The Greatest Debt
by Nicola

“Amy!” Willow cried. Amy stopped and turned to the direction of the voice as Willow jogged across from the other side of the courtyard.

“Hey Willow!” Amy replied, “What’s up?” The two walked inside.

“Okay, I’m gonna get straight to the point,” Willow stated. There was a long pause as the two headed into a corridor lined by lockers.

“What’s the point?” Amy pushed. Willow looked confused before coming to her senses. She lowered her voice slightly when she replied,

“Y’know how Buffy’s the Slayer and she’s saved the world, like, a hundred times. Well, I was thinking of maybe repaying her.” Amy stopped and leaned against the wall. Willow stood in front of her, observing her reaction.

“Repay her how?” she asked carefully, not sure if she wanted to know. Willow smiled slightly.

“Well, y’see, Buffy has—had—this boyfriend called Angel. Angel is a vampire, but he has his soul. When they, well, y’know, on her birthday, he lost his soul. Now they can’t be together because it might happen again. And now they’re, like, really depressed. I mean, you remember how Buffy was when she quit the cheerleading team. She was happy. Now it’s a lot harder to get her to laugh. Even Xander finds it difficult.” Amy nodded knowingly.

“You want to make Angel’s soul permanent, and you need my help.” Willow looked at the ground before replying,

“I was thinking more along the lines of…human.” Amy’s jaw hit the floor. She spluttered a bit before finally managing,

“I’m not my mother y’know. She had power. Lots of power. I just convince teachers that I did my homework.” Willow cut in before Amy could get too loud.

“But we can do the spell together. I’m not much of a witch but I manage. C’mon, you have to do this. For Buffy.” Amy raised her eyebrows sceptically.

“You found a spell?” she asked.

“Well,” Willow slurred, “That’s where I need more help. Look, if I could ask anyone else I would because I don’t want you roped into this crazy little group plus I know you like to keep a low profile. But Xander hates Angel, Giles doesn’t like me messing with magic, Oz is a distraction and it’s the full moon, Anya’s not even worth thinking about, Cordelia wouldn’t help and Buffy and Angel would be heartbroken if it didn’t work so you are my last hope. You’re their last hope. Please?” Amy was silent for a moment, lost in deep thought. Finally she looked up at Willow.

“I’m in. What time do you want to meet and where?” Willow nearly jumped for joy.

“How about my place tonight at 8?” Amy nodded. The bell went and the two headed their separate ways to class. Unbeknownst to them, Buffy was around the corner and she had been listening to everything that had been said. Her heart pounded at the thought of having her Angel for the rest of her life, and in the daylight too. She tried to look sombre as she entered the classroom Willow had also gone to, but she couldn’t help the slight bounce in her step and the grin on her face.

During her free, Buffy plonked herself next to Willow on the chairs they so often sat at. Her sudden appearance made Willow jump and slam the old leather book in her hands shut. It sent a layer of dust flying.

“Buffy!” she exclaimed. Buffy smiled at her friend’s jumpiness. A long silence followed. Buffy fought an internal battle with herself. Should she tell Willow what she knew? The more people researching the quicker they’d find the cure. Buffy took in a deep breath and plunged in,

“I know what you’re trying to do with Amy.” Willow, who was still staring at the table, widened her eyes slowly. She didn’t move or say anything for a good minute.

“Are you okay with this?” she asked finally. Buffy grinned from ear to ear and leapt forward to give Willow a hug. “You have to know that it might not work, if we find anything.” Buffy only hugged harder to show that she knew what disappointment was.

“D’you want me to help research?” Buffy asked when she had released Willow from her death grip. Willow smiled slightly and nodded.

“Tonight, my house, 8 o’clock.” Buffy nodded. The bell went before Buffy could squeeze the life out of Willow again. Willow felt sick inside as she was swept away by the mob of students. How could she live with herself if they couldn’t find anything? Or if they found something but it didn’t work? Or if they accidentally killed Angel? Her nervousness only fuelled her will to succeed in curing Angel.

Willow opened her front door for Buffy.

