We all know the disclaimer people...
I have hidden something in the story, lets see if you guys can decypher it or not. if your eye catches it, it should be easy. Word jumble!
By the way it is 3 am here and i just wrote this, therefore it might be a bit complicated, kindda fits my life about these days.
Enjoy
PART 12
Sunnydale. Hellmouth. Call it whatever you want to call it. It has many more names in many more dialects. The reason of the uniquely interesting names is obvious. Demons, things from the spirit worlds, evil energy sources you name it, the Hellmouth has it. The death rate is usually pretty high where the evil things lurk you see.
But right now for one person who is strangely awake at the dawn time, none of that matters. She doesn’t care that vampires hunt at night or that she is one of the people who fight against it all. She doesn’t care because she is mesmerized. Nothing else crosses her mind.
She thinks nothing but; Tara Maclay.
~~~~~~`
Willow was woken up early today; her senses slowly filled her as she recognized that light filled the room even without opening her eyes. She was not an early riser, she was usually grumpy in the mornings but today, she was just…awake.
She still didn’t open her eyes, relishing all her other senses. Hearing a low rhythmic breathing, smelling the vanilla in the air so strongly that she might as well be tasting it, and feeling a warm body so close to hers. The warmth of the body filling her with so much happiness that she can barely fit it all in. She doesn’t open her eyes yet because all the senses might overwhelm her if she is not careful.
When she thinks she is ready she slowly opens her eyes and directs them right in front of her where she feels the presence. Her breath gets caught in her throat and she can’t breathe, looks like she wasn’t ready. She takes in the beauty in front of her and its all too much. Tears sprung her eyes and she smiles. There is the woman she is totally in love with, and it is love…now she has no doubts. And she is so beautiful, so perfect that it overwhelms her. She is glad that her blue eyes are closed because it might just kill her if she opens them and looks at her with those sky blue eyes.
She takes in a moment and looks at her head to toe without moving too much. The goddess is on her side and is facing her, one of her arms wrapped around Willow’s waist. Looking so peaceful. There is a little smile on her face showing that she is not haunted by her usual nightmares. Oh yes, Willow knows of those nightmare. She sometimes hears them but mostly feels them. She feels her tossing and turning, and the little screams that are stuck in her throat.
However now, she isn’t having a nightmare, now she is peaceful. She idly wonders if it is because she is here with her.
Willow slowly raises her hand and ever so slowly, almost afraid, brings her hand next to Tara’s face. Hovering it right next to her face. Then gathering enough courage, she slowly tucks a strand of Tara’s hair that was resting on her face behind her ear. She dares to linger her hand on the blond’s cheek, relishing the softness. She grows a bit bolder and caresses her cheek before letting her hand drop at her side. She sighs and continues to look over at the blond until sleep reclaims her again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
It hadn’t even felt like she had closed her eyes for 5 minutes when she was woken up by some noises coming from downstairs. She forcefully pried her eyes open to see two sky blue eyes looking into hers. Her breath hitched but she managed to hide it.
The blond smiled “Good morning”
“Good morning to you too” she smiled back. “What time is it?”
“About 9” answered Tara “And before you start panicking, yes it is Monday and no we are not late because we are all taking the day off for Scooby research, remember?...well except for Dawn”.
Willow looked at the girl, well she was right she was about to panic when she heard it was 9 am. “You know me too well for your own good” she said smiling.
“Ah, my job” smirked back Tara.
“Hey Tare, thanks for letting me…”
Tara didn’t let her finish by putting her fingers on Willow’s lips softly. “Shh…Anytime” she said slowly removing her fingers.
Another crash and some complaining were heard from downstairs. Tara looked towards the door “Looks like everyone else is already here”
“Yea…better get ready”
And so they did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
“…No way! I don’t want to take a day off! I don’t know why you are dragging me here? We can do research in the magic box!! I need money! For money I need customers! For customers I need the shop OPEN!!” came Anya’s voice loud and clear as Willow and Tara were descending down the stairs.
