GOBLINS
Author WillowTaraLover
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimers: The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox and anyone else on the bandwagon but the story is mine.
Distribution: Yeah sure, just let me know where
Feedback: Please, but be kind, there’s too much cruelty in this world already. cthul@hotmail.co.uk
Authors Notes: This story is set in season 7 but the First hasn’t appeared, yet, but has made its presence felt. Tara didn’t die at the end of season six, only her shoulder was grazed by a bullet, however Buffy and Xander were seriously injured by Warren’s shooting. Angered by her friend’s supposed deaths, Willow went dark, killed Warren and pursued Andrew and Jonathan. Tara saved Xander and Buffy from their bullet wounds, and then aided Buffy in getting Jonathan and Andrew out of Sunnydale while Xander saved Willow at Kingman’s Bluff. Tara went with Giles to aid in Willow’s rehab in the U.K. and to learn from the coven, as all she knew about magic was what her mother taught her. Tara didn’t return to Sunnydale immediately, as she was undergoing a final test with Althanea and the coven, so wasn’t there when Willow was attacked by the Gnarl, an event which has left her with terrible guilt. After the events of “Selfless” Tara spent a long time with Anya because of their deep friendship and because she believes that the ex-demon deserves just as much sympathy as anyone else. In “Conversations with Dead People” Tara, like Dawn, was haunted by the First in the shape of her late mother while Willow is terrorised by the spirit of Warren. Amy did put the hex on Willow in “Killer in Me” but Tara’s love and compassion saved her.
Summary: Fairy creatures plague the Buffy’s home and she needs Willow and Tara’s help.
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“What exactly will they do?” The questioning voice was sandpaper raspy with the voice of a million smoked cigarettes.
“Anything they want to do, they’re completely untamed.”
“And you’re sure she won’t suspect a thing?”
“Quite sure, the girl hasn’t done any field work in a long time so this should be a big shock to her system.” The second voice was smooth and calm, with a hint of oiliness to it. If it wasn’t for the fact that the voice belonged to a dark arts practitioner you may have believed it was a salesman. A really good salesman, the kind that can show you a rusting junk heap of a car and persuade you that it’s a classic Cadillac that just needs a little cleaning work doing to it and it‘ll be as good as new.
“Should, I don’t like the word should; it means you don’t actually know for sure.” Raspy said, in a voice that hinted of a slow and painful retribution for anyone who failed him
“WILL,” Smooth voice almost shouted betraying the fear that underlay his calm exterior. “I mean it will be a big shock to her,” he said, a panicky edge to his voice knowing the fate that awaited him if the idea he was suggesting to his employer was unsuccessful.
There was a long period of silence as Raspy voice thought about the idea that was being pitched to him. Finally he came to a decision.
“Alright go ahead with the operation.” Raspy said with more than a hint of a smirk in his voice “It’ll be fun to watch and see how she does with this little test.”
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Morning dawned bright over Sunnydale. In the trees birds were singing, paperboys were delivering… well newspapers and vampires and demons were either sleeping in their crypts or checking to see when ‘Passions’ was starting. At 1630 Revello Drive it was all go, Dawn was laying the breakfast table, Willow was busy making coffee and toast, Tara was diligently cooking her famous funny shape pancakes while in the bathroom Buffy was showering and getting ready for a big day.
On their way home from a night trying to reconnect at the Bronze, Xander and Anya had seen an advert at a local gym asking for a self-defence teacher and, knowing of Buffy’s unhappiness with slinging burgers at the DoubleMeat Palace, told her about it and Buffy applied. The day before she’d had a phone call from the gym managers who asked if she could come in for an interview. The interview itself wasn’t till four p.m. but the Slayer didn’t want to take any chances by not being ready on time. She was going to spend the day going over her c.v. with Willow, updating it and printing a copy off for the interviewers, do some reading, watch some television, go to the interview then on to the Espresso Pump for mocha’s with Dawn, Willow and Tara before a wonderful late night shift at the Doublemeat Palace. That was the plan anyway.
“So Dawnie, what you got planned?” Willow enquired, hoping that the teen’s day was going to be less exciting than her own day of teaching.
“Oh you know the usual hanging with my friends. Kat, Sara and me thought we might go to the cinema if there’s anything good on. Otherwise maybe visit the Mall. What about you two, have you got anything exciting planned?”
“Just helping Buffy get her C.V. ready for the interview then this afternoon I have to teach a summer school class on writing a basic computer program. Otherwise I’d be writing a program of my own so I’m going to be a pretty busy beaver for most of the day.”
At this Tara looked at her girlfriend with an arched eyebrow and a look of amusement on her face. “What?” Willow asked innocently, unsure as to why the blonde girl was giving her that look.
“Oh just the way you said beaver,” Tara replied, a huge grin spreading over her face. A similar grin appeared on the redhead’s face as well as she immediately got the joke. The two Wicca’s just sat there grinning at each other and their shared dirty joke. Tara suddenly caught sight of Dawn smirking at the couple. Willow followed her gaze and immediately the grin on both girls was swapped for a look of pure horror.
“Not that we mean that kind of beaver. It was just a t-shirt Tara saw” Willow said, a little too quickly.
“Y…yes a t-shirt” Tara slightly embarrassed, partly by the return of her stutter; partly that she had told a rude joke with Dawn present. “It s…said, it said. W…what did it say Will, the t…t-shirt?”
“I don’t know, I can’t remember cos I thought you’d remember because you were the one that pointed the t-shirt out to me in the first place and I thought oh that’s funny ‘save tree’s, eat beaver’ on a t-shirt and.” The redhead’s eyes practically boggled out of her head as it dawned on her what she had said. “Oh god did I really say that, please someone stop me before I say something else really bad, or stupid, or both.”
At this Dawn burst out laughing at the worried, frown, ridden faces on the two women she considered her closest friends in the world. “Its ok guys, I get the joke and believe me you’ll have to work a lot harder than that if you plan to shock me. You know the walls in the house aren’t very solid and at night, well, sound does travel y’know.”
