Buffy woke feeling groggy, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stretched in the bed she had passed out in. She had known as soon as her body had begun feeling heavy that another sleeping powder had been added to her meal the night before and she found herself almost grateful for it.
The powder had knocked her out cold and left her feeling almost refreshed, the nightmares that usually plagued her dreams had not been there for the last few nights. The bite mark on her hip was also surprisingly cold to the touch.
Weird.
Shrugging it off with a frown Buffy moved her hands to her neck. There was a point in the middle of the night when she had felt the familiar tingling warning her that there was a supernatural presence nearby, her body struggling to move in its drug dosed state. That feeling soon calmed when she was once again encased in warmth and once more let darkness engulf her.
She slipped from the bed and walked over to the fire that was on the verge of dying out to place more wood on it, reminded once again at the lack of windows in her prison. A sigh in defeat escaped her, staring into the rising flames of the fireplace before her stomach growled making its hunger known. Buffy surveyed the room and with a hesitant smile and walked to the end of the bed where a new plate of food and a new basin of warm water had been placed along with another wash cloth.
Hesitantly she sniffed at the food wondering if there more sleeping powder in it and if Spike was going to keep her drugged, groggy and docile all the time.
Keep me weak so that he could take me to Angelus.
She huffed out a breath of air and put the plate of food down before surveying the room once again, trying to spot any more ways to get out.
The search was once again futile so she settled for pacing for a few moments. A flash of color caught her eyes, something that had not been there yesterday. On top of the hutch a folded up piece of material had been placed, unraveling it she almost smiled at the soft cream and gold dress, frowning when she realized that part of the dress was see-through and would not cover much.
Its design was strange to Buffy, seeming to have no straps to hold it up, only a tube that covered just over her breasts. The material changed at the front with the see-through cream material cutting at a high angle, her legs and nearly her center exposed. She tried to twist the dress a few times and finally managed to get the high cut to expose her hip and not her center.
This is ridiculous.
Letting out a huff she glanced down at her bloodied pants once more, knowing that she couldn't wear her ruined clothes from before.
Two guards came to take Buffy from her room a while later, walking through the halls and up another set of winding stairs with men flanking her on all sides. She didn't know if it was day or night, the castle seemed to possess no windows. Grumbling under her breath, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms to stave of the chilly air that caused a rush of goosebumps to cover her flesh.
Damn dress does nothing to keep me warm.
Her back felt better today and with the food from last night and the full nights dreamless sleep she had just had she felt the muscles twitch, no longer feeling the skin pinching together, taunt as it healed.
"I'm sorry I didn't come to you, but I'm finding it a bit hard to move around today."
Buffy was allowed to enter the room by herself, double doors being closed quietly behind her. Two guards stood watch inside the room. This room was almost twice the size of the room she was kept in with three large windows, all open with their curtains blowing in the morning, or afternoons breeze she wasn't sure. It didn't matter what time of day it was.
Buffy smiled.
Windows.
Freedom at last.
Willow was pacing the length of her floor, one hand on her back and the other on her belly as she breathed deep.
"My little one wants out."
"Are you?" Buffy asked, wide-eyed staring at her stomach thinking at any moment that Willow would give birth. Willow chuckled and shook her head, motioning for her to come further into the room where her fresh bandages and creams sat on a desk. From this new position further in the room Buffy could see that they were quite a few more floors up than she would have liked.
There would be no jumping out of the open windows and running to her freedom.
"Not yet but soon. H-how are you feeling today?"
"Much better, thank you."
"Let's have a look then." Willow helped pull the cream and gold material off and Buffy grabbed it before it could slip to the ground, the guards staring at her the whole time.
She helped unravel the bandage and what Willow saw made her gasp.
"Remarkable."
Buffy jumped when the palm of Willows hand touched her bare back, flinching when she felt a hand run over the rough lines of her scars. All that was left of the recent cuts that Riley's sword and whip had caused was a red line which Willow was in no doubt of would fade to a light line by tomorrow.
"I can still put the paste on if you want me to? A-although I don't think wrapping it back up is really necessary. This is amazing! The fresh air will probably do it some good, actually." Willow grinned, loving the smell of winter as it blew in slowly though her open windows.
"Not like I'll get any of that from my room." Buffy snorted, jumping when the cold paste was painted onto her back. At Willows quizzical 'hmm' Buffy spoke. "No windows."
"I'm sorry." She finished pasting the cream on her back and reached for the wash cloth to wipe her hands down. "You won't be spending much time in your room today any-who. Don't worry, you'll get plenty of fresh air!"
"Where am I going?"
"I-I'm not quite sure b-but you'll be fine. I promise!" Willow stuttered staring at the guards whose eyes hadn't left Buffy's form the whole time. She paused her movements and met Buffy's eyes as she finished wiping her hands clean. Pulling the dress back up Buffy twisted it once again so the cut of the dress showed more leg than front. The double doors to the room opened with a bang and she jumped, the two guards inside the room motioned for her to leave.
