sighing deeply, Willow listened as an automated woman’s voice prompted her to dial her party’s extension. She pulled the phone away from her ear and punched 1-2-6 on the keypad.
“Hello?”
“Giles? It’s me.”
“Hello Willow. I take it you have news?” Giles asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” Willow replied. “I didn’t get a chance to trace any new slayers, but something else happened out on the plane.”
“Is everything all right?” She could already hear the world of concern in his voice. Strictly father-like.
“Everything’s fine. It’s just…,” Willow paused, before her babbling instinct took over. Best to get it all out at once. “When I opened up the veil today, a letter shot out at me. This guy, Cyvus Vail, wants me to attend some sort of party in Los Angeles. I know I don’t know anything about him, but I was thinking it would be good to go. Plus, if there’s trouble I could always call Angel….”
Angel.
It had been awhile since she’d last thought of her best friend’s former flame and her sort-of friend. The last time being the last time she saw him and that had been pretty awkward on account of the fact that she’d needed to shove his soul back inside of him. But now he seemed like a pretty important person to think about given that he could provide back-up for her and maybe even lodging.
“Willow, I really don’t think that’s appropriate. Cyvus Vail is one of the most powerful influences in Los Angeles and he’s one of the darkest wizards I’ve ever had the misfortune to read about. You wouldn’t be safe there. Not even with Angel involved.”
Willow’s lips twitched and she frowned in disappointment. Why did he think Angel wouldn’t be able to help? Angel had been nothing but help for the last decade. Even when he’d left Sunnydale behind, he’d always kept their backs in mind.
“Well, I’m sure Wesley and Fred and Gunn would also be involved. Wesley’s pretty good at the magics too. He’s totally helpful. I bet I could make him my plus one or something and then if Vail causes trouble, I’ll be ready for him and stuff.” She would have mentioned Cordelia in that list as well, but Fred had called her to let her know that Cordy was in a coma. She and Kennedy had sent lilies. Buffy had sent roses. Xander had sent…a cactus. The implications of that were positively endless, but she hadn’t been able to get a real answer from him yet.
Turned out the Resolve Face approach didn’t translate all that well over the telephone.
Giles clucked his tongue. “Yes, well, I suppose I can’t stop you, Willow. You’re a grown woman now; capable of making her own decisions.”
Willow wanted to feel relief at Giles’s response, but something about his tone told her that if he could, he would chain her down to a chair somewhere and keep her locked in a closet until someone else took care of Cyvus Vail.
“I’ll let you know how it goes,” Willow replied, hanging up the phone before Giles had a chance to say what he had really wanted to.
“So you’re going?” Kennedy said, anger rising in her voice.
“Yes,” Willow replied calmly. “It’s something I need to do. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You know what? No. If you go, we’re done.”
Willow’s heart clenched at the sharp sting of Kennedy’s ultimatum. It was unfair that her girlfriend was reacting this way after all the times Willow hadn’t argued or whined (too much) when Kennedy had to leave for several weeks at a time to go off and save the world. Sure, Kennedy was a self-proclaimed selfish brat, but this was going too far. If Kennedy couldn’t be okay with her leaving this hemisphere for a week or two, then maybe it was time for them to come to an end. She was tired of always being the one to give in.
“Fine.”
She nearly choked on the word as it left her lips, but she couldn’t let Kennedy win like this. If Cyvus was as dark as Giles said he was, then it would take a witch who’d risen from the darkness and the ash to stop him.
With a sharp inhale, Willow muttered the incantation for a teleportation spell, knowing she was pressing down on what had to be her self-destruct button, and disappeared with a pop before Kennedy had a chance to see her cry.
Chapter 3
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2011-01-31 12:29 pm (UTC)I love this series!
You had me so giggling about Xander-Cordelia and the cactus!
Can I please repost this in my lj? I'm so proud my fanart managed to inspire such a great series!
no subject
on 2011-01-31 12:32 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you're enjoying this and that you liked my bit about Xander sending Cordy a cactus.
I would be absolutely honored to have you repost this to your LJ.
no subject
on 2011-01-31 12:35 pm (UTC)HUGS
no subject
on 2011-01-31 01:22 pm (UTC)Could Kennedy be more selfish? And I echo loving the cactus.
Gabrielle
no subject
on 2011-01-31 02:05 pm (UTC)Glad you're enjoying it!
no subject
on 2011-01-31 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-01-31 04:26 pm (UTC)*hugs*
no subject
on 2011-01-31 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-01-31 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-01-31 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-02-01 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-05-07 06:41 pm (UTC)And also Xander sending Cordelia a cactus is... brilliant :D
And Kennedy's being a brat :( *huggles Willow*
no subject
on 2011-05-09 04:23 am (UTC)