Once Again I have to send mucho hugs and kisses to Amanda(leatherqueen) my beta reader. She's got lightening speed beta-skills.
Chapter 8
She was in the middle of a glorious dream. She was covered in warmth. The kind of warmth that can only be achieved with the closeness of another body. But it wasn't just any body. It was Tara's. She didn't need to see it, she felt it. She knew every curve, every texture, every inch of her body memorized in her mind. She felt sunlight on her face calling her to a new day. But she wouldn't answer, she couldn't. This was all she ever wanted, all she ever needed. Willow would keep her eyes closed forever if she could stay here. Then she felt the warm body covering her start to stir. 'Don't wake up, let me stay here... please, just let me stay here.'
Tara was going through a similar state of denial. She felt the warmth too. And for a moment she thought of staying. She could pretend that this was just another morning. Another morning where she was wrapped in the arms of the world, her world... her Willow. But this wasn't just another day, there was much to be done. But it would be so easy to just stay... stay in this perfect moment a little bit longer. 'You can't, Tara. You need to face this, you and Willow both.' Tara reluctantly opened her eyes and saw the red head. There she was, in all her peaceful glory. She was so close… she could just reach out...
Willow suddenly felt the touch of Tara's fingertips on the surface of her forehead, and shuddered as the touch trailed down the side of her face. The hand was now cupping her cheek and the thumb moved from side to side in a soothing motion. Willow couldn't take it.
"It has to be a dream," Willow whispered to the ears of the blonde head covering her chest. Tara understood. She knew the disbelief Willow was going through because she was going through the same thing.
"What's a dream, Will?" Willow opened her eyes at the sound of the deep, and scratchy voice of Tara. She looked into her eyes. Tara had lifted her head off Willow's chest, but her hand still rested on her cheek. Willow lifted her own hand, placed it over Tara right hand that was on her cheek, and answered her question.
"Tarahand." Tara smiled, the choice of words wasn't lost on her.
"Not a dream, Willow... just a beginning. We really should get up, though. The gang is still at the shop I think. We should go meet them, see what they dug up."
"I know... I was just doing the dreamy, avoidy thing. I guess that means we have to move, huh?"
"Yeah... uh, Willow, did you th-think about how you're gonna face him... without magic?"
"Actually, I did. It may be a bit of a stretch, but I think I got a plan that can work. I wanna tell you before I tell the Scoobs. Gonna need some supporto action..."
"You got it, all you need."
"Thanks." They stared at each other a little bit longer. Just taking all this moment of peace had to offer, basking in the calm before the storm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the magic shop the gang was fighting a serious case of droopy eyelids. They were still huddled around the table. Books were lying open in a haphazard manner, and completing the research mission from hell motif were empty paper cups of coffee in the center of the table forming a pyramid. Buffy was flipping through the pages of a dusty text with glazed eyes that made her look as if she were in a trance. Xander had his head tilted back with his right hand holding a paper cup over his mouth, shaking his hand up and down trying to force out whatever was left of the beverage. It was a wasted effort. Xander succumbed to this fact and decided to stick his nose in the cup hoping to sniff any remaining caffeine fumes. Anya looked over at her boyfriend and smacked him.
"Xander! Focus! And you look like idiot. I won't be Mrs. Idiot. Shake Buffy, she looks like she's possessed."
"Easy An, I'm running on empty here." He turned to Buffy and decided to give his friend a call back to Earth. "Hey, Buff. You're starting to look all 'Children of the Corn' with that gaze there. That book may burst into flames soon. Maybe you should workout, give your system a kick start."
"What? Who? Huh? Oh,… sorry. Just phased out for a minute. I think my eyes are gonna fall out from exhaustion."
"Yeah, we're all in the same boat. Except Spike. He bailed at the first ray of light. Sometimes the fate of bursting into flames from sun exposure has it's benefits."