“You’re late,” she chided jokingly. Buffy gave her a lopsided grin as she took off her coat and followed Willow upstairs.

“I’m sorry. It’s just Angel wanted to know why I couldn’t patrol and why I was so up-beat. I have never been interrogated so much in my entire life. Hey Amy!”

“Hey!” Amy was sitting on the floor in Willow’s bedroom. Around her were centuries old books and scraps of paper galore. Buffy and Willow sat on the floor so that they were forming a triangle. Willow picked up two of the smaller books for herself.

“Just grab a book and get researching.”

“What am I looking for?” Buffy asked. Willow thought a moment.

“Anything on his original curse, the gypsies, the Orb of Thessulah, punishment for vampires, anything.” Buffy nodded and stuck her nose in a big leather tome. They were engrossed in their reading for a good three hours. Buffy had never concentrated so much. By 11.30 they had found nothing. Buffy was only slightly disappointed. “Don’t worry Buffy. This could take months, but we will find something.” Buffy nodded and she and Amy left.

Six Months and One Apocalypse Later

“Eeek!” Willow squeaked.

“What is it Willow?” Amy asked. Buffy was concentrating so hard she didn’t even notice Willow frantically pointing at the book in her

lap.“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” That brought Buffy out of her thoughts.

“Got what?” she asked.

“I’ve got part of a spell! It’s here! It’s here!” Amy and Buffy were looking over Willow’s shoulders within seconds.

“Details, Will,” demanded Buffy.

“It’s only part of a spell, because the other part isn’t here. And it’s not strong enough on its own. It needs something else, a performance or ritual. Amy?” Amy took the book from Willow and examined it more closely.

“I know this spell. It’s in a book that’s long lost. Transvectium Portentei Du Vampyrus, I think.” Willow noticed a look of dawning recognition on Buffy’s face.

“Buffy?” she queried.

“What time is it?” Buffy asked. Willow glanced at her clock.

“10.30. Why?”

“Angel’s out on patrol. I’ll be right back.” With that, Buffy took off.

When she had reached the mansion she just walked right in as she usually did. She was very surprised to find Angel sitting in the living room. He looked up as she stopped by the doorway.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hi!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I…need to borrow a book. From you. Cos Giles says he needs it. And I know you have it. So could I go look? At the book?” Angel looked at Buffy strangely before nodding his head and sighing. Buffy walked to his private library, grabbed the book titled Transvectium Portentei Du Vampyrus and fled.

Willow’s house was all dark so Buffy decided to call it a night and show Amy and Willow the book at school the next day.

Willow and Amy were already in the library when Buffy got there. She practically sprinted through the doors, startling the two witches.

“Buffy! Where did you go yesterday?” Willow asked. Buffy stopped just in front of the library table. She slammed her schoolbooks down on the table in excitement and pulled from her bag a very old, worn leather tome. She handed it to Willow who glanced at the title on the cover. Her eyes widened in surprise. She passed the book to Amy who did the same as Willow. They turned to Buffy for an explanation.

“Angel has loads of books that are ‘lost’. I was looking through them last week. This is the oldest book he has.” Buffy grinned from ear to ear. She noticed Willow glance at something behind her before she heard Xander come through the library doors.

“Hey girls! What’re you doing? Oh, let me guess. ‘Nothing! I’ll find out later’.” Willow and Buffy both felt a pang of guilt. They had been pushing everyone away in their quest to cure Angel. They cast a look to each other. They would make it up to everybody, somehow. The bell went and everybody had to split.

The three were once again in Willow’s bedroom surrounded by books.

“I had a chat with some of Miss Calendar’s contacts on-line,” said Willow, “Most of them told me that there’s this legend of a vampire being punished with humanity for a year for some reason or another. It used the spell I found and some strange ritual that was made up there and then. The vampire-turned-human destroyed all recordings of the ritual. But we can make it up.” Amy and Willow both noticed Buffy’s depressed look. She was trying to act perky but it wasn’t fooling them. Amy spoke up,

“I could have a go. We have the spell, so that’s a start. I can tailor it so that Angel could still help you fight. As for the ritual, well, we could look for something similar.” Buffy looked up slowly but she didn’t see them. She was deeply lost in thought. She was whispering something under her breath, trying to make a connection. Her eyes darted side to side as she thought. And listened. She could hear voices. She didn’t know how or why, but they were there. And they were helping her think. They were keeping her sane.