Tara frowned for a moment, then she realised “Oh my god! You mean you can hear us at night doing … stuff?” The blonde asked, shocked that the nightly sexual activities of herself and her girlfriend were being shared with the rest of the household.
By now Dawn had fallen off her stool and was clutching her sides which ached from her incessant laughing at the sight of Willow and Tara both horrified at the thought of what they had been unwittingly sharing. It was Tara who first realised the silliness of situation and started laughing also.
“Will, I think we’ve been busted” she said, her sapphire blue eyes sparkling with merriment.
For several moments Willow just looked between her girlfriend and her best friend’s sister before joining in the laughter “So does Buffy know too?” she enquired
Dawn just nodded her head and held her sides, which still ached after the teen’s bout of laughter. “Sometimes she says that you two should get a room. Then I point out that you are in a room that she invited to use. That tends to shut her up for a bit.”
“Well I have sometimes thought that Buffy is just repressing herself,” said Tara, her voice solemn but the ends of her mouth slightly turned up in a sly smile and her bright blue eyes were sparkling with humour. “But let’s just keep that our little secret.”
Willow was suddenly confused again “What, are you saying that Buffy’s gay? Not that I mind, I mean yay and woo-hoo and welcome to the sisterhood and all that but I always thought that she was straight, you know a permanent resident in boys-town, and you’re saying she’s gay?”
“Who’s gay?” asked the woman in question as she finally arrived from her shower and entered the kitchen dressed simply in a white tank top and check pyjama pants. A great contrast to the patterned tees and jeans her sister and two friends were wearing.
“Buffy, ar…” Willow began
“No one, it’s one of Dawn’s friends from school and she thought this friend might be gay” Tara quickly interrupted before Willow had the opportunity to place both her feet fully into her mouth. “Oh is that the time,” the blonde quickly changed the subject. “I have to go open the Magic Box. Anya’s going to be out all day dealing with suppliers so she asked me to open up.” The Wicca got up from the breakfast counter, made her way over to Buffy and took the blonde’s hands in her own. “Good luck with the interview Buffy, I know you’ll do well.”
“Thanks Tara, I can but try” the Slayer replied, smiling “I’ll let you know how it goes later at the Espresso Pump.”
Tara gave her friend an encouraging smile and set off to her job at the Magic Box.
“Hey Tara, wait up” called Dawn who went and hugged her sister “they’d have to be stupid not to give the job to you”, then she ran to catch up to the woman she considered her best friend and other sister after Buffy and Willow. “Sara’s house is on the way so I may as well walk down with you” were the last words that Buffy and Willow heard before the front door slammed shut.
“I guess that leaves just you and me,” said the blonde, turning on the radio on the counter.”
“I guess it does,” replied Willow, a little sadly, wishing she could be spending the day with her lover instead.
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An hour and a half later and Willow was printing off several copies of Buffy’s c.v. She now had a copy for the job interview and some that she could hand in at the employment agency for other work. Anything as long as it meant she didn’t have to deal with cleaning out the deep fat fryers, mincing machines, soda dispensers or any of the other jobs that made working at the Doublemeat Palace such fun…not. The redhead took a quick look at her watch and, noting the time, got up from the kitchen table and washed her mug out leaving it to dry on the side. She then hugged her best friend tightly, wished her luck for the interview and set off for U.C. Sunnydale, departing in Herbie, the bright yellow Volkswagen beetle she and Tara co-owned that Dawn had named after the Disney films. Now Buffy was left all alone ready for whatever the day may bring.
About an hour after Willow had left, Buffy was lazily channel surfing trying to find Spongebob Squarepants when a sudden knocking at the door took her by surprise. She went to the door to see a UPS deliveryman holding a small parcel in his fat hands.
He appeared to be little more than a walking blob of fat. His face was like a full, ripe watermelon, with sweat poring off it as if it were the Victoria Falls. He had little piggy eyes which seemed, to Buffy, to be very blank and a little moustache which was wilting in the incredible of the day. His stomach was as rotund as if he were pregnant with twins, his chubby thighs were barely constrained by the shorts and revealed incredibly pale knees and shins which the girl considered more than a little unusual as they were in the middle of a heatwave and everyone in Sunnydale was wearing as little as they could within the bounds of decency. The inhabitants of 1630 Revello even went to bed naked at night just to get cool, though that wasn’t unusual for the two wiccans who regularly slept that way.
“Delivery for Buffy Summers,” The man said looking more than a little bored.
“That’s me,” she responded, with some surprise in her voice. Who could be sending her gifts, and was it going to be nice or nasty?
“Can you sign here please,” the deliveryman also sounded more than a little bored as he handed her a clipboard with a form attached.
“Sure,” Buffy replied taking the form and putting her signature on the dotted line wondering if it wasn’t a present from Giles. He had been in England for a long time now, choosing not to return when the two lovers did. The gang were missing him a great deal, particularly Willow and Xander as Giles and Joyce had been like surrogates to the duo. There were times when Buffy just stopped and thought how much of a family unit they really were. Giles and her mother, the parents, Willow and Buffy the sisters with Xander the goofy protective brother. She smiled at this thought and realised how much she had actually gained by becoming the slayer and not just stayed another spoiled bitch like Harmony or Cordelia. She had gained a family, a real family of people who cared about her and each other. It didn’t matter that they were a disparate group who could fight amongst themselves, but when any outsiders tried to take one of them on they would quickly find themselves up against a formidable group. She could well understand why Tara was always so happy being in everyone’s company, especially after the gang’s own run in with the Maclay clan two years earlier.
“Thanks” the deliveryman grunted sullenly, walked down the path to his van. His stomach wobbled from side to almost tipping him over, first one way then the other. He climbed in his cab and set off to deliver more parcels. Buffy watched as he departed and wondered if she could get a job doing that. She was a pretty good driver despite anything Willow said and she knew her way around Sunnydale pretty well. “Maybe I’ll give them a ring” she said to herself before heading back indoors.
