The Immortal Slayer - Chapter 4
Back home Willow was surprised by all the messages on the website. She hadn't really thought it would do this good. Looking through them she was happy to find that most of them were about the Immortal Slayer or the Dark Goddess. She started reading them, hoping to fill in the gaps of what she knew.~ I've heard this Immortal Slayer is like THE slayer. Hope that helps. ~ VampKiller3
Willow rolled her eyes and continued reading. She knew the site had helped her a lot, but she needed some new information.
~ This Immortal Slayer is supposed to gain immortality during a lunar eclipse or something like that. ~ Liv4slayin
Tucking away that bit of information, Willow knew she would have to keep her eyes open while researching. She had yet to come across any information mentioning a ritual.
Looking through the rest of the messages Willow sighed in annoyance, most were simply repeating what had already been said. Except for the last one, that message caused her eyebrows to raise in interest.
~ The Immortal Slayer has one distinct feature, long fiery-red hair. ~ watcherwannabe
Willow smiled as she thought of her own hair color and let herself entertain the notion of being the Immortal Slayer. She knew it was silly, but being a slayer meant you helped the world and you also had power and respect. Willow knew in her heart though that she was not born to be a slayer. She was better suited to being a sidekick. Old Reliable is what she had named herself even. Besides, what slayers did she know besides Buffy and Faith? Tomorrow she would talk to Giles and maybe together they could make sense out of this.
Almost as if by habit Willow wrote a quick message to post on the board.
~ Thanks for all the info. It's a great help. Keep it coming! Bye! ~ Saille
Slowly she shut down the computer, her mind preoccupied by all the information she was trying to piece together. She got ready for bed on autopilot, going through the motions without realizing what she was doing.
Lying down for the night, Willow's thoughts barely let her sleep.
***
"Giles, I have to talk to you." Willow shoved through the doors to the library, literally throwing her bag on the table as she walked toward the librarian.
"Willow, what are you doing here. Why aren't you in class?" Giles asked, somewhat surprised at the way Willow had stormed in and demanded to talk to him. It was very out of character for the girl.
"This is more important than class. Besides, I have a free period, Study Hall. Remember the Dark Goddess you had me researching?" Giles nodded his head slightly. "Well, there's a lot more to it. Like The Immortal Slayer. You heard of her?"
Giles looked away from her momentarily, trying to keep the guilt he felt from showing. It was hard to balance being a watcher with the relationships he had formed here in Sunnydale.
"When were you going to tell me, tell us?" Willow asked, having caught Giles' diverted glance.
"W-well, I wasn't meant to tell anyone, not even Buffy." Giles stammered, somewhat flustered by the information Willow shared.
"But you did tell her didn't you?" An accusing tone took over her voice, as she tried to deal with the emotions that were still coursing through her body. Sleep was not her friend last night.
"Yes."
"And she didn't even tell me!" Willow let out a sigh, realizing getting all riled up at Giles wouldn't solve anything. She took a breath and sat down at the table where she had thrown her book bag moments ago. "Okay. Done freaking out now. I've actually found out quite a bit of information about The Immortal Slayer. Wanna compare notes?"
"All right, I'll get my books that I've been using." Giles headed to his office, still a bit in shock at how in control Willow had been. He always knew she could be a leader if she wanted, but it was something different to see it in practice.
Sitting down together in the library the small hacker and the watcher tried to make sense of all the information they had gathered. Not more than once did it seem hopeless that they would ever figure out the key to unlock this mystery.
"Ooh, I've found something. Listen to this." Willow said excitedly. 'The Immortal Slayer will gain immortality during the lunar eclipse.' So they were right."
"Who was right?" Giles responded with a questioning look.
"Huh? Oh! The people on the website. They said something about the immortality coming during the lunar eclipse. They were right."
"The website?" Giles asked, clueless as to what she was talking about.
"There's not enough time to get into it right now. What else do we know?"
"The Immortal Slayer is also known as the Universal Slayer or the Universal One. They may be different people, but everything leads me to believe they are the same person."
"Angel mentioned that. Just how many names does one slayer need?" Willow asked with a smile, trying to break up the tension of impending doom that had taken over their conversation.
"Yes, well," Giles started with an indulgent smile, "The Immortal Slayer unites all the other slayers of the world, the only concrete thing I can find is that she has magical powers. They will reach their full potential exactly one week after she has gained immortality. Do you know anything else?"
"Yeah, she's supposed to have long fiery-red hair. Do you know of any slayer that has red hair?"
Giles' head was reeling from all this information. Somehow she had found out more than he had and that was in itself highly improbable. It was all very confusing. "No, Willow, I don't know of any slayer that has red hair. How did you come to know about the other slayers, and the Immortal Slayer in the first place?"
"Oh, I was researching that Dark Goddess, who is majorly bad. She would totally give Buffy the wiggins. Anyways, I came across a reference to The Immortal Slayer. And I started my website and asked them if they had heard of the Dark Goddess, then they started talking about the Immortal Slayer too. That's where I got a lot of the info on them."
Giles nodded in response, still unsure of how she had come across a reference of the Immortal Slayer and confused by whatever website she was talking about.
Willow took the nod as confirmation of understanding and reached for her bag, preparing to leave. "I have to go, or I'll be late for my next class." Reaching the door she turned back to him, "Thanks Giles."
"Anytime Willow." Giles replied.