"I'll see you later. I promise."
Before Buffy could reply, the double doors were once again shut and she was flanked by guards as they marched her towards her next destination. She thought it was very unlikely that she would see Willow again, having no doubt in her mind that Spike had something terrible in store for her.
The guards marched in silence, the dreaded feeling in her stomach deepening as the minutes stretched out. One eyebrow raised as she was walked through another set of two very large wooden doors and into a huge room.
A Library?
"That will be all, thank you."
The voice came from a desk in the center of the room, papers and books lined the floor and desks surrounding it as an older man glanced up from beneath his glasses and waved a dismissive hand at the guards.
"Sir?" One asked standing his ground and not leaving her side.
"I said get out!" The men were hesitant at first, but when the man stood and stepped from behind the desk, uttering curse words they all scrambled and left the room. They left the big wooden doors open and stood to either side. "Useless bunch of idiots."
"What makes you think that was the smartest move to make?" Buffy asked, a grin coming to her face as she took in the whole room and saw the open windows and slowly walked backwards towards them.
They were on the second floor. Perfectly safe jumping distance.
"Congelo!"
A growl escaped Buffy's lips as he told her to freeze in Latin, body becoming stiff. He was another witch like Willow.
Well shit.
Giles paused as he stared at her face, something crossed his eyes before he followed the scar on her cheek and lips before meeting her eyes.
"I'm quite capable of looking after myself, Miss?"
"Summers. Buffy Summers." She ground out, limb still frozen.
He released his hold on her and motioned for her to take a seat where he had been when she had walked into the room.
"Rupert Giles, but please just call me Giles."
"Giles?" It was a whisper as she paused mid step to the desk. Rupert Giles, the man that she had been searching for for the last few weeks was standing right in front of her. Tears formed in Buffy's eyes as she took in his appearance. He reminded her so much of her father and she wondered for a few moments how close they had been. "Rupert Giles."
"Yes. I-I'm sorry, do I know you?" Giles took of his glasses and stared at the young woman who seemed to be tearing up in front of him.
"No." Buffy whispered sadly, thoughts running through her head.
Giles was in Spike's home. Was he working with Spike? Did she dare ask for his help? Was Giles here to make sure that she was incapable of fighting off Spike so he could take her to Angelus with ease.
Giles watched the emotions play across the young woman's face and frowned, he didn't recognize her, but there was something about her that seemed so familiar to him there and yet, he brushed it aside and spoke.
"I need your help in translating this document and I have been told that you are quite fluent in Latin."
"Yes." Buffy stated simply, slowly taking the seat Giles offered hesitantly. "My father taught me."
"Really?"
"Most of his books were in Latin."
"Well this should prove quite easy for you then. Would you mind?" Giles said excitedly standing next to Buffy while she sat and he pointed to the parchments on the desk.
When she lent forward to get a better look at the parchments she heard Giles sharp intake of breath as he stared at the red marks on her back. His jaw tensed as Buffy watched from over her shoulder as he trailed his eyes over the exposed parts of her back.
Curse this ridiculous see through dress.
His sympathetic gaze was broken when she turned back to the parchments and her heart skipped a bit.
With shaky breath Buffy spoke in a whisper.
"Where did you get these?"
She had seen these parchments before and her vision blurred as her eyes well up with tears. Picking one up with shaking hands, she traced the image of the woman in the center.
"You've seen this before?"
The surprise in his voice didn't go unnoticed and Buffy nodded and traced the faded Latin words, their English translation burnt into her memory. Her father had spent weeks pouring over this parchment trying to figure out why Angelus had taken her mother.
"My father spent weeks translating this after my mother was taken. Trying to figure out-" the paper fell from Buffy's hand's seconds after a fear fell, smudging the ink. "W-where did you get this?"
"It was given to me by a friend some years ago." Nodding sadly, she pushed the chair out and stood abruptly. Brushing away tears that slowly fell. "His name was Hank-" at the sob that escaped her lips he whispered the last two words. "Green."
Buffy's head dropped as she cried into her hands, shoulders slumping in defeat.
"Hank was your father?" Giles started, confused. "Summers...earlier you said that your last name was Summers." He stepped forward and stared into Buffy's eyes, Hank's green eyes staring back at him.
"Summers was my mothers name."
"You're Elizabeth!" Giles was in shock as she nodded.
It was impossible.
"H-have you seen him? My f-father?" Buffy stammered, hope shining in her eyes only to be crushed out as Giles shook his head 'no'.
"The last time I saw him was when he gave me the scrolls and parchments and asked me to keep them hidden and safe. It was years ago!"
She was struggling to breathe, managing to stumble her way to the open window, grateful that Giles hadn't frozen her movements again, too much in a shocked state to move himself. She collapsed into the window seat and gasped for air.
The breeze that came with the setting sun rushed through the open window, tangling Buffy's hair, whipping it across her face causing it to stick to her wet cheeks.
"Is he dead?"
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Chapter End Notes:
And we finally learn some more!! Let me know your thoughts on this chapter!