"Oh, wow! Sunlight. Light of a new day. We've been at this for a while, huh?" Anya snorted at that comment.
"That's putting it mildly. This is pointless. The only way you can beat dark magic is with dark magic. Anything else is like stupid party tricks." Anya made it too easy. Buffy took the bait.
"You mean like pulling rabbits out of a hat?" Buffy smiled and giggled softly. Anya gasped in fear then gave Buffy a murderous look. Her response was filled with venom.
"DEVIL WOMAN!" Xander placed his arms out to his sides to keep the peace.
"Okay ladies. Back to your corners. Now An, I understand your frustration, but we have to keep looking... for Willow." Anya roughly picked up a book, slammed it on the table, and started flipping.
"Fine, but tell 'Beach Blonde Barbie' over there to keep her hippity-hop comments to herself." Xander winced. Barbie comments to Buffy were a big no no. Even the demon baddies out there knew to avoid them if they wanted to keep their insides… well, inside. Buffy jumped up and yelled,
"THAT'S IT! I'm kicking your ass. Let's go!" Anya jumped up, then pulled Xander up and thrust him in from of her like shield. Just as it seemed like all hell was going to break loose, the familiar sound of the store door bell was heard. All three sets of eyes looked over to the entrance to see Willow, Tara and Dawn staring at them. Willow spoke first.
"Ah, the Anya/Buffy showdown. You guys must be at the 8 hour mark." Both Dawn and Tara muffled their laughs with their hands. Tara couldn't help but think, ‘Some things never change.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the commotion ended they all returned to their respective seats at the table. The girls had brought provisions in the form of coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts. The caffeine jolt and sugary dough combination helped settle the raging frustration boiling in the slayer and the ex-demon. Xander finally broke the steady meaningless chatter going on with a serious insertion.
"Willow, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,… well, I hate to be the bearer of anything, but we've been searching non-stop. There isn't a spell that can defeat him that isn't dark. We found stuff but if you want to use natural magic against a guy like this you need back up. Practically a mini Wiccan army. You and Tara just aren't going to be enough." Willow put the cup of coffee down that she had in her hand. She looked at the table for a moment and then raised her eyes to look at everyone at the table. Finally her eyes rested on Tara. The girl gave her a reassuring smile. Willow returned the smile, nodded, and replied.
"I know. That's why I'm not using magic." Buffy looked around wondering if anyone else had any idea what she was talking about.
"Uh, you gonna give us the footnotes on that creepy comment, or are we left to our own demented imaginations?" Willow shook her head.
"Okay, this is my idea, first we get Rack to come to us..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group was silent. They didn't know what to make of her plan. Willow was nervous to begin with, but the silence was just multiplying it by ten. Willow had to say something.
"Look guys, I know it's kinda chock full of the risk but-" Anya let out a big sigh and interrupted.
"Again, with the mild." Willow looked confused. She’d obviously missed something but continued anyway.
"I can do this. You have to trust me." Buffy put her hand across the table and covered Willow's.
"Will, it's not about trust. It's about law of physics adherence. This plan don't got it. Your putting a lot on chance here. Actually, you're putting you on chance. I won't lose you." Xander added to that.
"I second that. Not down with losing our Will." Tara spoke up in defense of Willow.
"Look, I know you guys are worried about Willow. I feel it just like you do. But she needs to do this. It's not just about beating Rack." Willow finished for her.
"It's about beating myself. Look, for too long I left myself be seduced by this power. And it turned me into two different people. One was strong and confident, but it disregarded a lot of important things. The other was kinda the flip side. A little scared, a little low on the confidence, but it was me, it was Willow. After being SuperWillow I convinced myself that Real Willow wasn't worth much. But I came back, I can look in the mirror and say, 'I'm okay.' Rack represents everything I want to leave behind. If I beat him using dark magic, then it will always be there. Every time we get a big bad, or end of the world prophecy, then SuperWillow will just step in and take over, and then it will start all over again. I won't do that again. I survived on this hellmouth for a while before becoming witch, I can survive again. I need to beat him as Real Willow. I believe I can do it, but I can't do it alone. I need you to believe in me too, believe in plain old Willow."