Buffy placed the box on the kitchen counter and noting it was a quarter to twelve decided a spot of lunch would be a good idea so she made a cheese sandwich for herself and poured a glass of milk. As she ate she opened the box up and was slightly perturbed to see that the box was empty. Cautiously she placed her hands in the box in case the gift was invisible. She couldn’t feel anything but let out a yell as something bit her. Buffy looked at her hands and saw that the little finger of her left hand was bleeding slightly. “What the hell,” she thought as she went to wash and dress it. Buffy was sure she had been bitten, it didn’t feel as if she had caught it on a staple yet there was nothing in the box. A minute later and the blonde returned to the box, her little finger encased with a small Hello Kitty plaster. She couldn’t espy any nails or staples and wondered how she could possibly have been injured if the box was empty.
A movement out of the corner of her eye and she saw her glass of milk slowly rising in the air apparently unaided. It reached about five inches above her head, then without warning it spun upside down delivering the contents of the glass all down Buffy. The glass itself then flew at incredible speed across the room to hit the far wall and shatter into a thousand pieces.
Buffy was shocked but wasn’t sure where to begin, being bitten by an invisible whatever, her glass of milk depositing its contents all over her, then said glass itself flying into the far wall. She knew she’d had to deal with some weird crap in her time but this was weird on an all-new level.
The blonde girl just stood silently in the kitchen, all her senses attuned to anything that may seem out of the ordinary. Finally, satisfied that all seemed quiet Buffy went upstairs to shower and change.
Entering the bathroom Buffy switched the water on for the shower and quickly stripped out of her milk sodden clothes and stepped under the over-head stream of water. The warm water was soothing and Buffy took advantage of the quiet time to really relax herself. She didn’t want to appear too tense at the interview.
Buffy just stood there under the waterfall of warm water letting it calm her, especially after the events in the kitchen. She took the bottle of shower gel, applied some to the sponge and proceeded to rub it over her body cleaning off the splashes of milk. Fifteen minutes later and the girl was clean again, turned the shower off and wiped away the residual droplets of water from her skin.
Getting out of the shower Buffy quickly dried herself off and, after tying the towel round her body was about to depart for her bed room when she stopped and took a look at herself in the mirror over the sink. She moaned softly to herself as she noticed a couple of wrinkles under her eyes.
“Summer’s, you are getting old” the blonde muttered to herself, a little disgruntled. “Hmmm, wonder if Will and Tara can conjure up a glamour spell for me, knock a few years off my age,” The twenty three year old mused. Just before a damp face flannel plopped right on top of her head.
Buffy just stood for a long moment staring in the mirror as she took in the fact that a usually inanimate object had flown from the bath and dropped on top her cranium where it now sat, a rather soggy looking crown.
She removed the flannel and placed it back on the side of the bath then continued to dry herself off. There was a sudden feeling of damp on top of Buffy’s head again and looking in the mirror she saw that the flannel had indeed somehow moved from the bath back to the top of her head.
“What the heck.” The blonde turned her back on the sink to replace the flannel at the bath again, so she failed to notice the tub of talcum powder slowly rise into the air and hover over her head like the glass of milk. Also like the milk, the tub of talcum turned itself upside down and emptied itself over Buffy. When half the tub had been emptied over her, it returned back to its place on the shelf over the sink. After most of the dust had settled Buffy carefully opened her eyes and peered at herself through the faint misty haze. She was covered in white powder practically head to foot.
“Great” Buffy thought. “Now I look like Casper and I’m going to need a third shower, what else can go wrong?”
The, by now, severely pissed, Slayer quickly stepped back under the shower and turned the water on. And immediately leapt out again as the supposedly warm water was as cold as an ice cube.
“Jeez, she said out loud “seriously, what is going on here. Buffy placed her hand in the bath area under the shower. Once again the water was warm and she stepped back under. This time the water stayed warm and after a further forty-five minute wash she felt more calm and relaxed, more like herself.
She went back into the bedroom and went to pick her clothing for the interview. She opted for a navy jacket and pants and a cream blouse. Buffy suddenly stopped as something occurred to her. All her senses were brought into focus as she tried to discern what it was. The girl listened carefully and could hear…nothing. This made her instantly suspicious. Even though she was alone there was something else in the house-her house-, she wasn’t sure what it was but she knew it wasn’t friendly, whatever it was.
She slipped on her bed clothes and flat heel shoes and went down stairs. What she saw in the living room was enough to make the girl gasp in shock and horror. All down the walls were lipstick and make-up stains. There were scratch marks on the walls from the ceiling all the way down to floor, as if Freddy Krueger had tried to sharpen his taloned hand on them. DVDs and C.Ds stuck out of the wall looking like a bizarre art exhibit. Basically the room was a disaster zone.
Then she saw the photo of herself, her mother and Dawn, one of the last pictures to have been taken before Joyce Summers death. It had been completely trashed. You want to bite me and empty talcum on me, fine, go ahead. Buffy thought grimly, But you fuck with my mother’s picture and you’re a dead being walking.
The picture made Buffy decide it was time to call in the cavalry. Picking up the phone she pressed one on the speed-dial.
“Good afternoon, this is the Magic Box your one stop shop for everything magical,” Tara’s voice came from the other end, with a slight sigh at having to use Anya’s silly
jingle.
“Hi Tara, it’s me, listen can you get Will from college and get here a.s.a.p. I have a bit of a problem and I’m gonna need you two to help me.
“Sure Buffy but it’ll take a little time, Willow’s got the car.”
“That’s ok, just get here, please.” With that Buffy replaced the phone back on its hook then returned to her room to set about getting dressed. As she approached the bedroom door some kind of force seemed to emanate from the room and wrap itself round her torso. Buffy felt herself being dragged into her room and placed a hand either side of the door frame, determined to not allow whatever power had taken over her home to attack her any more.
The pull on her body grew more intense but still she held on with all her might. Suddenly the door frame started to crack. Finally the frame could stand no more and it smashed through the wall bringing the blonde with it and the door slammed shut in what remained of the frame.
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At the Magic Box Tara had a quick check for customers but the shop was empty. She quickly walked over to the front door, locked it and turned the sign from open to closed, then taking her cell phone from the hip pocket of her jeans, flipped through her contacts till she found the one she needed and pressed dial. A few seconds later and a familiar voice answered.