“Well besides; all the books are in the Magic Box! See we all win!”
Giles was about to reply as Tara and Willow came in. Buffy looked at Willow suspiciously.
“How come you are coming from
up the stairs?”
Before Willow could answer Anya butted in “Obviously they were having sex”
Everyone in the room took the shade of Anya’s red shirt. “Anya!!” exclaimed Xander.
Willow and Tara were still too busy blushing to answer.
“They were not having sex!” said Buffy, then turned to Willow grinning “Right?”
Now Willow was even more red and heading to purple. She managed to shake her head.
“Don’t mind Anya” said Giles cleaning his glasses.
“What? Willow’s room is on this floor and Tara’s is upstairs. They were both in the same room and both were smiling silly! Of course they were having sex!”
Giles glared at her “You think everybody is having sex!”
Anya eyed Giles “I don’t think you are” she huffed “But you really should, it might make you less stuffy”
Buffy and Xander at this point burst into laughter and Tara and Willow were relieved Anya’s sex attention was turned elsewhere.
Giles mumbled something under his breath and took his coat “Enough of this façade, we are going to the Magic box now” and took off through the door huffing about ‘giving Olivia a call’
The remaining Scooby’s looked at each other then rushed to the door before Giles took off with the car and left them to walk all the way to the magic box.
~~~~~~~~~~`
Buffy shut the book she was reading with force and let out a small scream of annoyance.
“Arrgghh! This is such a waste of time! What are we suppose to be looking for exactly?! Psychotic demon which kills gruesomely and leaves a mark on the victims chest!!??”
Giles didn’t even bother lifting his head from the book as he replied “Precisely”
“Grrr” mumbled Buffy as she got up and started pacing.
Willow was looking at some very graphic demon pictures with some disgust on her face, while Tara was reading about different demon-marks. Anya was checking out myths and Xander was…well he was reading a Superman book under a Demonology book (his usual hideout). Giles on the other hand was checking the watcher journals to see if this happened before.
Suddenly Anya exclaimed “You have got to be kidding me!”
Everyone stopped what they were doing “Hey Buffy you know the description you asked to look under?”
“Psychotic demon which kills gruesomely and leaves a mark on the victims chest?” Buffy asked scrunching her face in confusion.
“Yeah…well I think I have found it…”
“No way” exclaimed Xander
“Well it is a myth, so it is not necessarily true” Chipped in Tara.
“Well this is Hellmouth” said Willow raising an eyebrow.
Tara looked back at Willow and smiled “True” then turned back to Anya “So, what is it?”
“Well it is the myth of an extinct demon race called the Dewjossnoh. Dewjossnoh demons by the looks of it were a very powerful race. Pure within their own bodies. Looks like they also possessed body magic. This is like a shield magic around their body. So they are pretty much indestructible.”
“Ooo slayer don’t like” whined Buffy but was shut up by several glares.
“Ok the myth is that these demons were becoming so powerful that this race alone was tilting the balance between good and evil. As we can all guess to the evil side. Wherever they went followed destruction and mayhem. They wanted Earth for themselves. It says that most of the higher ranks among the Dewjossnoh’s had their symbols on a small metal rod. Which they would burn on to their victims chest….” She paused for a second looking over the text “But it says nothing about taking a part of the victim…just kill and leave the mark. So they were conquering town after town and even several vampire slayers or demon hunters were unable to stop them. Their leader was called ‘Darken’ and was the most feared one amongst them all. But not the eldest, apparently he took charge by killing 14 other leaders before him, his own kind. His two second in commands were called ‘Palazer’ and ‘Letran’. These three owned their own symbols. Darken trusted these two with nearly everything.”
