Beckoning Still

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry
Chapter Summary: The rescue goes a little wrong.
Word Count: 1213
Rating: Teen, canon-typical violence (this is a fight part)

          Willow enters the side door cautiously.  She’s not completely certain what’s going on, only that she’d lost contact suddenly, which is nothing of the good.
          Fortunately, she spots Kryvirk Kala on an altar-like table, inside a mandala, and sprints over.  She barely lifts it before it’s already guiding her arms into an attack, stabbing a shoulder.  She doesn’t miss the way the ‘eyes’ glow red, siphoning something from the cultist until she topples over.
          “You hurt Master!” The ghost is nearly incoherent with rage, which is not a sign of the good.  Still, it’s a good thing he can practically wield himself, because unlike Buffy and Xander, she doesn’t know how to fight using weapons.
          I need your backup here, Kryvi.  He’s still in danger and I’m worried.
          Red.  I failed t’ protect him, too.  I want blood.
          We both want him out of this.  Stay focused.  She’s one to talk, but then, with her power she’s got this.
          As expected, it’s an easy matter for her to reach out and drag the pathetic demons from their hiding places, letting Kryvi do the rest.  She can feel a slight hint of worry from the sword, which is insulting at best.  They need to be efficient and find Xander as quickly as possible.  He himself had been talking about how he wanted blood to avenge his master.  And there were those who said demons were less changeable than humans.  Clearly they didn’t have the experience, but then, if they were like all of the Watcher’s Council, of course they were content to sit in their ivory towers, judging without ever testing and honing their potential, without—
          Yer bein’ affected, Red.  I know y’think yer too powerful, but they’re targeting ya exactly because yer powerful.  They’re weak an’ desperate so they’re throwin’ what they can at ya.  Y’did the research.  Use it.
          Oh!  Mana, superiority, feeding her power, and Sakkaya-ditthi, feeding her ego.  Obvious, if she’d been looking for it.
          Feels like they’re runnin’.  Main point’a this is t’find ‘im safe.  Revenge is good, but if it delays us too long an’ ‘e’s too hurt…
          And now that she’s looking for it, it’s easy enough to see the disembodied demons following her around, and just as easy to dispatch them.  They share the satisfaction.
          Here she’d thought, obviously, he’s a demon, he’s just using Xander, but as much as it hurts to admit, he truly cares, in his weird, demon-ish way.
          Did you know, Kryvi?  She doesn’t have to elaborate.
          Severed head from body an’ felt ‘im dust, luv.  ‘Course I knew.  An’ ‘e could’ve blamed me for more than a few seconds.  But the Master didn’t.  Think half the trouble ‘e’s got understandin’ it all ‘as t’ do with th’ fact ‘e was victim an’ predator both, there at th’ end, an’ can’t grasp that.  Now they’re acting more as a unit.  She’s not fighting the sword or trying to force it to do her bidding.  The teamwork…feels good if she’s honest.  Maybe this is what he feels like all the time, using his weapons.
          I’m sorry.  I’ve been a jerk.  To everyone.  I’ve been trying to force Xander to be something he’s not, when I should just accept him as my spiky friend that he is.
          ‘m impressed yer strong enough t’ admit it.  I couldn’t, when I still had a body ‘a m’own.  She honestly kind of wants to know, but this isn’t the time. 
          Maybe I’ll tell ya, Red.  He likes her too.  And it’s nice to have this, where people other than Xander would notice when she changed her hair or if she got a new shirt.  Heads’ up.
          “Stop running!” 
          Willow wants to run to him, but Kryvi sounds more cautious.  Hold on there a mo, Glinda.  Somethin’s wrong.
          “Hell no!”  That’s…Buffy.  And all Xander does in return is growl.  Menacingly.  Of course, he always sounds a little scarier in spiky form, but…
          “Willow, you’re here!”  Buffy sounds almost surprised, grabbing her as as she rushes past.
          “Why are we running from Xander?” Something’s wrong.  Buffy also sounds out of breath.  Which makes no sense.
          “He went feral and tried to eat me.”  That’s…probably another demon.  Fortunately, the one following Buffy is easier to notice—Myrtamara, if she had to guess.  She’s never thrown a sword in her life, so she has to credit Kryvi with that one.  He pins the demon right to the wall, eyes flashing red as he feeds.
          “He was probably pretty mad about the whole being teennapped thing, huh?” Willow asks.  And then he breaks through the wall.  Feral or not, he’s still has that sense of drama.
          “He’s being targeted by one of the demons.  Mara’s daughters, I’d think—Patigha, the rage one maybe.”
          Buffy glances at her even as they both dodge a claw swipe.  Willow’s heart hurts a little as she sees one of his two wings trailing behind him.  “And you can see them.”
          “You can’t?”  That’s a surprise.
          “I’m seeing something, but I think there are a lot of illusions wandering around, too.”  She smiles.  “I’ll draw his attention.  You find the demon.”
          Xander notices Kryvi buried in the wall and eagerly snatches it up, raising it up to strike at Buffy only to find his arm won’t move.  He growls, straining against it.  Kryvi, probably fighting against his Master.  “Okay.”
          It’s difficult.  Willow’s getting a new understanding of why it’s so difficult for Xander’s enemies.  He’s not acting as intelligently, but seems to have a better instinctual understanding of his powers.  More than once she’s barely moved out of the way shortly before he’s burst through a shadow she was just standing next to.  He’s even held out a hand and had Buffy’s shadow grow arms to grab her and keep her in one place (and then seemed kind of upset that Buffy still manages to fight him off with some steel fan she’d picked up from somewhere).  He’s focusing most of his attention on Buffy, but it’s not a good idea to get complacent, because he will seemingly randomly switch targets.  She wouldn’t be safe in the first place if she didn’t realize standing in one spot for more than a second isn’t a good idea.  But she’s no fighter, and she’s used more power today than she has in her life.  Her head’s starting to throb, and she really wants to just lie down.  She can’t keep it up.
          Then she sees it, a red six-armed three-eyed thing, and tries to yell to Buffy.  “Right and a little above—”
          With a snarl, Xander reaches his hand out again and suddenly Buffy’s being pinned to the wall, unable to move.  Rather than finish her off, though, he turns his ruthless gaze—his eyes change colors, I forgot about that, they’re kind of pretty—on her, and this time Kryvi doesn’t bother to fight.  Xander’s eyes go wide as he stabs her in the shoulder.
          Don’t say I never gave ya anythin’, Red.  And suddenly she feels like she’s had six coffees.  There’s pain, sure, but she’s never been more powerful, and she knows exactly what to do, because she’s been doing it.  She just reaches out and crushes the demon.  No finesse, just…let this be over.