“Hey baby, Are you ok?”
“I’m fine honey, it’s Buffy. She needs our help.”
“Buffy, why?, what’s happened to her?”
“I don’t know sweetie, she just phoned asking for our help, but she sounded pretty angry. Look, Willow can you pick me up at the Magic Box and we’ll go straight there.”
“Yeah sure, just give me ten minutes and I’ll meet you there. Bye baby, I love you.”
“I love you too sweetie, bye.” Tara replaced the phone and set about leaving a note for Anya explaining why the shop had closed so early. Locked the till with its meagre takings, $25, checked on everything else in the shop making sure it was all in order. Then left locking it up behind her and waited for Willow to arrive.
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Twenty minutes later, the Volkswagen was outside the Summer’s home. As the two witches got out of the car they heard yells coming from within the house.
“It must be bad if Buffy’s yelling out like that” said Willow concerned.
“I guess we’re going to have to be extra cautious” said Tara as she removed her door keys from her jeans pocket. The yell was deafening and stunned the duo with its ferocity. For a long moment they stood still waiting to see what, if anything would happen or if any demonic beast would emerge from within the house. When all seemed peaceful there was another loud scream from inside the house. Willow and Tara exchanged a look and quickly stepped over the threshold.
The sight that met their eyes was unbelievable. The curtains were torn and hanging in shreds, the chairs and couches had huge rends in them from which foam padding exuded. All the c.d.s and d.v.d.s were out of their cases and protruded from the far wall like giant shuriken. Broken glass from smashed vases, little porcelain figurines and statuettes lay in wait for unwary bare feet across the floor. Some of the pictures adorning the walls were either in tatters or had been drawn upon in thick marker pen. Books lay on the floor torn to shreds with pages ripped and strewn about the place like confetti.
“Oh my god” Willow whispered, catching sight of one of the pictures, which was somehow still hanging up.
“What?” Asked Tara as she caught sight of the expression on her girlfriends face, it was a mixture of total horror and great sadness. Tara followed the direction of Willow’s gaze. In a square frame over the fireplace hung what looked like streamers. Slowly the two girls approached the fireplace and as they did so the streamers took a slightly more solid shape.
“Oh no” said Tara sadly.
“It was one of mom’s; I mean Joyce’s favourite pictures.” Willow said, tears welling in her eyes. “It was one of the last before she…she.” Willow couldn’t hold back any longer and the tears streamed silently down her face. Tara immediately threw her arms round her partner and held her close, stroking the ends of Willow’s hair and whispering words of comfort to her. Whilst she did this she also scrutinised the picture carefully and built it up in her minds eye.
It had clearly been blown up from a smaller photo and depicted the three Summer’s girls, Joyce, Buffy and Dawn on the back lawn in a happy pose together taken the year before Buffy’s mother had passed away. Joyce was wearing a t-shirt and jeans with a headscarf to hide the hair loss resulting from the chemotherapy treatments. Tara noticed that, despite her illness, Joyce appeared to have had more life in her when the picture was taken than most of the students she shared classes with.
Buffy and Dawn were also similarly attired in jeans and tees. Dawn had her hair in pigtails while Buffy had let hers flow free. No one other than the photographer had known it at the time, but Dawn was cheekily making rabbit ears behind her mother’s head. Then Tara saw it. It was only a small spot but it was definitely there, a small fleck of purple which could only be Willow’s haversack. Though it was just a blur in a far corner of the picture it was definitely there, which meant.
Oh goddess, oh goddess no. The honey haired blonde looked down at the red head and asked quietly.
“Willow, did you take this picture?”
Willow slowly looked up at her girlfriend and nodded slightly. Her tears had subsided now but it still took a little time for her to speak properly.
“It was when we had that family picnic in the back garden here, you were helping Giles at the Magic Box but you both came a little later, along with Anya and Xander.” Tears started to fall again and Willow sniffled before continuing. She smiled a small smile as she reminisced about the days of happiness that brought this family together through love as opposed to biology.
“You know it was such a great day, we were all there just talking and joking, Xander and Giles were cooking at the grill in the kitchen and Joyce, she…she just looked so…so,” again the redhead was overwhelmed with emotion regarding the woman she considered her mother far more than her own biological parent and, moving closer into her lovers hug just cried more than she thought herself capable of.
Hearing her lover crying her heart out for Joyce was more than enough to seriously piss off Tara. That’s it she thought grimly to herself, no more Miss Nice Witch. You hurt my girl and now you have me to deal with.
“C’mon baby. Let’s go find Buffy.” She said as she led Willow out of the living room, holding Willows hand.
The girls checked out the dining room and the kitchen and in both rooms they found sites of complete and utter devastation with furniture in ruins and glassware smashed across the floors. A couple of walls had stains on them where vases had impacted against them and water had splashed leaving discoloured marks. But there was no sign of Buffy anywhere.
“Aaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh,” another loud scream came from upstairs and the Wicca’s took a long look at one another as they stood at the foot of the stairs.
“I guess we go up there.” Said Willow nervously and Tara just nodded in agreement. The two started to ascend the stairway, both ready to unleash some magic if the need called for it. There was another scream and this time Tara ascertained it was coming from Buffy’s room. She pointed and Willow nodded in agreement. They snuck up a bit closer peered round the doorway. The sight that greeted them both was an even bigger shock than the ruined shambles that made up the rest of the house.
Buffy hovering a good ten inches over the bed. Her arms and legs were being stretched to their limit and it appeared that it was only Buffy’s slayer strength that was keeping her limbs from being ripped out of their sockets. Her top had been torn apart revealing the blondes bare midriff. There were deep scratches in the flesh, a couple of which were slightly bleeding. What was really causing the Slayer to cry out though was her hair being pulled to such an alarming extent that several thick strands were pulled loose as Willow and Tara watched.
Seeing her best friend in such pain made Willow act without thinking. Without any further ado Willow dashed into the room.
“No Willow, wait” said Tara but to no avail
“Buffy” Willow cried out “We’re here.”
