(Edited 04.10.2023)

"The Doctor couldn't figure out what was up with me. He said I had a lot of symptoms that didn't connect." Xander explained his little trip to the doctor. We'd got him onto Giles' couch, covered by a blanket and with an ice pack pressed to his forehead, and everyone surrounded him. He was looking worse by the minute.

"I think they do connect." Buffy disagreed, stirring whatever part of dinner was in a bowl in her arms.

"What? To this Chumash Spirit Vengeance guy?" He asked.

"Well, didn't you say the Chumash got all diseased? When they were holed up in the Mission?" Buffy questioned Willow.

"Yeah. Uh, this has a better account of everything. It lists the various-"

"Various? As in..." Xander cut Willow off as she searched through her textbooks, concern laced through every word.

"Well, the important thing is not to panic." Willow tried to assure him.

"Well, you just recited the mystical panic-causing incantation, so little hope there. Let's talk about the various." Xander replied, Anya's hands running over and through his hair.

"Well, they did suffer from Malaria, some smallpox-"

"I was gonna say smallpox." Anya interjected.

"You know, Syphillis, but basically standard sort of-" Willow spat out, trying to get past the diseases Xander may or may not have been dying from.

"Syphillis?" Xander questioned frantically. I let out a chuckle.

"Syphillis boy." I teased. Sure, the idea was frightening, but it was at least slightly humorous.

"Well, but this is probably mystical, a-a-and it'll all go away as soon as-"

"As soon as what?" Buffy cut off Willow, seeing as we were still deciding what to do about the mystical wronged Native Americans who were killing random people. "We still don't know what we're gonna do."

"Well, maybe I can find something." Willow set the book down.

"Let's give him some land." Giles jabbed. "I'm sure that'll clear everything right up."

"Sarcasm accomplishes nothing, Giles." Buffy scolded.

"But at least it's funny." I shrugged.

"It's sort of an end in itself." He replied.

"Hey, can we come rocketing back to the part about me and my new syphilis?" Xander requested with a nervous laugh.

"It'll make you blind and insane, but it won't kill you. The smallpox will." Anya informed us, knowing more about these diseases than I was really comfortable with.

"Is syphilis contagious?" I leaned down to Willow, asking in a hushed voice.

"I don't think so." She shook her head. "Hey, maybe there's--there's a wiccan spell that can cure it. You know, something regular medicine doesn't know about." She suggested.

"Wiccan? Which one of you is Wiccan?" I questioned, straightening back up as Willow raised her hand and I nodded. "Ah, I can see that. Cool."

"Ooh! T-T-There was a potion. Sage, salt... Onion?" Willow read the paper aloud, confused at the list of ingredients.

"That's the stuffing." Buffy answered, still mixing away at her bowl.

"Oh, God." Xander groaned, losing hope for the entire group.

"Oh, you're gonna get vesicles and pustules. They have pictures." Anya spoke, now looking through one of the big history books.

"I hate this guy."

"He's just doing what was done to him." Willow defended, making me scoff.

"I didn't give him syphilis!" Xander exclaimed, making the same point I thought.

"No, but you freed his spirit, and after a century of unrest, he saw you as one of his oppressors." Giles explained.

"What? So, he rises up and infects the first guy he sees?"

"Yeah, that--that sounds about right." I shrugged with a nod.

"That's no fair." Xander shook his head at the answer.

"Like you've never woken up cranky?" Willow questioned.

"But why the others? Why them particularly?" Giles asked.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" I replied, gaining the eyes of the group. I let out a sigh before continuing. "Well, the one lady was going to build this brand new building on his land and had all of his tools, and the Priest's family lived back during Mission times which means he was probably related to one of the pilgrims that tortured the Natives." I expressed my theory. "Of course, I could be wrong, but that seems like the obvious answer to me." I shrugged.

"So, we take this guy out." Xander suggested, looking around at the group. "Buffy, it is for to be slaying sometime soon, yeah? Alex? Hunting time yet?" He questioned. Buffy and I shared a look together, but she soon went back to her mixing.

"Xan, I agree with you, Giles agrees with me, talk to the other girls." I said, making my way behind the couch to stand beside Giles as if taking sides.

"Buffy?" Xander looked at her.

"That's... Sort of the question before the court." She replied.

"Question?" Xander's tone was harsh, and the three of us knew it shouldn't really be a question. At the tone, Buffy's mixing became more aggressive.

"There are two sides to it." Willow began to explain, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"To slaying him? Well, the representative from syphilis votes yea." He raised his hand.

"It's not that simple." Willow argued.

"He's a vengeance demon! You don't talk to vengeance demons. You kill them." At the words, Anya paused petting his hair, hurt flashing across her features.

"I didn't know you felt that way." She said, pulling away from him. I knit my eyebrows together in confusion, not understanding why she was offended by that, but I figured now wasn't the time to ask about it.

"What?" He looked up at her.

"Anyway, he's a spirit, not a demon."

"Yes, and we've never faced this sort of spirit before, we really don't know what will kill it." Giles said as Anya continued talking to Xander about demons.

"Is she... A demon?" I leaned over to Giles, pointing at Anya while she was busy.

"Ex-Vengeance Demon, yes." He nodded.

"Again with the killing!" Willow replied to Giles' previous statement.

"Willow, what else are we gonna do? Let Xander die? Let the town die?" I asked, tiring of her childish view on the world. If everyone could be friends, we wouldn't have a slayer or hunters, and my mother would still be alive.

"Figuratively speaking, or bind it, or whatever. Yes, Willow, we all appreciate your perspective." Giles added.

"Sometimes vengeance is justified." I heard Anya to Xander. The voices began to clash, meshing together in my head as my ears began to sting. This time it was the stress of the conversation causing me to lose my focus on the disguise, not the fact that it had been too long. I quickly reached up and covered them, trying not to become too overwhelmed by everything going on around me.

"This is no good!" Buffy exclaimed, cutting everyone else off mid-argument, as she stood from her seat, drawing everyone's attention to her. She stood for a moment, shocked by her own outburst before looking down at her bowl, "It needs more condensed milk." She added, leaving to go back to the kitchen. I let out a sigh as I released my ears, looking over at Willow. I felt... Bad. I could get into a physical fight any day of the week, but arguing never felt good to me.

Giles followed Buffy to the kitchen, leaving the four of us out in the living room to our own devices. I looked down at my fingers, luckily still the same color as the rest of my ghostly pale skin. I could hear them talking in the kitchen, but couldn't make out the exact words, only knowing it was about thanksgiving and about the murders. None of us had too long to reflect on the recent events as there was a gentle knock on the door. I glanced around, confused. I thought this was the entire group.

"I got it." I said nonetheless, leaving the rest of the group to answer the door, only when I swung it open this time, nobody appeared on the other side. "Hello?" I questioned, taking a small step past the threshold to look around the corner. Big mistake.

The second I was outside of the door, I felt a pair of hands on both of my shoulders as a man appeared in my sight, holding onto me for dear sight with what looked like a blanket wrapped around his body and head.

"Help me."

☥

"When I was younger, so much younger than today

I never needed anybody's help in any way

(Now) but now these days are gone (these days are gone)

I'm not so self-assured

(And now I find) now I find I've changed my mind

And opened up the doors"

-The Beatles