“So seeing the destruction the Dewjossnoh’s were making, the Powers that Be decided to take charge…at last…and decided to balance the odds a little. They conducted an army of wizards, witches, sorcerers, mages…you name it they had it, with the help of the current slayer and demon hunter. And they played a trick on demons…oh…”
“What is it?” asked Giles
“A page is missing, I don’t know what they did…” she turned the page and skimmed through it. “Just the result”
“Well continue anyway”
“Alright…ok, so somehow they managed to curse all of the demons out of their bodies into human bodies. So the advantages of their original bodies were gone. The myth says that in the great fight after the curse most of the original bodies were banished, and nearly all the Dewjossnoh demons were killed. They say that Palazer and Letran were turned into stones. As for Darken apparently no one knows what happened to him, if he was killed or not was never found. It says here that the last recorded Dewjossnoh demon was killed about 200 years ago in Australia. It had lived about 300 years by being able to switch bodies whenever it wished.”
“Uh I am confused…so the powers tricked them to get them out of their bodies but now they can get anyone else’s body??” asked Xander. “Why would the powers do that?”
“Well it must have sounded like a right price for them”
Everyone winced thinking that didn’t sound like a right price to pay at all, but the powers did work in really filthy ways. It was sometimes hard to believe that they were the good guys.
“The story has a lot of missing pieces…” complained Willow “It doesn’t explain most things!”
“Well there is a page missing” stated Anya.
“Yea…So if they are known to be extinct, why are we exactly interested in this? I mean how is it a myth anyway if they know for sure this happened?”
“The myth is that they are extinct, I think” said Giles cleaning his glasses. If they don’t have demon bodies they can be anyone out there.”
Tara looked up for a minute before re-opening her book and flipping thought the pages mumbling “D…D…ok D…Dew…dew, there it is…ah There! Dewjossnoh symbols! They have all three here. Oh…”
“Everybody says ‘Oh’! stop it people! Just tell” whined Buffy
“Fine fine…you know the symbol we found on the bodies?” Tara said turning the book towards the other “It’s Darken’s”
“Oh” mused Buffy softly.
“Well at least now we know he isn’t dead” stated Anya trying to be optimistic.
Giles coughed to get everyone’s attention “Well it looks like the Council has records of some of the event too. It says here that the curse that was put on, like every other curse, has a way of lifting it up. The magical people apparently put protection spells on the stone tablet to make sure it was not discovered. They decided that the only way to be able to read the tablet would be to gather the puzzle pieces that would be taken all around the world for safety.”
“That a bit confusing…” said Buffy
“It is like a combination lock, 10 different objects together will lift the protection spell on the tablet so one can read the anti-curse to end the curse that is on the Dewjossnoh’s, so they can turn back to their bodies.”
“But the book says that the bodies were banished, that they were destroyed.” Said Xander
“No the book said that
most of the bodies were destroyed”
“But a body cant stay…well fresh for so many centuries”
“These bodies can, don’t forget, only a magical banishment can destroy the bodies. The ones that were not destroyed were simply hidden away by the survivors amongst the Dewjossnoh’s.”
“So we think that this Ducken guy wants to get into his own body?” said Buffy
“Darken” corrected Willow
“Whatever” replied Buffy, rolling her eyes, like she was ever going to remember it.
“I think that is only one of the things Darken wants” Giles answered
“Why aren’t they only happy with one task?” whined Buffy
Giles ignored his slayer “I am betting that Revenge is high on his list, even without his original body Darken provided to be extremely dangerous, also he will want to get back to his old habits of trying to take over the world and all…”
“Another one who wants to take over the world…that is so cliché” said Xander.
Giles again chose to ignore the interruption “Plus he is going to want his two second in commands back.”
“But they are turned into stone.” Stated Tara in confusion
“Again, this is a magical curse”
“Which has an anti-curse” finished Tara “Got It”
“But they were turned into stones in human bodies so if Darken plans to rescue them from the stone at all, he has to do it before he reads the tablet.”