Willow was suddenly assaulted by bottles of perfume, lipsticks, eye shadow and books. Seeing the attack Tara raised her hand and uttered a single word “Discardia.” There was a popping sound, as if a large bubble had just been burst and what appeared to be several mini fireworks exploded in a multi coloured light show around the heads of Willow and Buffy.
At this Buffy was unceremoniously dropped onto the bed and she quickly scrambled over to where her two close friends stood, closing her tank top as best she could, and grateful for her bra. Willow and Tara took this opportunity to have a good look at Buffy and, aside from the physical damage, she appeared to be fine. Her clothes however were another matter. They stank of pee, as if they had been washed in a urinal and were coated in a generous helping of peanut butter and jelly, lipstick, eye shadow and then had talcum powder shaken over it as one would shake salt over french fries.
The rest of the room hadn’t fared much better either. All Buffy’s framed photos of the other Scooby’s and her mother were smashed on the floor along with her mirror. The drawers had been removed from the dressing table and bedside cabinet and tipped all over the place whilst the wallpaper had had noughts and crosses games drawn all over it with the use of the slayers make up. In short, the place had been trashed.
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“It looks as if you have goblins” Tara said to Buffy.
“Goblins?” Said the blonde questioningly “Do you mean the fairy tale creatures that do…whatever it is that they do?
“The very same” smiled Tara sadly. Let’s get you into some fresh clothes then we can head over to the Magic Box. It’ll be safer there and we can form some kind of a plan.”
“You can borrow something of mine,” said Willow heading to the room she shared with Tara.
“No don’t…” Tara cried out, too late. As soon as the red head opened the door there was a whooshing sound and instantly mayhem was being unleashed in the lovers room. Just as in Buffy’s room drawers were being tipped up scattering clothes all about. Bedding, and curtains were thrown with abandon, candle wax and make up was smeared over clothing. Just as with Buffy, the invisible force started to pull at the small Wicca’s hair making her cry out in pain, whilst other goblins started on the chest where the Wicca’s kept their witchcraft materials.
“Owww, Tara, help.” Willow cried out, swatting away at her unseen foe.
Hurrying over to her girlfriend, Tara again raised her hand and uttered the same word as before. Again there was the sound of popping, the mini firework show then all was peaceful again.
“Willow, you must be more careful,” said Tara.
“I’m sorry,” Willow replied, more than a little sadly, head to the floor “I just didn’t expect them to do that. I thought Buffy was their target, not us.”
Tara couldn’t help but feel more than a little bit sorry for her girlfriend and hooking her fingers under Willow’s chin Tara gently raised the red head’s face and gave her a sympathetic smile.
“I know baby, it’s not your fault but goblins don’t just attack their target but any other creatures in the area. It should be safe for now though, I’m just glad they didn’t get to the spell books or we would have been in real trouble. Buffy,” she said turning to her friend “If you quickly change into some clean clothes I’ll keep guard in case they return because that spell only works a short time” With that Buffy hurried into the room with Willow while Tara closed the door and kept a close watch for any goblins.
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An hour later and the three girls were seated around the table in the Magic box, each with a coffee and donut in front of them. They had first driven to Anya’s flat as she had had a spare key made for Tara. Once there Buffy had a good shower to eliminate the stench of goblin pee and clean her injuries, though these weren’t serious and had already started healing. Buffy was now wearing a pastel blue tee with pink butterflies patterned on it borrowed off Willow and some jeans. The tee felt a little too tight, especially around the shoulders, while, conversely the jeans were a little too slack and kept falling down revealing Buffy’s thong underwear making the slayer feel very uncomfortable in her best friends clothing.
“I’ve never heard of them attacking someone like this though. I mean they are known to be hostile to man but as far as it is known they don’t usually invade someone’s home, they only attack if their own space is invaded.” Tara was explaining about the goblins. She had informed her two girl friends about how goblins were related to the fairies but, disillusioned by mans misuse of the forests and woods which they inhabited along with other members of the fairie folk, the goblins instead decided on a plan of revenge and would willingly attack any human, young or old, male or female.
“Of course they haven’t really been seen for hundreds of years and they usually avoid towns and cities so whoever got them to attack you must have some pretty powerful magic on their side.”
“So how do we get rid of these goblins?” Asked Buffy.
“Well that’s pretty simple” replied Tara. “Back when I lived on the farm my grandmother once told me when she was a little girl there had been a manifestation similar to yours Buffy. But her grandmother and two others from a local secret coven cast an enchantment of dispelling and within a day everything was normal again. Now the spell itself was written in her Book of Shadows And every Maclay female has it written in hers. It’s usually one of the first spells to go in, but…” Tara hesitated, a frown replacing the cheerful look on her face.
“But what Tara?” Questioned Willow “Whatever it is we’ll be able to find a way to deal with it.
“Well, when my grandmothers grandmother, which I think makes her my” Tara frowned slightly in concentration as she worked something out. “I think she’s my great-great or great-great-great grandmother. When she cast the spell there were three witches present. This is a really powerful spell and ok, there’s me and there’s Willow and we’re both pretty powerful magic users. But we don’t know of anyone else in Sunnydale who’s equally powerful other than Mr. Giles and he’s away in England. You might be able to help somehow because of your slayer powers but I seriously don’t know if you have any magic within you as powerful as Willow’s and mine. No offence, sorry.” Tara gave a small weak smile in apology.
“It’s ok Tara,” said Buffy “I get the picture, major magic user wanted pronto. But I am not going to allow myself to be pushed around like this. There has to be someone who can help.”
“The only other person I can think of is Amy but I really don’t want to go there, not after… y’know.” Said Willow nervously, her head a little bowed down towards the table.
“It’s ok baby.” Tara said slipping her arm round the redhead’s shoulders. “You don’t have to go to her. Not after what that bitch did to you.”
Buffy was a little startled; hearing Tara curse so openly was new to the Slayer. Willow, however just looked up and gave Tara a small smile at this and rested her head on her lover’s shoulder, grateful that the first girlfriend she ever had was the only person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
“What about Anya?” asked Buffy “She’s got to know someone who might have enough power to help us? Can’t we phone her?”
