Xander sat alone on the roof of the building. Everyone was inside eating and not talking about what was going to happen. He and Spike had made love whenever they got the chance since the phone call, and he had the ache to prove it. He'd needed Spike to hold him and love him, needed to forget what the Slayer had done to him. He had never intended to go back to Sunnydale, except to get his mom someday. But she had stolen that choice from him. Just like the Counsel's lies had stolen Jesse. And Willow. Buffy would never believe the truth about vampires, and Willow would never believe anyone but Buffy.

In a way he pitied the redhead. She was about to lose the only person besides the Slayer that she cared about. Oz. When Angel and Doyle returned from the oracle it was with the news that Oz would be joining them by dawn. Apparently, TPTB had been sending the young werewolf dreams. These dreams or visions, Angel and Doyle were still arguing that one, contained the truth about the Slayer and vampires...and Willow. Xander still didn't want to believe what he had learned about his ex-best friend. But, if the oracles told Deadboy and the Shamrock Kid those things....well, he had no reason to doubt them. Even so, Giles had cast a spell on him to look for traces of magic with Willow's mark. He'd found what he was looking for.

According to the oracles, when Willow starting really getting in to magic one of the first things she did was use it to look for other people with power. She had spotted Xander. With no protections of his own and none from anyone else, he had been an easy target. Even for an amateur like her. She'd cast a love spell on him. That was why he had pursued her. When she'd gotten involved with Oz she hadn't bothered to remove it. And as she got better at magic, the spell got stronger. When she realized what was happening she still didn't remove the spell. She simply cast another one on Oz to make him susceptible to her suggestions. The flaw in her plan was Cordy. Willow hadn't bothered to cast the spell on her, and when Cordy found out about her little game with Xander, Oz was with her.

Willow's spell couldn't stand up to Cordy's personality. In the end the only thing Willow could do was lay the blame on Xander. And he'd felt so guilty for what he'd done that he'd let her. Willow had become a manipulative little bitch. Or maybe she had always been one and he was just now seeing it. Either way, she had lost him and she was losing Oz even now. The only thing she would have left was the Slayer. But, when you got right down to it, that was the only thing Willow ever really wanted.

tbc