“So we have no idea what he is planning to do. He might not even bother with the second in command guys. If he does plan to get them free, how is he going to do that? And how many pieces of this puzzle thing does he have?, if he has any at all. And still what does this have to do with mutilated bodies? He enjoys killing and slashing as a hobby?” asked Willow all in one breath.
“Well first of all…yes Darken is known to be very violent and that he likes torture and mutilation. And so far we know that he has at least 7 pieces of the…‘puzzle’-”
“Wait a sec! how do you know he has at least seven?” asked Buffy.
“Well, apparently the powers thought the best way to protect the tablet was not to have objects as the puzzle pieces, but to have living beings. They assigned 10 candidates, without their knowledge, a piece of the puzzle. The candidates can be either humans or good natured demons. They put the puzzle pieces inside them. It can be the form of any…um…organ, or anything in the chosen candidate. It is a part of a magical key to unlock the tablet.”
“Ew…is that why…that’s why…he takes…ew” Xander swallowed hard.
“But, that was decades ago, all those people must have died” Tara reasoned
“Every time one of the candidates has a natural death by human means…that means without the key being removed…another new born is chosen to carry it without their knowledge.”
There was a silence in the room as everyone tried to piece together the information they were given. One with many blanks.
Not only that they also weren’t sure of anything. All these theories might be wrong or if they are true they didn’t know how to stop it.
“Well isn’t this nifty…how does he find who are the carriers?” Asked Willow
“I do not know” Giles said rubbing his temples “It is near impossible to find them unless you own the decoder.”
“Then he owns this decoder thing” said Xander
“That is highly impossible Xander since the powers have the decoder”
“Oh…”
“Well back to research people, let’s try to fill in the blanks” said Giles.
~~~~~~~~~~~`
That night everybody was back at the Summers home, without that much of a new information.
Everybody was all around the housing still reading this and that about this Darken guy.
Willow and Tara were the only ones in the Living room.
Willow huffed and threw her book across the table “It is just not here!” she fumed “I hate not knowing!” she got up and paced a little before throwing herself on the couch pouting.
Tara knew Willow good enough to know that the redhead was only blowing off steam that she would return back to research eagerly after a few minutes. She closed her own book and walked to where Willow was sitting and sat close to her, resulting in Willow resting her head on her shoulder and snuggling closer.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a while when Willow nuzzled Tara’s shoulder a little bit more.
Tara turned to the red head to see her in deep thought, probably having no idea that she was getting more comfortable with Tara’s shoulder. Tara moved her hand and pushed some of Willow’s hair behind her ear, causing Willow to look up at her.
“Have you ever felt so alone that anything else was better than you were then?” a question asked out of no where.
“Yes” answered Tara
Willow nodded in understanding, Tara having told her about her family life from her past.
“When you are not alone anymore…it feels weird at first, like it is a weird dream” she continued. Tara nodded. “Then you realize it is not a dream, and you are happy again. Like how you first met Willow and the family situation.” she said softly.
Tara nodded again. Willow closed her eyes “I feel like something is still missing…am I asking for too much?” she asked opening her eyes, looking deep into Tara’s.
Tara couldn’t speak she shook her head and managed to croak out a muffled ‘no’.
Willow nodded and looked forward again leaving Tara looking at her. Then Willow turned to her again.
“Can I ask you something?” she looked nervous
Tara nodded again.
“If…if I…” she stopped and took in a deep breath “If I ask you out…would…would I be going too far?”
Tara simply looked at Willow, her eyes filled with unshed tears. Willow was scared but so was she.
“No…” she whispered “You wouldn’t be going too far”
She could see that her words had an encouraging affect on Willow. The redhead swallowed.
“Would…would you come somewhere with me tonight…on…on a date?” she whispered as if it was the biggest kept secret.
Tara’s face filled with the sweetest smile “I…I would love to”
Now Willow was smiling herself silly “Good…I mean awesome, great…yea…” she said. And suddenly stood up and held her hand to Tara “Come on!”
Tara’s eyes widened in surprise “Now?”