“She might, but it depends on if the demon community are shunning her or not.” Tara replied. “There are a lot of demons who really don’t like her helping us, like the vampires did with Spike.”
“Well this is just turning into a crappy day isn’t it,” Said Buffy, again more than a little pissed by her situation. “I can’t get home and change my clothes or get my C.V.s for the interview. We need a third major magic user for a spell and we can’t even use Anya to contact someone for us. Yep, this is just turning into one zip a dee doo dah of a day.”
Willow and Tara shared a look at this, understanding how important the day was for Buffy.
“There is one possibility,” said Willow “But I’m not sure…” She ended her voice a little distant.
“What is it Will?” Buffy asked “If you can help me then please Willow, please tell me.”
Willow swallowed hard, wondering if she should tell these two women, her best friend and her lover about her idea. An idea that scared even herself. The redhead felt the arm round her shoulder tighten gently and a warm pair of lips kissed her red hair.
“Willow, whatever it is we’ll listen and we’ll judge the idea seriously.
“I was thinking, what happened before, you know when I had to go to the coven with you and Giles.”
There was a complete silence as all three women looked at one another, two in shock at the suggestion of the third.
“Will, are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting,” Buffy asked fearing what the reply would be.
Willow didn’t speak; her only reply was to nod her head slightly then turned her gaze down toward the table, fully aware of her idea and what the repercussions may be.
“No Willow no, you can’t do that,” said Tara her eyes wide with alarm at the suggestion her redhead was making. “That magic is dangerous and you know that, didn’t you learn anything from what happened with Warren?”
“Of course I did,” Willow replied indignantly, slightly annoyed that Tara didn’t quite trust her. “But I also remember Giles telling me the magic is now a part of me. That day when you and he were riding his horses.”
“Yes I remember all that,” the blonde replied a little stunned at Willows defensiveness. “I’m just scared that I may lose you to the darkness again, maybe for good this time.”
“That’s the beauty of my idea Tara, you’re just as powerful as I am so you could be my anchor and we perform the spell together. That way the darkness doesn’t overtake me. If Buffy is able to join in as well then there’s an even smaller chance of the darkness affecting me cos the power of the spell is spread through the three of us and you both have a better balance of power than I do.” The redhead looked at her partner in magic and life, her eyes wide with hope.
The honey blonde looked at her lover thoughtfully for a moment before speaking.
“Will, could you give us a minute,” asked Tara.
“Sure, I’ll go in the back and make some more coffee,”
“So is it possible, what she’s suggesting?” Buffy enquired after Willow left the room.
“To be honest, I just don’t know,” Tara replied. “No one has ever done what Willow’s proposed before. When it happened to my grandma’s grandmother there were three of them, each powerful and each in balance with their power. Here Willow is the really powerful one, she’s still far above anything I can do but she doesn’t have the sense of balance that I have. And you’re not really a magic user so I don’t know how useful you could be, again no offence.”
“I’ll try not to take any,” the blonde replied with a wry smile, “but what exactly are you saying?”
“Willow is the one with the power; therefore she is going to be the powerbase of the spell. It will feed through her and out to us. From there it should, hopefully, spread throughout the house and destroy all the goblins. I’m just afraid that the darkness may be too much and overwhelm her.”
Tara’s normally sparkling eyes took on a darker hue; she stopped talking and started to bite her lower lip, her gaze turning down toward the table. The petite blonde couldn’t be certain but she believed her friend was trying to hold back tears. Buffy’s heart went out to Tara, she knew how much the blonde and the redhead had each grown in the others company. She saw the enormous love each girl had for the other and understood that Tara was terrified as to what may happen if something went wrong with the spell and she lost her lover to the darkness again, possibly forever.
There was a long silence as Buffy took in what worried Tara and realised the final decision would be hers and hers alone. If she agreed to Willow’s idea and her best friend went back to the darkness and became irretrievably lost to it then the girl’s fate would rest on Buffy’s head. She finally came to a decision, and hoped it wasn’t the wrong one.
“Will, come on back here,” she called out and the slender Wiccan returned from the kitchen with a tray with three mugs filled with coffee. She sat at the table and placed two of the mugs in front of the other two girls. “We’re going ahead with your plan Will, but I want you to use as much protective what-not’s as you and Tara can. You’re my friend and I love you so very much and I do not want to see the darkness take you over again. Besides,” she added with a wry smile, “last time you kicked my butt, I don’t want that again cos then I’d have to take one from Tara too for allowing the spell.”
Willow and Tara were both quiet during Buffy’s speech, Willow herself especially appreciative that she was in the presence of not just one, but two people who loved her both so very much. And both witches smiled at the idea of them both taking on the Slayer and winning. Finally Tara spoke.
“Well if we get some holly leaves, holy water, powdered Batoo demon horn and blueberries we can make a paste that we can coat our bodies with. That should help keep the darkness to a minimum.” She then turned to her girlfriend “Remember Willow, you’re the power source; the paste won’t be any use unless you keep yourself focused. Just remember what Althanea taught us and you’ll be fine.” She smiled gently at the redhead and took her small hands within her own. “I trust you and Buffy trusts you, we know you won’t let us down
“Tara, when you say coat our bodies with…”The blonde asked feeling a little uneasy.
“We’ll be casting the spell pretty much naked,” Tara replied instantly fulfilling Buffy’s fears. “Are you gonna be ok with that? We’ll be putting the paste all over our bodies, the nether regions too but they’ll be covered up.”
“You don’t have to be there Buffy,” Willow interjected, “me and Tara should be able to cast the spell alone if you don’t want to join us.”
“Too be honest guys I am a little apprehensive…” The petite girl stopped and her friends easily read the uneasiness there. Whilst both Willow and Tara knew their friend wasn’t a homophobe some things could still disquiet her a little. After a long silence Buffy finally spoke.
“No, no, I’ll be fine. I saw girls naked plenty of times in the showers after gym, this shouldn’t be any different.”
“Good, I promise you’ll be safe with us,” said Tara, reassuring her a smile, before turning to her girlfriend.