The gang was smiling at Willow. This was her, good old Willow. You could tell Willow was scared and nervous, but she was willing to fight this fight anyway. That was 'good old Willow.' How could they not support that. If she believed, so could they. Xander offered the first words of support.
"You got us Willow. 100 percent." Xander smiled. Buffy added her feelings.
"Totally, Will. We'll do this together." Tara put her hand on Willow's shoulder and squeezed it and offered her support.
"Where you go, I go." Willow covered Tara's hand with her own and squeezed it. Then everyone looked at Anya, waiting on her word. Anya got confused wondering why everyone was looking at here. Then it dawned on her.
"Oh, yeah. Me too." Buffy decided to throw in a quick question.
"Okay, I'm just a little unsure about something. If we're not gonna weaken him with magic then how is he gonna be vulnerable?" Willow answered
"Oh, we get him angry so he uses his strongest magical powers." Buffy squinted her eyes and scrunched her brow. Maybe she just heard it wrong.
"Guess my ears are going wonky. I thought you just said we make him use his strongest magic on us." She laughed it off, but then noticed no one else was laughing.
"Getting the feelin' I heard it just fine." Tara jumped in to calm the slayers fears.
"Buffy, it's okay. That's the key. Anya, when is a witch or warlock most vulnerable?" Anya answered.
"When they're casting. Think of a castle. It's all locked up and safe. But it's most vulnerable when the gates are opened to let their troops out." Tara finished for the ex-demon.
"Most heavy warlocks or witches have a kind of invisible shield covering them. But when they cast they can't keep up the shield because otherwise the spell will bounce off it and turn the spell on themselves. So for that moment the spell is coming from them they are completely vulnerable. That's why it can work." That was it. This was their plan, and they were going through with it. Buffy went into slayer mode.
"Okay then. Xander you get the weapons ready. Anya you get together all the stuff Tara needs to cast her spell to bring Rack to us. I'm gonna go wake up Billy Idol, we're gonna need all the muscle we can get. Dawn you stick with the girls. Willow you need anything from us to get your part done?" Willow shook her head from side to side.
"Everything I need is at the house. Just a quick trip to Radio Shack to get the projector and I'll be set."
"Alright. Looks like we're ready to kick some Rack ass. Let's get moving." All the Scoobies started to get their things together. Tara gathered some of the books she needed. Xander gave his fiancé a kiss and started to head out. Dawn stepped by the two girls waiting to follow their lead. Buffy watched this whole process. She realized she left something very important out.
"Willow, everybody, hold on a sec. I just want to say something. I want you to know how proud I am of you, and I know everyone else feels the same way. What you’re doing, it takes a lot of courage. It's the Real Willow doing it, not the magic. You blow me away." Xander smiled and joined in on the praise.
"Here! Here! Welcome back, Will." Willow had tears in her eyes. She walked over to her two friends. The original Scooby trio formed a group hug. They held onto each other as if that moment was the culmination of their whole friendship. Six years of friendship; they had come so far. But here they were, together. That said it all. They had their bumps and bruises and hurdles along the way, but they were here. That's all that mattered. Buffy looked up from the embrace and addressed the remaining figures in the group.
"You guys got something against hugging?" And there they were. All the Scoobies, old and new, together just as they should be. Rack didn't stand a chance. Nothing he had could compete with this. While they were wrapped in the embrace all the gang shared the same thought
'Just breathe. This is only the beginning.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay kittens, next installment is the big showdown. Are you guys just bursting with curiosity? Sorry I'm keeping you in the dark about Willow's plan of attack but it builds the suspense this way. **Tempest ducks from flying tomatoes and various vegetables being harpooned at her**