Willow smiled even more “Yes silly, come on, I want to take you somewhere”
Tara smiled back and got up. They both put on their jackets and Willow shouted to the rest of the gang that they would be gone for a while.
And now a happily grinning Willow and Tara were walking hand in hand over to somewhere Willow was taking them.
Tara looked over at the redhead “You know…I would have guessed that I, in the end would be the one to ask you out”
Willow did a double take “huh? Ask me out…what?”
Tara smiled even more “what? I was totally flirting with you for the past 2 weeks. But somebody wasn’t getting the message” she teased
Willow turned a little red “So you were flirting...I should have listened to Buffy.”
“Buffy knew I was flirting?” asked Tara
“Yea…she kept telling me, but I kept dismissing her…I should have known better” she said squeezing Tara’s hand in emphasis.
Tara’s smile flattened for a second “Well you did have valid reasons for…wanting to stay away”
Willow looked down on the road for a second “I know we have talked about this already, but I want you to know that, I will never try to replace Willow. Her place in your heart is as important to me. You get to keep her there forever. But maybe you can…make a place for me there too?”
Tara’s eyes filled up but she pushed the tears away and smiled softly “I happen to have a vacancy reserved for one person”
Willow smiled “Do I know her?”
“Very well I think”
“Good to know”
They continued walking hand in hand. Tara looked at her surroundings. They were now deep in the forest. She looked around a bit worried but did not sense anything evil nearby. Willow looked a bit nervous but she could tell that it wasn’t of something to be scared off.
“I hope this reality has it too” whispered Willow, and then suddenly halted Tara, smiling.
“What is it?” asked Tara.
Willow slowly pulled Tara to her and wrapped her arm around her from the side and pointed forward with her other hand, before starting to guide Tara towards where she was pointing.
Tara could see some sort of lights shining in a little clearing surrounded by trees but didn’t really get what it was.
Then they were there. Her eyes widened in wonder as they stood in a little clearing surrounded by the most beautiful trees she had ever seen and around them were lit by…fireflies. Hundreds of them were flying a meter over their heads, giving their surrounding a twinkling appearance. It was magical. She looked at Willow who was holding her close, looking into her eyes. Her eyes were twinkling with the reflection of the fireflies.
“I found this place, one day when I was walking around here, oddly enough thinking about love and probably that I would never find it. No one seemed right. I would come here, sit down and look at the fireflies as they tried to find the right one for themselves. Making the forest twinkle in the process. I would think that if I ever found the right one, I would bring her here. To show the fireflies that I have found the one I was looking for.” Willow whispered softly.
She was nervous, Tara could tell. She caressed Tara’s cheek slowly, looking deep into her eyes. “This is going to sound too quick but I…” Willow whispered but she couldn’t continue as her lips were covered with another pair of lips. She didn’t understand first, then it dawned on her, Tara was kissing her. She slowly responded, her heart beating and her lips tingling. She pulled Tara closer to her, lips saying their own words. She kissed her deeply trying to pour every single emotion, all her love for her into the kiss. She cupped the blonds face and pulled her even closer if it was possible.
Willow couldn't help but feel enchanted by the way Tara’s lips could make all the tension melt away from her body.
They both leaned back from the kiss at the same time, looking at each other with wonder.
“I love you” There it was; the naked truth, and it wasn’t even her that said it. Willow looked into Tara’s eyes and smiled, then softly whispered “I wanted to be the one to say it first”
“Maybe in another life time” answered Tara also in a whisper, their bodies still so close to each other.
“Two is already more then enough” Willow said stroking Tara’s hair softly. “I do love you” she added. “You are not scared it is too soon?”
Tara leaned in again and whispered before claiming Willow’s lips again “For us, it is never too soon, it is natural, it is life.”
TBC...Feedback is hugely loved.
(i know most people are saying either 'YESSSS' or 'AT last!!!')
Luvs, Phoenix
~ I live in my own little world, but it's ok...they know me here.~