“The Master!” she exclaimed suddenly, making the other two jump.

“Buffy?” Willow queried. Buffy grabbed a pen and paper and began writing something down. She wrote fast, but it wasn’t really her writing. It was a mixture, as if two people were working on the same problem. When she had finished jotting whatever it was down her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed. “Buffy!” Willow cried. She glanced nervously at Amy and the two approached Buffy’s body. It suddenly jumped and Buffy opened her eyes.

“The Master! He’s the key! It’s all there, everything we need. Look!” Amy picked up the paper with Buffy’s writing while Willow sat next to Buffy.

“Are you okay, Buffy? Where were you?” she asked concerned. Buffy looked around the room, dazed.

“I don’t know,” she breathed, “It was incredible. I heard voices, thousands of voices. They told me everything I needed to know. They said it was because I had joined them before, and Angel had done it twice, and we still came back to fight. I think it was the Ghost Roads. I need to go kick some demon ass. God, what a rush.” Buffy got up and left to go patrol. Willow looked at Amy who was smiling widely.

“She’s right. The ritual that would have brought back the Master, the spell you found, the Pentagonal ritual. We need three people who want him to be human and who would give their blood for him, a neutral space and someone to cast the spell. And something that means a lot to him. It’s all here!”

The vampire was flying through the air. Then the ground hit him. He grunted but didn’t have a lot of time for anything else because a stake was shoved through his heart. Buffy looked down at the vampire’s ashes satisfied. She still had one hell of a rush coursing through her, and that was her fourth vampire in an hour. A twig snapped behind her and she spun around to face her opponent.

“Angel!” He approached her.

“Hey! Is it safe to come near you?” Buffy frowned. “I’m just doing my job,” she defended. Angel shrugged.

“It’s just you haven’t done your job in over half a year, so why start now?” Angel fell into step with Buffy as they walked off to new hunting grounds.

“I just have one hell of a rush at the moment.”

“How come?”

“No reason.” Five minutes later they were at yet another cemetery. Almost immediately there were vampires attacking them. Buffy laid all into them. Roundhouse to the head, uppercut to a high-flyer, sidekick to demon at side, front kick, stake, elbow strike, stake. All too soon they were all dust. “Damn it,” Buffy muttered.

“Two things,” said Angel, “One: where d’you learn to fight like that and two: since when do you get upset when there are no vampires to stake?”

“Those moves just came into my head thanks to…someone and I like kicking ass since tonight.”

“I’m gonna call it a night.”

“G’night.”

“Aren’t you gonna go to bed too?”

“Nope.” Angel sighed, giving up hope of understanding the girl, and turned to head for the mansion. Buffy watched his departing figure longingly. “Angel!” He turned. “I’ll drop by tomorrow after school.” He nodded and disappeared into the night.

“So,” Buffy started, “Who, what, where, when, why and how?” Amy replied,

“Buffy, would you give your blood for Angel?”

“I’d die for Angel,” Buffy replied sincerely. Amy nodded.

“Willow?” Willow nodded.

“We can worry about number three later. I would give mine but who else would cast the spell?” said Amy.

“There’s always Jaques,” Willow suggested. Amy looked

confused.“Jaques Regnier?” Buffy asked sceptically, “He’s got his Gatehouse to worry about, and the kid’s only 10.”

“We need a neutral place,” Amy continued.

“There are a few fields round about,” said Willow. Amy nodded.