“Will, can you get the ingredients for the paste and start mixing it, I’m going to need your laptop so I can access the spell and print some copies off.”
“And then we get rid of those goblins, right,” the Slayer asked brightly.
“Oh yeah,” replied the honey haired blonde, we definitely get to kick some goblin butt.” With that the trio started to prepare for the battle that awaited them at Buffy’s home.
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Two hours later and the girls gathered together in the house. If they thought it was bad before it was even worse now. In the kitchen every single dish and plate had been broken and every single piece of cutlery was sticking out of the wall. The windows throughout the house had been shattered; the carpets had been literally torn up so they were walking on bare floorboards.
“Oh god,” Willow whispered as her gaze took in the disaster zone that was 1630 Revello Drive. The three of them got to work tidying up the kitchen. Once that was done they set about preparing the area for the spell. They moved everything that wasn’t needed so they had as much space as possible. They would have moved the breakfast bar as well if possible but as it was securely fastened to the floor they had to work around it. Making the most of the room available Tara drew a Star of David set within a circle on the floor of the kitchen using some coloured chalk and lit a series of green candles and placed them where the points of the star met the circle. Willow had copies of the spell laid out on the table and closed all the curtains so no one could look within whilst they were performing the spell, placed some old newspapers on the floor so the three of them would be able to sit down on something during the casting. Finally both she and Buffy went to the bathroom and begun to spread the green paste over their bodies.
When they came down half an hour later Tara went up and the redhead and the blonde sat down on the papers and held hands while meditating and centring themselves, preparing for the spell casting. Finally Tara returned and sat on the other side of Willow and joined hands with the other two girls so they formed a circle. Once she was also centred they began to cast the spell by uttering a chant that would add to the paste as a defensive charm.
“Evif kenobo taranag
Supideo meivo derior
Nekorbola nomead
Setarip jinan edage”
They chanted, Buffy having to read from her spell sheet while the wiccans already had it memorised from previous spell castings. Buffy glanced up for a moment and saw that her best friend’s hair and eyes had both already turned black. She shivered inwardly, reminded of that fateful day five months ago when Warren Meers had almost killed her, injured both Xander and Tara, made Willow turn virtually psychopathic and almost destroy the world.
Now the spell proper was starting which the wiccans perform whilst Buffy would keep chanting.
“Oh Thespia, guardian of your children, protector of your flock,
We beseech thee to help us in our time of need.
This house of love has been invaded by a plague of evil
And we ask you to help us dispel it.
Remove this infection from this house,
Let your spirit of love spread throughout this dwelling.
Return this infection back to its source twicefold.
Thespia, guardian of your flock, protector of your children
We beg you to spread your loving presence in this abode,
Help your children in this dark time,
This, oh Thespia we ask of you.”
A slight breeze suddenly filled the room. It put Buffy in mind of warm summer days spent with Willow and Xander having fun in the park, talking laughing and playing frisbee. She could smell flowers, honeysuckle, roses, carnations, hyacinths, lilies, bluebells, begonias and a thousand others.
She dared a look at her friends again, now not only had Willow’s eye and hair colour changed but so too had Tara’s. It seemed weird to Buffy to see the normally blonde hair and blue eyes of the girl both now the colour of ink. It scared her to think what her own eye and hair colour may be and again she shuddered. Despite the colour Buffy noted that the witches’ voices were calm, not filled with venom or malice as Willow’s own voice had been a few months earlier. Buffy hoped that this was a good sign. She seriously didn’t want a butt kicking from both Tara and Willow, getting beat by the redhead had been bad enough but the blonde looked as if she were the type who’d make sure that if you crossed her path once; you’d never do it twice.
She looked around the kitchen and almost shut her eyes straight away, there was a white light so blinding throughout the kitchen. It was a pure light, heaven sent, Buffy felt. As she looked into the light the girl thought she saw ghosts, the spirits of her mother and her Grandma Gillian. She had loved Gillian so much because of the stories she had told the blonde when she was a child. Stories of the mischievous things her own mother had gotten up to as a young girl, and finally her cousin who had died at the hands of the Kindestod. A death that had occurred when was in hospital and only Buffy had borne witness to and had left her with a big fear of hospitals. They looked at her with love etched on their faces and she felt calm and relaxed despite the situation she faced.
The three girls became aware that the candles were all blown out as the breeze grew into a wind. Their hair was streaming out behind them and Buffy was aware of small popping sounds, similar to the ones heard earlier when Willow and Tara came to her rescue and Tara had cast the simple dispelling spell to help her escape. The wind built till it was practically a shrieking hurricane. All around the kitchen, small balls of fire which Buffy guessed were the goblins were exploding, creating firework displays before her eyes. At some point, she wasn’t sure when, Buffy had stopped chanting but Willow and Tara were still repeating the spell over and over again. Despite the noise from the wind screaming throughout the house the Slayer could hear the two witches as perfectly as she had earlier at the magic box.
Suddenly without warning everything was still, the wind stopped and the white light slowly faded away. And that was the last the slayer knew before it went dark.
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Buffy slowly became aware of bright sunlight streaming in through the kitchen window onto her face. She found herself in a prone position on the floor, covered in some kind of gooey substance. She frowned for a moment till she remembered all that had happened, the invasion of her home, calling on Willow and Tara for help, the spell and the paste to protect the trio.
She pushed herself up so she was sitting on the newspapers that had been laid down earlier by Willow. Buffy turned her attention to the witches who had aided her. Tara apparently was in a trance, sitting in a lotus position, her hands on her knees and her head tilted back revealing her long slender neck, currently coated in the protective paste. While Willow, similarly seated cross-legged on the papers but her head was draped down over her chest, hair over her eyes. The Slayer was happy to see her friend’s hair had gone back to their usual colours with no hint of black anywhere. She reckoned if Willow’s and Tara’s hair was normal again then their eyes should be too.
Tara seemed to come out of her trance and turned her attention to the love of her life
“Will, Willow,” she asked cautiously shaking the redheads shoulder slightly to ensure she didn’t slump to the floor.