“Just make sure it’s not the one where I killed Samhain, okay? That still gives me the creeps,” Buffy pleaded. Willow glanced at the library doors as all the men walked in. She stood up and Buffy and Amy followed her out. Half way down the hallway, Buffy called out, “Cordelia!” Cordelia turned at the sound of her name being called. She was a little concerned that it was Buffy who was yelling it. She waited for Buffy, Willow and Amy to approach her. “Cordelia, I really need to talk to you in private.” Cordelia allowed herself to be led into an empty classroom.

“What do you losers want? As if I really cared,” Cordy demanded impatiently.

“We need your blood,” Buffy stated flatly. Cordelia stopped fiddling with her nails and looked up at Buffy’s very serious face.

“Excuse me?” Cordelia choked. Buffy sighed impatiently. Willow stepped forward to explain before Buffy lost her temper.

“We’re going to make Angel human tomorrow night. Amy’s casting the spell while Buffy, me and hopefully you will do some chanting and we have to mix our blood with holy water and paint these little pictures on Angel and if you don’t agree…”

“Then I’ll die,” Buffy said quietly. For once Cordelia was totally speechless. She ran over the pros and cons of agreeing. The one that stuck out big time was that it would really bug Xander. And she would be saving Buffy’s life instead of vice versa.

“I’ll do it,” she agreed finally. Buffy smiled and gave Cordelia a little friendly hug before they had to hurry to their next class.

There was a light knocking on the door. Who would be knocking on Angel’s door, and at this time?

“It’s open!” he yelled. Slowly he opened his eyes and crawled out of bed. “Who is it?” he asked groggily.

“I’m sorry to wake you Angel but I have some really good news.” That was Buffy’s voice.

“Buffy?” Angel asked. She sighed impatiently.

“Yes, Angel. It’s me Buffy. Y’know, blonde hair, super powers, any of this ringing a bell?”

“No need to be sarcastic,” Angel replied, “Could you pass me my shirt?” Buffy gave Angel a lustful once over before handing him his shirt.

“I’m sorry. I’m a little up tight. Scratch that. If anything goes wrong tomorrow night then I’m likely to go stake myself.”

“God Buffy!” Angel cried. He moved to embrace her than stopped himself. He was angry that he had to do that but he didn’t want to get too close. “Sit down,” he instructed. Buffy did.

“Angel don’t say anything until I’m finished, okay?” He nodded. “For the past six months Willow, Amy and I have been researching. It’s taken us a long time, and it may not work, but they say it will, and I’ve thought about the pros and cons and I’ve seen you’re point of view and I’m willing to try and they’re willing to try…” Angel put his hand to Buffy’s mouth.

“You’re babbling.” She blushed a little. “What is it that you’re willing to try?” Buffy drew in a deep breath.

“We can make you human, Angel.” Angel’s jaw dropped open. It took a moment for the information to sink in.

“You serious?” he whispered. Buffy nodded.

“Tomorrow night. Meet me at my place by 11.30.” With that Buffy got up and left.

Willow was marking out a triangle with salt. Cordelia was looking worriedly at the knife by the tree and Buffy was on a tree branch. She was laying precariously on it, reaching down with her hands for Amy while using her legs as a counter-balance. When Amy grabbed her hands, Buffy pulled her up. Amy got comfy in the tree limb that jutted directly over the centre of the salt triangle. Buffy jumped down, careful to land as far away from the triangle as she could.

“Willow? Cordelia? You ready?” Buffy asked. They nodded nervously.

“He’s not gonna get hungry and, like, bite me, is he?” Cordelia asked. Buffy smiled. She took the knife in her right hand and drew it across the palm of her left. She felt the searing pain that accompanied the slicing of her flesh. The blood trickled down her arm and she let it drip into a bowl. A small bottle of holy water had already been poured into there.

“There you are. Nothing better than Slayer blood,” Buffy muttered. She then turned to the other girls. Willow was a bright white and even Cordy looked a little pale. “Who wants to go now?” Buffy asked. Willow sighed and stuck out her hand. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut as Buffy drew the knife quickly across her hand. Willow went even paler. Her blood trickled into the bowl, followed by Cordelia’s. “You go dress your wounds and then get in your positions. I’ll go draw on Angel,” Buffy instructed. The two did as they were told. Angel was standing in the middle of the triangle, wearing only his trousers.

“You okay?” he asked as Buffy approached him.

“Yeah. You?” He nodded. She gave him the Orb of Thessulah. He was surprised that it burned him, but he didn’t drop it. She dabbed her thumb in the mixture and began drawing the symbols she had memorised. “Hungry?” she asked. He nodded slightly. She smiled up at him. “We’ll order pizza in the morning.” When she had painted on all the appropriate symbols she stood in front of Angel. Little wisps of smoke rose up from his blood coated skin. She looked into his eyes and spoke from her heart. “I love you, Angel.” He didn’t know how to reply so he leaned down and kissed her. When they broke apart, and were only a few inches a way from each other, Angel did know how to reply,

“I love you too.” She then went to stand in her designated area.

“Ready when you are, Amy!” Willow called. She, Cordelia and Buffy picked up their chant. There’s was in Latin:

Demonia transportei avatica el humano portento, Spiriti di Liam O’Sean reman sa humano portento.

Angel was a little shocked to hear his real name Liam O’Sean. He would ask them about it later. The girls chanted it over and over in low voices. Amy began her part of the spell in English:

Hell spawn, demon Angelus, Be gone from this body!

The orb glowed in Angel’s hands, burning his skin even more. The light seemed to aggravate the blood pictures and they scorched his body even more.

By the power invested in me Vampire Angelus be gone from this body!

A spike of light shot upwards from the orb. It pierced Amy’s abdomen. She screamed out in pain, and nearly fell from the tree. Somehow she managed to hold on and keep chanting.

The soul must stay! The soul must stay!

Another spike of light was thrust through Buffy’s stomach, then Willow’s and Cordelia’s. The latter two screamed. Their chanting was already weak. They fell to the floor. Buffy doubled over and onto her knees. Her eyes were squeezed tight shut and she was chanting as if her life depended on it. In a way it did.

By the power of Hecate, Pan and Janus, By the power!

Yet another spike of light was emitted from the glass ball in Angel’s hands. This one entered him. Buffy opened her eyes and saw the light go through Angel. He fell to his hands and knees, but he still managed to hold the Orb of Thessulah. It glowed brighter and brighter. Amy was screaming the spell, and she was the only one chanting still. Willow and Cordelia had passed out.

The demon must be gone!

Angel felt like he was burning. He wondered if it was dawn already. That was stupid. He felt Angelus screaming inside of him. And for a reason he didn’t know, Angelus rose to the surface, his face shifted and he let out an animal’s roar. The spike of light through him disappeared just as the orb broke. The glass cut into his hands, but he didn’t care. The light in the orb engulfed his entire body. It burned every part of him that it touched, especially his face. It was like his demon features were being burnt away.

“Buffy,” he whispered hoarsely.

The soul must stay!

Amy screamed the last phrase and the light disappeared. Angel was on his knees. Something fell on him from above, causing him to fall flat on the ground. He kept his eyes open. Willow and Cordelia were unconscious. Buffy was kneeling next to him. She rolled the weight off of his back. Amy’s blonde hair came into view. Buffy then rolled Angel onto his back. His vision was blurring and his chest felt like it was going to explode. He looked around frantically, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Breathe,” Buffy whispered in his ear. He did as she told him and everything was fine, though he felt over cooked. Buffy sat down behind him and put his head in her lap. She stroked his hair gently. She began humming a tune softly. It was a nice tune, one that her grandma used to sing to her whenever she was sick. Angel, to his surprise, nodded off quite quickly. “I’ll wake you at dawn,” Buffy told him.

When Angel woke up he was leaning against the tree. Willow, Amy and Cordelia were covered by one blanket and were lying next to the bushes. Buffy was sitting a little in front of him. She had her arms around her legs, which were pulled to her chest. She was rocking back and forth, staring at the eastern horizon. It was becoming brighter. Angel quietly crawled up behind her. He sat down and eased her into his embrace. Together they watched the sun rise.

The End!

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