“Uh? Wha…Tara?” Willow said groggily as she slowly wakened from her trance like state.
“You did it Willow!” Exclaimed Tara with great delight, “You did it. You were able to be the power source for the spell and you didn’t let the darkness overtake you.”
Willow then seemed to come round a little and raised her head to look at Tara. “Yeah I did the spell didn’t I, yay me.” She smiled weakly at her girlfriend, then suddenly Willow collapsed to the floor.
“Oh god Will,” Buffy cried out in horror and scrambled to her best friend. The girl had completely passed out on the floor. Tara came forward and opened up one of Willow’s eyes. It was bloodshot, but there was no trace of any residual darkness in her eye or in her hair and the Wiccan breathed a sigh of relief. She bent her head so it was beside her lover’s mouth and was relieved when she felt small, light breaths against her cheek. Tara turned to face Buffy relief, etched deeply into her face.
“She’s ok, I think the spell just took more out of her than we thought it would.” She glanced up at the clock. “You’d best go shower and get your stuff. Your job interview is on in an hour and a half.”
“But what about Willow, is she gonna be ok?” Buffy asked obviously concerned with the well being of her best friend.
“She’ll be fine, she just needs to recover and we know how quickly she can do that since she absorbed the book. Go on, I’ll take care of Willow and we’ll meet you at the coffee shop later.”
“Are you sure, if you need any help I can easily rearrange the interview for tomorrow.”
Tara couldn’t help but smile at Buffy’s need to help her best friend and appreciated the love they had for one another, the willingness they had to help and support each other when the odds were against either the Slayer or the witch.
“Buffy, I swear I’ll be fine. I’ve handled Willow naked loads of times and you really didn’t want to hear that did you,” the honey blonde said blushing slightly.
“Not really, no,” Buffy smirked but I’m kinda used to hearing you handle Will so I know she’s in good hands. Just be careful ok and I’ll see you at the Espresso Pump.”
“I’ll be careful, now go for that shower and go get that job, Will, Dawn and myself are rooting for you all the way, now go, skedaddle.” And with that Tara gently turned the petite blonde in the direction of the stairs and gave a gentle push on her back to send her on her way.
Forty five minutes later and the Slayer was dressed in a silk, cream coloured, blouse with a navy blue jacket and skirt.
“Wow, you certainly look dressed to impress,” said Tara kneeling next to Willow who by now had come round a little and was sitting up, being held by her girlfriend.
“Hey Will,” said Buffy, delighted to see her friend well again
“Hey Buff,” Willow replied, her voice feeble. “Remember, if they don’t give you the job tell me and I’ll turn them into ladybugs.” She gave her best friend a weak smile which was reciprocated by the blonde.
“You just get better Will, and I’ll see you guys later with Dawn.” With that she gave a last smile to the two, paste coated witches and set off for her interview.
The front door closed and the two remaining girls were left alone. Neither moved, Tara just remained there, holding Willow in her arms as the red head nodded off to sleep and just lay resting in her arms while the blonde watched over her with concern.
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Much later, after Willow and Tara had cleaned each other up, sharing a bath and Tara had performed a renewal spell so that the house was in a reasonably presentable state and the picture was in one piece again, the two lovers had met Dawn at the mall after a quick call to her cell phone. All three were now sitting in the Espresso Pump drinking mocha’s, eating pumpkin tarts and awaiting Buffy to come back from the interview. The redhead saw the slayer first, coming up the street through the coffee shop window. She was walking, well slouching really, her head to the ground, face covered by bangs of blonde hair that shone gold in the late afternoon sun.
“Oh no,” Said Willow sadly “it looks like she didn’t get the job after all.”
The blonde entered the coffee shop and slumped into the seat beside her sister. “How did it go Buffy?” Tara enquired gently fearing the worst for her friend.
“Well, they said that while I had a lot of practical experience in the usage of self-defence I hadn’t had much in the way of teaching experience so…” She stopped and found the Formica table surprisingly interesting.
“So?” asked Dawn “C’mon Buffy, don’t keep us in suspense”
At that Buffy looked up at her friends and sister with a big smile on her face “So they’re giving me a two week trial period starting next Monday.”
“Buffy, that’s fantastic” said Tara and the other three girls gathered round Buffy and gave her a big hug. “So who’s up for mocha’s?” she asked “cos this round’s on me, then you can tell me what you did with those little gremlins.
“Actually they were goblins” Willow said cos gremlins are like little cute teddy bears unless you get water on them or feed them after midnight, then they turn into demony type things and…”
“Sweetie, we’ve all seen the films,” said Tara smiling at her girlfriends babbling, her heart filled with joy at the quick recovery she had made from performing the spell.
After a fresh round of mocha’s plus one hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows for Dawn and pumpkin tarts all round Tara asked
“So do you have any idea who may have sent those goblins?”
“Not a clue” Buffy replied “but I have pissed off more than a few demons over the years. I guess someone wanted a bit of payback.”
“Well with any luck our spell returned those things back to whoever sent them to you in the first place” said Willow with a hint of a mischievous smile.
“Yeah, but there’s only a handful of them to deal with” said Dawn. “Whoever sent them will be able to deal with the goblins real easy”
At this Willow’s smile turned into a huge grin. Tara turned to her girlfriend and shared the grin leaving the sisters looking at each other in puzzlement.
“Ok you two, spill” Buffy said as she suddenly realised that there had been more to the spell than she had first thought.
“Well” said Tara “we kinda added a little extra to the spell. We manipulated the goblins biology so that when you try and kill one it just splits the goblin in two, a bit like Mickey Mouse and the broomsticks in Fantasia.”
“So whoever sent them,” said Willow continuing, “is going to have more than just a handful to deal with, more likely a whole houseful.”
Dawn and Buffy couldn’t help but share the grin at this piece of information.
“There’s still one thing I don’t get though,” said Willow frowning slightly
“What’s that sweetie?” Tara asked
Willow looked directly at her best friend “Buffy, are you gay?”
Dawn burst out laughing and Tara blanched while Buffy just stared at Willow, her jaw on the ground.
THE END
